SHIKHA VYAS-DOORGAPERSAD was appointed as a Full Professor, Department of Public Management and Governance at University of Johannesburg, South Africa. The video of her Professorial Lecture can be downloaded. In her professorial lecture, she emphasised that the post-apartheid South Africa has established various legislative frameworks to eradicate the restrictive developmental policies of the past. One of these frameworks is to promote gender equality in the workplace. Socially, economically and politically, there is still a gap between women and men holding decision-making portfolios, resulting in suppression of women’s capabilities. She has therefore conducted research in various South African municipalities utilising a qualitative approach.
Furthermore, because UJ is moving towards Pan-Africanised thinking, she started conducting comparative research with academics and scholars from various African Universities. Some of the areas that are explored and published are gender-based procurement practices in South Africa and Kenya; gender equality in the Water Sector in South Africa and Uganda; and the status and political participation of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to state a few. Some of the gender mainstream issues under consideration for future research include comparative studies with Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Nigeria.
She stressed that her aim was to advance gender research at national, regional and continental levels. In order to achieve this aim, she has developed networks with academics inside and outside the boundaries of South Africa. It is indeed a continuous process requiring broader collaboration. She concluded by stating that “this is just a beginning”.
