Our Commitment

Examples of indicators supporting Gender Equality, and that are tracked and published annually are shown on Page 6 of our “UP at a Glance” publication. More detailed indicators are included in statutory reporting to the Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as to the South African Parliament Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation.  

Our Institutional Admissions Policy ensures equal access without discriminate on the basis of race, colour, age, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, belief, ethnic and social origin, pregnancy, conscience, culture, birth or disability. Testimony to efforts towards gender equality, 57% of contact students enrolled were women. Dedicated schemes supporting the development of women includes active participation in the global Girls for Girls (G4G) programme which seeks to increase women representation in C-Suite offices and boardrooms, and in leadership positions across the public, private and civil society sectors. Another example is hosting the Advanced Human Rights Course: Women's Rights in Africa, a short course presented by our Centre for Human Rights. Institutional efforts encouraging application by women in subjects and fields where they are underrepresented are illustrated in the field of engineering. We use a range of promotion, conversations and role modelling activities to encourage women applicants. Non-discrimination against women is embedded in the Institutional Anti-discrimination Policy and its associated Operations Manual. In broadening efforts towards non-discrimination related to gender, the University has also adopted a Trans Protocol as part of Anti-Discrimination Policy.

UP Trans Protocol serves as a guideline to respond to the needs of trans, intersex, gender non-conforming and non-binary staff and students. Several stakeholders were involved in drafting and championing the document, including the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender, UP’s Transformation Office, UP #SpeakOutUP, trans students and staff, the Department of Residence Affairs, the Student Counselling Unit, the SRC, and the SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics) Unit of the Centre for Human Rights. Maternity leave is embedded in the Institutional Leave Policy and provides women with 3 months of maternity leave on full pay, commencing any time from four weeks before the expected date of delivery.  A range of women’s mentoring schemes have been implemented, including active participation in the global Girls for Girls (G4G) programme which seeks to increase women representation in C-Suite offices and boardrooms, and in leadership positions across the public, private and civil society sectors. University Residences, TuksRes, also hosts the UP TuksRes Women in Leadership Academy (TRWLA) which was started in 2014 in order to provide a platform through which to enrich the lives of young women at university. Protection of those reporting discrimination is addressed through the Institutional Whistle-blowers Policy, and reassures employees, students and external parties that they will be protected from reprisal or victimisation for whistle-blowing in good faith.  The Anti-discrimination policy also addresses retaliation, including threats, intimidation, reprisals, adverse employment or educational actions taken against any other person (such as a complainant, witness or other party) related to a good faith complaint or belief that a complaint had been lodged. 

Read more about Goal 5 on UN website