CPUT launches new association to advance women in research

Higher education must lead the way of empowerment for women researchers, said CPUT Vice-Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, at the recent launch of the institution’s Women in Research Association (WIRA).

Currently the research sector is dominated by men, with recent national figures indicating that research output is predominantly male. But CPUT plans to soon change these figures.

With the launch of WIRA, women researchers at the institution will be provided with all the necessary support structures to advance their research activities and careers.

Prof Mazwi-Tanga, who addressed delegates at the launch of WIRA at the Bellville campus, during Chancellor’s week, said women must be given the opportunity to develop.

“Women constitute more that 50% of the country’s population. If therefore they are not given the opportunity to function and be productive optimally in all spheres of development, it means half of the population is rendered dysfunctional,” she said.

Prof Mazwi-Tanga said CPUT is on a path that seeks to build our research capacity and post graduate offerings, not only in numbers but in quality.

“This initiative therefore speaks directly to that objective. Research output can only grow if we unleash the potential of everyone,” she said.

CEO of the Council of Higher Education, Professor Cheryl De la Rey, who was the keynote speaker at the launch, backed Prof Mazwi-Tanga and said: “I’m confident that CPUT is on a growth path. This initiative verifies this.”

Prof De la Rey said initiatives such at WIRA are vital in the higher education sector, to ensure the advancement of women research activities. While strides have been made in the sector through the implementation of various polices at universities, much more still has to be done to ensure increased women participation at all levels, said Prof De la Rey

“The legislation has taken us as far as it can, we now have to do more,” she said.

Prof De la Rey also urged women researchers to change their mindsets and find a balance between lecturing and their research activities. She said because women are nurturers, they often spend large amounts of their time concentrating on the needs of their students.

“You have to spend your time teaching and meeting responsibilities to the students. But we also have to meet our responsibilities to generate research,” she said.

“Research is an opportunity for not only empowering ourselves. But research empowers the community,” she said.

Women researchers were also urged to re-examine current anti-discrimination policies in place at CPUT and also monitor the implementation of them. Prof De la Rey said with WIRA supporting women researchers and driving their agenda at the university, the higher education sector and CPUT will “grow from strength to strength.”

Director of Research Development at the university, Dr Tembeka Mpako-Ntusi, who is one of the driving forces behind WIRA, said she is positive that it will make an impact on the CPUT environment.

By working together, women researchers will be able to increase and improve the quality of research ouput at the institution,” she said.

By Candes Keating, Marketing and Communication Department

Photograph: Vice-Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, and CEO of the Council of Higher Education, Professor Cheryl De La Rey, who was keynote speaker at the launch of the Women in Research Association

Written by CPUT News
Email: news@cput.ac.za