Exploring higher education capabilities of black women graduates towards personal and professional development
| dc.contributor.advisor | Walker, Melanie | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Loots, Sonja | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mahlaha, Nteboheng Theresia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2015-07-31T13:36:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2015-07-31T13:36:49Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-10 | |
| dc.description.abstract | English: Student success does not cease to be important after students have graduated, but extends to how employable graduates are and what they can do with their lives. Even though more than half of students enrolled in South African higher education institutes are women, men still hold the majority of positions in the labour market. The number of black women enrolled in higher education institutions has more than doubled in the last 19 years, according to a 2014 report by Higher Education South Africa (HESA). However; this seems insufficient progress when compared with the national demographics. Of the total black population, only 3.2% have access to higher education. Local and international literature shows a significant number of policies that attempt to establish gender and racial equality. However, in most cases, black women in both higher education and the workplace are experiencing unfair treatment. Statistics are unable to bring insight into gender and racial inequalities in order to ensure the same quality of higher education for both men and women. This study investigated the life trajectories of black woman graduates in South Africa, and how and if, in anyway, higher education has equipped them with the capabilities to succeed both professionally and personally. The life experiences of women in higher education and the workplace were investigated by the capabilities approach, which is a normative framework developed by Sen (1992) and Nussbaum (2003). This framework aids the understanding of what people want to do and be, which freedoms or capabilities enable them to pursue these doings and beings, and which factors prevent them from achieving their being and doings. Thus, this approach allowed me to move from statistical findings to insight into what a group of black women graduates’ value to be and whether they have the freedom to achieve well-being. This study was framed by the following research questions: 1) What contribution has higher education made to the capabilities and valued functionings of selected black women graduates regarding the professional and personal lives they have reason to value?2) How do gender and race enable or constrain black women graduates’ capability for work, including their career development, over time? 3) Do black women graduates have the agency and freedom to achieve what they value both professionally and personally? Although studies in feminist research have investigated the life histories of black women, not much work has been done on the capabilities of black women graduates. A feminist methodology was employed in this study, supported by life-history and narrative methods. These two methods focus mainly on how individuals choose to shape their own lives, whereas the life-history method enables an understanding of people’s stories against the wider background of society, in this case, gender equality and social justice. All lives are different; thus, the life-history method draws on both the differences and the similarities of participants’ experience. In this study, narratives of nine black women were drawn from to explore the experiences of black women in higher education and the labour market. The selected women had graduated from South African higher education institutions from various fields of study and socio-economic backgrounds. The capabilities approach allowed the analysis of each woman’s narrative and the mapping of the similarities. The capabilities of these women, as generated through higher education, included cross-cultural exposure; communication and interpersonal skills; knowledge, imagination and critical thinking; empowerment; respect, dignity and social consciousness; practical reasoning; lifelong learning; resilience and bodily integrity. The findings shed light, firstly, on how these women are acting as active agents in converting the capabilities into valued beings and doings beyond graduation and, secondly, on how race and gender proved to be both positive and negative social factors that influenced the women. Owing to the fact that the study is embedded in gender issues and the capabilities approach, which are both concerned with the well-being and agency of women in higher education and the labour market, the research contributes to higher-education research concerned with empowering black women. Furthermore, the study can provide a knowledge base for gender empowerment and fill a significant research gap in South Africa. