By Nombulelo Shange
History has been made globally and here at home. In the US, Kamala Harris became the first black woman to become vice-president, while locally we celebrate the appointment of Professor Puleng Lenka-Bula’s appointment as the first black female vice-chancellor of the largest university in Africa, Unisa.
When both announcements were made, I was personally filled with hope and joy that transformation is possible and we are all living witnesses to it. But while celebrating these women in the media, in our communities, within academia and social media, we have done a disservice to them.
Maybe without intending to we have tokenised them, focusing more on the fact that they are black women, instead of on their remarkable career achievements and victories that have built them up to the powerful roles they hold today.
Listen, I am not saying we must not celebrate when black women make it into leadership positions.
They have to be celebrated because representation is so important for young black girls who are often told by the world that they are not important or will never amount to anything great.
We have to celebrate them as black women because they often have to work 10 times harder to get half the recognition.
Many of us in these situations feel powerless and give up and become content with “just getting by”.
Or we end up skipping from job to job, often to find the new environment is more toxic than the last.
“Let’s celebrate black women, they have to work 10 times harder
So when black women are successful in battling these aggressions while making remarkable strides in their careers we have a responsibility to celebrate their accomplishments and list their endless achievements in the same way we do for men.
This is also important because often when women and people of colour occupy positions of power, there is often the assumption that they are purely “transformation” or “BBBEE” hires and are/were not the most suitable candidate for the position.
So I want to take this opportunity to move beyond celebrating Professor Lenka-Bula, the black woman, I want to celebrate her work and scholarly contribution.
I have followed and admired her work, especially her scholarly contribution and leadership style.
In her role as deputy vice-chancellor responsible for Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and engaged scholarships, she has demonstrated the kind of leadership that encourages critical dialogue.
This piece could easily turn into a thesis if I had to list and discuss all of Prof Lenka-Bula’s accomplishments.
So, as we celebrate the black woman, let us also remember to celebrate her journey, battles, victories and even losses.
Let us also do this for other black women who will break the glass ceiling to transform places which will also want to be celebrated for finally allowing black women in, when the truth is that black women fought to get in and their institutional efforts are long overdue.
Nombulelo Shange is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of the Free State.
The Star