Facators that influence women's career success at a selected institution of higher learning in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa is ranked 3rd on top countries that promote gender equality in Africa and number 17th in the world. However, in higher education women are still under-represented in most leadership positions regardless of the notable progress in attaining more qualifications than men. Through a survey research approach, the researcher investigated the factors that influence women’s career success. The study adopted a quantitative approach to collect data, targeted a total number of 70 female employees under the faculty of management and law at the University of Limpopo. Data was analysed using the Statistical Software for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27.0. Factors such as personality traits, organisational cultural factors, career barriers, internal and external support factors were identified. The findings revealed that there is an influence between the factors identified and women career success. Furthermore, women still experience barriers such as the glass ceiling, gender stereotype, family responsibility and lack of mentors in their career progression to leadership positions in higher education