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | Afrikaans: Studentesukses is meer as om bloot ’n graad te behaal; ditbehels ook die indiensneembaarheid van gegradueerdes en die moontlikhede wat daar vir hulle in die lewe vorentoe is.Alhoewel meer as die helfte van studente wat by Suid-Afrikaanse hoëronderwysinstansies ingeskryf is, vroue is, beklee mans steeds die meerderheid poste in die arbeidsmark.Die aantal swart vroue wat in hoëronderwysinstansies ingeskryf het, het in die afgelope 19 jaar meer as verdubbel luidens ’n 2013-verslag deur Hoër Onderwys Suid-Afrika. Dit blyk egter onvoldoende vordering te wees in vergelyking met nasionale demografika:Van die totale swart bevolking het slegs 3,2% toegang tot hoër onderwys.Plaaslike en internasionale literatuur toon ’n beduidende aantal beleidstukke wat poog om geslags- en rassegelykheid te bewerkstellig. In die meeste gevalle beleef swart vroue steeds onbillike behandelingin hoër onderwys, sowel as in die werkplek. Die beskikbare statistiek gee egter nie genoegsame insig ten opsigte van geslags- en rasseongelykheid ten einde dieselfde gehalte hoër onderwys vir mans en vroue te verseker nie. Hierdie studie ondersoek die lewenspad van swart vroulike gegradueerdes in Suid-Afrika en hoe, en indien wel, hoër onderwys hulle met die vermoëns toegerus het om op professionele, sowel as persoonlike vlak, sukses te bereik. Die lewenservarings van vroue in hoër onderwys en in die werkplek is in hierdie studie ondersoek aan die hand van die vermoënsbenadering ’n normatiewe raamwerk wat deur Sen (1992) en Nussbaum (2001) ontwikkel is. Hierdie raamwerk bevorder die begrip van wat mense wil doen en wil wees, watter vryhede of vermoëns hulle in staat stel om hierdie “doen” en “wees” na te streef en watter faktore hulle verhinder om hierdie “doen” en “wees” te bereik.Met behulp van hierdie benadering kon die navorser dus weg beweeg van statistiese bevindinge na insig in die soort mens wat ’n groep swart vroulike gegradueerdes graagwil wees en of hulle die vryheid het om welsyn te bereik. Die studie is omraam deur die volgende navorsingsvrae: 1) Watter bydrae het hoër onderwys gelewer tot die vermoëns en waardevolle funksionerings van geselekteerde swart vroulike gegradueerdes ten opsigte van die soort professionele en persoonlike lewe wat hulle as waardevol beskou? 2) Hoe het gender en ras die swart vroulike gegradueerdes se vermoë vir werk, insluitend hulle loopbaanontwikkeling, met verloop van tyd bevorder of beperk? 3) Het swart vroulike gegradueerdes die agentskap en vryheid om dít wat hulle op professionele en persoonlike vlak as waardevol beskou,te bereik? Alhoewel studies in feministiese navorsing die lewensgeskiedenisse van swart vroue al ondersoek het, is daar nog min aandag geskenk aan die vermoëns van swart vroulike gegradueerdes in Suid-Afrika.’n Feministiese metodologie is in die studie aangewend, ondersteun deur lewensgeskiedenis- en narratiewe metodes.Hierdie twee metodes fokus hoofsaaklik op hoe individue kies om hulle eie lewens te vorm, waar die navorser spesifiek met behulp van die lewensgeskiedenismetode ’n begrip kan vorm van mense se verhale teen die breër agtergrond van die samelewing, in hierdie geval, gendergelykheid en sosiale geregtigheid.Alle lewens verskil; dus put die lewensgeskiedenismetode uit die verskille, asook die ooreenkomste, van deelnemers se belewenisse.In hierdie studie word die narratiewe van nege swart vroue gebruik om die belewenisse van swart vroue in hoër onderwys en die arbeidsmark te verken. Die geselekteerde vroue het hulle grade by Suid-Afrikaanse hoëronderwysinstansies in verskeie studievelde en sosioekonomiese agtergronde behaal.Die vermoënsbenadering maak die analise van elke vrou se narratief en die uiteensetting van die ooreenkomste moontlik. Hierdie groep vroue se vermoëns, wat hulle deurmiddel van hoër onderwys bekom het, is onder meer kruiskulturele blootstelling; kommunikasie en interpersoonlike vaardighede; kennis, verbeelding en kritiese denke; bemagtiging; respek, menswaardigheid en sosiale bewustheid; praktiese redenering; lewenslange leer; veerkragtigheid; en liggaamlike integriteit. Die bevindinge werp lig op die volgende: eerstens, die wyse waarop hierdie vroue as aktiewe agente werksaam is om hierdie vermoëns om te skakel in waardevolle “wees” en “doen” ná universiteit; en tweedens hoe ras en gender as positiewe en negatiewe sosiale faktore in die vroue se lewe teenwoordig is. Weens die feit dat die studie in genderkwessies en die vermoënsbenadering gewortel is – wat albei met die welsyn en agentskap van vroue in hoër onderwys en die arbeidsmark gemoeid is dra hierdie navorsing by tot hoëronderwysnavorsing in die bemagtiging van swart vroue. Die studie kan ook ’n kennisbasis verskaf vir genderbemagtiging en so ook ’n beduidende navorsingsgaping in Suid-Afrika vul. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/768 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Higher education | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Workplace | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Capabilities approach | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Gender and race | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Women college graduates | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Feminism and higher education | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Women, Black -- Graduation | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Women college graduates | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Dissertation (M.A. (Higher Education Studies))--University of the Free State, 2014 | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Exploring higher education capabilities of black women graduates towards personal and professional development | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en_ZA |