The Southern Africa Regional Universities Association (Sarua) plans to develop a programme to boost gender leadership in science within the region, a meeting on 24 August heard.

The plan follows the publication earlier this year of an assessment of barriers to gender equality in the leadership of 16 of Africa’s top research universities, focusing on science, technology engineering and mathematics jobs.

That assessment, charting gender equality in the 16-member African Research Universities Alliance, found that only two had female vice-chancellors in October 2022. While the percentage of women in senior executive leadership teams ranged from 25 per cent at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to 75 per cent at Addis Ababa Universities, the majority fell below 50 per cent women at executive level. Women made up less than 30 per cent of deans at eight universities.

Read more at: https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-africa-pan-african-2023-8-southern-africa-ponders-lack-of-women-leaders-in-academia/