{"id":5045,"date":"2025-06-19T22:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/a-narrative-inquiry-to-explore-lived-experiences-of-women-pursuing-phds-in-south-africa\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T03:19:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T03:19:55","slug":"a-narrative-inquiry-to-explore-lived-experiences-of-women-pursuing-phds-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ijssass.com\/journal\/a-narrative-inquiry-to-explore-lived-experiences-of-women-pursuing-phds-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"A Narrative Inquiry to Explore Lived Experiences of Women Pursuing PhDs in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally published as: <strong>A Narrative Inquiry to Explore Lived Experiences of Women Pursuing PhDs in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Original Article Link: <a href='https:\/\/journals.dut.ac.za\/index.php\/ajims\/article\/view\/1427' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Read Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Download PDF: <a href='https:\/\/journals.dut.ac.za\/index.php\/ajims\/article\/view\/1427\/949' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Click Here to Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Abstract<\/h2>\n<p>The journey experienced by women in higher education spans across the areas of teaching, research and leadership. As academics and scholars within these areas, women professionals find few opportunities to share what and how they have navigated this space. Adding in the complexity and challenges of pursuing a PhD to the existing burden placed on women in a gender-segregated environment can be taboo. In this paper, a novel methodology of Narrative Inquiry of reflective writing is used to explore the stories that may be difficult to articulate. We explore the experiences of women as they discover their leadership competencies and academic identities, and the support, motivation and successes they harnessed to complete their PhD. The collaborative sharing of these poetic pieces highlights new ways to actively engage outside of the existing closed communities. While we know that no two lived experiences are the same, this study will draw on the diversity of the experiences as a unifying and enabling narrative for other women on this path.<\/p>\n<h2>Authors<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Lianne  Keiller (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)<\/li>\n<li>Abigail Ruth Dreyer (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Keywords<\/h2>\n<p>PhD, women, story-telling, lived experiences<\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<p>References not available for this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally published as: A Narrative Inquiry to Explore Lived Experiences of Women Pursuing PhDs in South Africa&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[2153,1600,1598,1599,828],"class_list":["post-5045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-ajims","tag-lived-experiences","tag-phd","tag-story-telling","tag-women","wpcat-124-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - 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