A Gendered Approach to Public-Private Partnerships in University Student Housing Provision – The Case of South Africa

Abstract

Student housing is a booming business in many African countries as evidenced by the growing rental property market for students in neighbourhoods surrounding campuses of tertiary institutions. This paper casts a light on the need to rethink gender-fair public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the context of student housing, which has in some cases proven to be a site of violence against female students given its profit-driven motive. Using a feminist lens, we seek to answer the question: in what ways can PPPs strike a balance between providing much-needed student housing and addressing gendered imbalances in current student housing provision models? We relied on an analysis of published and unpublished literature on student housing provision and the role of PPPs in the higher education sector. The discussion demonstrates ways in which PPP arrangements can have gendered implications, impacting students differently based on their racial and gender identities and sexuality. It also argues for a framework that guides norms and standards of student housing to make it inclusive of marginalised students and to mitigate potential harm to tertiary students.