Resilience of Female Academics in Rural South African Higher Education amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract The aim of the study was to explore how female academics in rural South African higher education developed resilience by balancing the pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, work, and house chores; and rose above the harsh situations. Some people in Africa and across the globe argue that females do not enjoy the same privileges and opportunities at home and work because of patriarchy and societal norms that reinforce family and organisational practices favouring the male counterparts. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study design. A purposive sampling technique was used to choose nine participants from three rural universities. Telephonic interviews were used for data collection, and the data were thematically analysed. This study found that female academicians were faced with a myriad of challenges, but influences from within the self helped them to build resilience. The study concluded that no matter what hurdles are along the way, women have learnt to fight for their space. The implication drawn from the study’s findings is that failure to address the challenges faced by female academics, especially regarding the workload policy, impacts negatively on the quality of work done and slows down knowledge production. Consequently, the study recommended that employers in higher education should come up with a workload policy/model that allows female academics to work more efficiently and effectively contributing constructively to knowledge production in higher education.