Fix the system, not the women, African universities urged to dismantle hurdles to female leadership

African universities must urgently overhaul any form of institutional systems that hinder women’s rise to leadership, rather than merely focusing on expanding access for them, experts warned at a high-level webinar commemorating International Women’s Day 2026. Speaking during the event hosted by the Association of African Universities on Wednesday, March 25, leading voices in higher education, research, and policy argued that while women’s participation in universities had improved, structural barriers continued to inhibit their influence in decision-making spaces, hence the theme, Give to Gain. 

While gains in enrolment and participation are evident, contributors argued that prevailing deep-rooted institutional constraints prevented women from fully exercising leadership and authority. “We aren’t fixing women; we must fix the system,” said Dr Sheela Raja Ram, Vice-Chancellor of Botho University, in her keynote address. Dr Raja Ram pointed to global and regional data showing that although progress had been made, gender parity in leadership remained distant. “The gains are real, yes, but the barriers are persisting. We’re going to have to wait more than a century to reach gender parity if we continue at this pace.” 

Thus, A central theme of the discussion was the need to shift the narrative from individual capacity-building to systemic reform. Dr Raja Ram challenged institutions to rethink how leadership itself was structured. “Maybe we should stop asking why there aren’t more women leaders and instead ask what it is about our institutions that makes leadership outdated.” 

Dr Raja Ram proposed that rigid, hierarchical university structures must evolve into more inclusive and networked systems to remain relevant, warning that “if we maintain rigid hierarchies, it will become difficult to survive.” 

On her part, Prof. Amany El-Sharif, Vice President for the African School of Governance, submitted that many universities continued to operate systems that disadvantaged women – even when policies appeared neutral. “The challenge is not that African women lack leadership capacity. The challenge is that institutions still operate through systems that require women to be exceptional just to be considered equal.” 

Warning that symbolic inclusion without real authority undermined transformation, Prof. El-Sharif proposed three key areas requiring reform: policy, metrics, and power structures. “It is no longer enough to count how many women are in the room. We must also ask who sets the agenda, who holds authority, and who is promoted. Representation without authority is not transformation. It is decoration.” 

From a research systems perspective, Prof. Anicia Peters, CEO of the Namibia National Commission on Research, Science, and Technology, shined the light on “persistent gender gaps in research leadership,” despite near-parity participation: “We have almost 50% women researchers, but when we look at grant recipients and top researchers, women are not filtering to the top.” 

She noted how the disconnect highlighted systemic barriers in research funding, recognition, and career progression – and ultimately limited women’s participation in decision-making spaces. 

A key speaker during the webinar was Dr. Heba Youssef Soliman, the Director- University Center for Career Development at Port Said University in Egypt who focused on how women’s leadership in STEM and academic services shape student outcomes, career readiness, and inclusive innovation – particularly for young women navigating male-dominated disciplines.

Similarly, Dr. Naomi Lumutenga, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Higher Education Resources Services (HERS) East Africa, discussed where leadership pipelines for women most often break down – and what practical institutional interventions have proven most effective in repairing them. This high-level webinar was moderated by Dr. Felicia Nkrumah Kuagbedzi, the Acting Coordinator for ICT, Communications and Knowledge Management of the AAU.

Beyond identifying the challenges, the session also highlighted practical, institutional solutions. These interventions included: 

• Gender-responsive funding systems that prioritise women’s participation 
• Returning research proposals that lack female representation 
• Targeted innovation challenges and grants for women 
• Reducing administrative burdens to allow more time for research 
• Actively showcasing women researchers’ work 

These efforts, the speakers, all women, emphasised, must be intentional, sustained, and scaled. 

The second thematic focus, which examined leadership pipelines, institutional culture, and sustainability, revealed some key barriers also contributing to the “leaky pipeline,” including: 

• sexual harassment and hostile work environments, 
• biased recruitment and promotion processes, 
• gendered expectations in leadership selection, 
• undervaluation of mentorship and pastoral roles, and 
• weak accountability mechanisms  

The cumulative effect, according to the panellists, is a system that gradually pushes women out of leadership pathways. To address this, they outlined systemic reforms such as: 

• Institutional gender scorecards to track accountability 
• Transparent promotion criteria 
• Diverse and inclusive selection panels 
• Integration of gender equity into performance metrics  

Speakers also emphasized the transformative role of women’s leadership in shaping student outcomes, particularly in STEM fields, reducing psychological barriers for young women, increasing confidence and persistence, and fostering mentorship and career readiness, thereby promoting inclusive, socially responsive innovation. 

As the panellists noted, inclusive leadership expands the diversity of ideas-resulting in more meaningful and scalable solutions. Speakers repeatedly stressed that many institutions endorse gender equity rhetorically while resisting deeper reform. 

“Institutions celebrate the language of women’s empowerment while resisting the architecture of women’s power,” El-Sharif said, underscoring the need to move from symbolic commitments to measurable outcomes. 

At the end of the day, the webinar consented that advancing women into leadership is not merely a matter of equity, but a strategic imperative for Africa’s development, as inclusive leadership strengthens governance, enhances innovation, and improves institutional adaptability. Rajaram, in particular, framed women’s leadership as central to institutional resilience: “The strategic response to institutional decline is women leaders.” 

To this end, the AAU, in a speech presented by its Director for Special Projects, Dr Sylvia Mkandawire, reaffirmed its commitment to advancing women’s leadership through: 

• leadership capacity-building programmes, 
• expanded mentorship initiatives, 
• strengthened research and publication support, 
• strategic partnerships for funding and advocacy, and  
• platforms such as the Women in Higher Education Network 

As African universities navigate increasing complexity and resource constraints, participants stressed that inclusive leadership would be critical to their future. “The real question is not whether women are ready to lead,” Prof. El-Sharif concluded, “but whether institutions are ready to release power [to them].”