​Policies and policy resourcing influence women's needs and this is something that the state must take into consideration if it wants to avoid making gender-blind policies. This is according to Prof Amanda Gouws, holder of the SARChI (South African Research Chairs Initiative) Research Chair in Gender Politics in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University (SU).

As part of South Africa's Women's Month celebrations, she tells us more about how her work informs policies that can address women's needs.

​Tell us more about your research

 I specialise in feminist theory and gender politics. My research is the theorization of women's issues in the South African context that I combine with empirical research. My SARChI Research Chair covers three programmes and I actively work in all three programmes. I have a book forthcoming with Rowman and Littlefield on feminist institutionalism. The book deals with how the state promotes gender equality and it has a specific focus on the Commission for Gender Equality of which I was a commissioner from 2012 to 2014. I also have a project on women's activism around gender-based violence and one on women in local government.

Why or how did you become interested in this specific area of research?

Gender politics was one of my major subjects for my PhD that I obtained from the University of Illinois in Urbana- Champaign in the USA. Political Science is a very male-dominated field and gender politics made me realise that there were other ways to understand the world. I had great women mentors. It was the beginning of a career that is located in a feminist praxis (living my feminist beliefs) and empirical research on gender equality.

Why do you think this is such an important area of research for South African women?

My research deals with women's representation in government, women's activism and movements and policy issues. My research therefore informs policies – e.g. on gender-based violence or social problems such as social welfare that I investigate through the lens of a feminist ethics of care. Unless we understand how policies and policy resourcing influence women's needs, the state will continue to make gender-blind policies. There are more gender scholars now than when I started my career, but we need many more. So, I also mentor and train postgraduate students to understand the importance of gender-aware research and policy-making.

The pandemic has changed the way we work and live. What keeps you motivated during these times?

I was on sabbatical so it gave me time to write up a lot of my research and finish articles that have been overdue for a long time. I also co-edited a book on the pandemic with my colleague in the Department of Economics, Ms Olivia Ezeobi. We sent out a call for contributions and got 35 essays in which women describe what happened to them during lockdown – the expanding burden of care, the home schooling, the 18 hour days if you have to teach online. Some wrote about their loneliness, mental health issues, some about their struggles with COVID and cancer, some on poverty. But there were also very uplifting stories that will make the readers laugh.

The book, titled COVID Diaries: Women's Experience of the Pandemic, has just appeared with Imbali Press. Olivia and I are very proud of the book. It makes a very important contribution to archive what happens in a crisis like this when nobody is prepared for the consequences. The book really kept me going, as did my friendships with other women. We acted as a support group for each other and when we could leave our homes again we walked every Sunday and engaged with the challenges and triumphs of the pandemic.

Tell us something exciting about yourself that few people would expect.

I make wine on a small scale as a hobby.

What would your message be for the next generation of women researchers?

Be yourself, reach for the stars, but you don't have to be superwoman. Make sure you have a work/life balance (something that is very difficult to do in the time of the pandemic) and form a support group with other women. Challenge patriarchy in your own way.