Current Statistics
The following statistics were obtained from Trends in Public Higher Education in South
Africa 1992 to 2001: Analysis of the National Learners' Records
Database published by the South
African Qualifications Authority.
The statistics are from universities and technikons (which are now
referred to as universities of technology).
The graphs labelled Male vs Female CS Graduates, Females CS Graduates
by Race and Comparison of female Graduates across Disciplines
refer to the number of qualifications awarded by universities, rather
than the number of people.
The abbreviations used in the graphs below represent the following:
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Computer Science (CS):
This category includes Computer Science and Information Technology.
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Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (MS):
This category includes Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Actuarial Science and Operational Research.
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Biological Sciences (BS):
This category includes Biology, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Biomedical Technology, Botany, Oceanography, Hydrobiology, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Entomology, Human Physiology, Genetics, Plant Pathology, Zoology, Human Physiology, Marine Biology, Maritime Studies and Equine Studies.
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Physical and Chemical Sciences (PS):
This category includes Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, Nuclear Physics, Geophysics, Mechanics, Electronics, Metallurgy, Mineralogy.
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Geography and Geographic Information Systems (GiS):
This category includes Geography, Geographic Information Systems and Meteorology.
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Geological Sciences (GS):
This category includes Geology, Hydrology, Mining, Mining Geology, Water
Resources and Utilisation, Geoinformatics and Soil Sciences.
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Engineering - Electrical and Electronics (EE):
This category includes Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering and Telecoms.
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At universities, the highest percentage (32.7%) occurred in 2000 and the lowest
(22.8%) in 1995. There is no clear trend in the proportion of women
graduating with Computer Science degrees, but there may be a slight
upward trend towards the end of the period. There is an large increase in the
number of female graduates: the figure for 1992 was 282 and the figure
for 2001, 978.
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At technikons (universities of technology), the highest proportion (47%)
happened in 1992, and the lowest (37%) in 2001, and the graph shows a
definite decrease in the proportion of female Computer Science
graduates. The numbers of female graduates are increasing from 609 in
1992 to 1260 in 2001.
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When considering the race of female Computer Science graduates at
universities, the percentage of white women has been decreasing with a
definite increase in the proportion of African women. There are
indications of a decreasing trend for Indian women and an increasing
trend for Coloured women.
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When considering the race of female Computer Science graduates at
technikons, the proportion of white women has decreased and the
proportion of African women increased rapidly between 1994 and 2001.
There are indications of a recent increase in the proportions of both
Coloured and Indian women.
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This graph gives the number of graduates (from both universities and
technikons) available
for work in the South African population in 2001, in a range of
disciplines. EE shows the greatest imbalance in gender with BS close to
parity.
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This graph compares the percentage of degrees that are awarded to women
at both universities and technikons in a number of disciplines during
the period 1992 to 2001. BS, PS, GS and EE show an upward trend, and
the figures for GiS, CS and MS indicate that there may be a possible
downward trend in these disciplines.
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Previous Statistics
These statistics are used with permission from the Unit for
Labour Market Analysis of the
Human Sciences Research Council
(HSRC) and were published in :
The statistics used in this page are university statistics and do not
include other tertiary institutions such as technikons and colleges.
The graphs labelled Male vs Female CS Graduates, Females CS Graduates
by Race and Comparison of female Graduates across Disciplines
refer to the number of qualifications awarded by universities, rather than
the number of people.
The graph labelled Male vs Female Graduates across Disciplines
refers to the number of people who were living in South Africa, aged 65
years or younger, and have qualifications in the specified fields
(whether or not they are practicing in the field).
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The abbreviations used in the graphs below represent the following:
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Computer Science/Information Technology (CS).
Most of these graduates obtained their qualifications as part of a
Natural Sciences degree (such as a Bachelor of Science), or Economic
and Management Sciences degree (such as a Bachelor of Commerce).
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Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (MS).
These graduates obtained their qualifications as part of a Natural Sciences
degree or an Arts degree.
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Biological Sciences (BS).
This category includes Botany, Zoology, Biophysics, Environmental Science
and Biochemistry, as well as non-agricultural Soil Science and non-medical
Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology.
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Physical and Chemical Sciences (PS).
This category also includes Metallurgy.
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Engineering - Electrical and Electronics (EE).
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This graph compares the percentage of women and men graduating with
degrees in the Computer Science and Information Technology field (CS).
The highest percentage of women was 32.9% in 1991 and the lowest was 29.1%
in 1994.
This graph shows that the percentage of women has increased slightly
between 1995 and 1998 while that of men has decreased slightly.
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This graph shows the percentage of women in the CS field classified by
race. The percentage of white women has been rapidly decreasing since
1993. There has been no clear trend in the percentage of coloured women
while both the percentage of Asian and African women shows a possible
increasing trend.
In 1998, the breakdown of the percentage of female CS university graduates
were as follows: 68.8 percent were white, 16.3 percent were African,
13.1 percent were asian and the 1.8 were coloured.
The national statistics for 1998 show that 76.7 percent of the South
African population were African, 10.9 percent were white, 8.9 percent
were coloured, 2.6 percent were Indian.
Hence, although there has been some change since the end of apartheid
in 1994, there is still a significant way to go before the demographics
of female computer science graduates reflect those of the whole South
African population.
The national population statistics are taken
from : The State of South Africa's Population 2000,
National Population
Unit, Pretoria, South Africa, 2000.
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This graph compares the total number of women who have qualifications
in the specified disciplines to the total number of males in the same
disciplines (counted from 1991 to 1998).
There are fewer women than men in all the fields except in the BS field.
The BS field has the most women, there are 11951 women in this field. It
is followed by the MS field with a total of 6093 women, the PS field is
on the third position with 4575 women and the CS field in the fourth
position with a total of 3779. EE has the fewest number of women with
a total of 313.
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This graph compares the percentage of degrees awarded to women to the
percentage of degrees awarded to men in the specified disciplines between
1991 and 1998.
The BS discipline goes over 50% and shows a possible increasing trend. The
percentage of women in the EE discipline is below 10%.
The percentage of women in the CS field ranged between 32.87 and 32.13
from 1991 to 1998. It was at its lowest in 1994 at 29.11%. There is no
clear trend. Likewise EE, PS and MS show no clear trends.
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Created by Hlamalani Huhlwane. Maintained by Kegomoditswe More
Last updated : 25 March 2006
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