Picture: Women embarking on STEM/Generic
By REGINALD KANYANE
25 August 2026 – The Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation calls for stronger and more coordinated action to ensure that women and girls can enter progress and lead in South Africa’s science, technology and innovation system. As South Africa marks National Women’s Month, the committee recognises the important contribution women and girls are making in research, innovation and technological development, while also emphasising the need to address the barriers that continue to limit their full participation and advancement.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Lusizo Makhubela said South Africa cannot build a competitive and inclusive innovation economy, while girls and young women continue to face barriers in scientific and technological fields. Makhubela said women and girls must not only be encouraged to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“They must be supported to remain, advance and lead. The country needs their talent, ideas and leadership if science, technology and innovation are truly to be for everyone. The committee believes that the participation and advancement of women and girls in science, technology and innovation is not only a gender equality issue.
“It is central to national development, economic transformation, skills development, competitiveness, innovation and social justice. This is particularly relevant in 2026, when South Africa has launched its inaugural National Science Month,” she said.
Makhubela further said for this principle to have practical meaning, women and girls must have genuine opportunities to enter, progress and lead across the science, technology and innovation system. She added that South Africa has made important progress in strengthening women’s participation in the research and higher education system.
“The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation’s (DSTI) most recent end-term assessment of its 2020–2025 Strategic Plan, records that women constituted 48% of the country’s research workforce in 2024/25, up from a baseline of 45.1% in 2019/20.
“The National Advisory Council on Innovation’s 2025 Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Report also indicates that women’s representation among permanent academic staff at public universities increased from 46% in 2010 to 52% in 2022,” said Makhubela.
She said, however, participation does not necessarily translate into equal representation at the highest levels of the system. Makhubela said in 2020, women accounted for 37.5% of permanent professors, including associate professors, compared with 27.8% in 2011.
“At the same time, there are encouraging indications of women’s advancement into recognised research leadership, with women holding 57% of Research Chairs under the South African Research Chairs Initiative by March 2023.
“These indicators present a mixed, but important picture. South Africa is making progress towards greater gender representation in the research workforce and in areas of research leadership, but women remain underrepresented in most senior academic positions and across key STEM disciplines,” she said.
Makhubela said men continue to dominate fields including engineering, computer and information sciences, mathematics and statistics. The committee therefore believes that the measure of transformation must extend beyond how many women enter the system,” she said.
Makhubela said Parliament and the National System of Innovation must also ask how many remain, how much progress, who controls research resources, who leads institutions and research programmes, and whether women are able to translate knowledge and innovation into economic and social value.
The Guardian 