Progress thus far : women in physics in South Africa

Abstract

Physics still has a long way to go in addressing acceleration of women to higher ranks of research and leadership. The general trend shows that the personal choices affect the acceleration of women to the top in both research and academia. My reference is on women who already obtained PhDs and are in positions in South Africa. Women in academia has a higher workload than men and women in research centers has a support issue. Figure 1 is a presentation of institutions that offers a full course in Physics, indicating the status of women with a PhD degree in South Africa. It is clear that in the past 12 years - since the launch of women in physics in South Africa (WiPiSA), there has been very little progress in accelerating women to the top. Amongst those listed, there is one HOD, 2 associate professors and 2 full professors. A very interesting information is the profile of a woman whose dad is a physicist, raised six children and have a son as a physicist. Personal journeys of women in physics in South Africa will be found in a later full paper on this topic, to be submitted elsewhere.