1st Edition
Gender-Inclusive Higher Education in Tanzania Transforming Academia
Whilst there is an extensive body of research exploring the barriers to gender equality and female empowerment in high-income states, there are far fewer systematic analyses within lower-income settings. This book draws on extensive empirical data to analyse gender mainstreaming and gender transformative actions in Tanzanian higher education.
The book maps the practical landscape of gender mainstreaming across 14 universities in Tanzania, and the theoretical landscape of African theories of masculinities and femininities underpinning educational institutions and practices. It then assesses the Gender Awareness and Transformation through Education project, which was designed to support the development of gender expertise and capacities in research and education at one specific institution, across both its administrative and academic units. Current and future academics at Dar es Salaam University College of Education were trained in gender-based research and education, and a strategic plan was developed to guide in the establishment of a Gender Research Centre that will provide gender expertise in research and teaching to the College; and, over time, to other HEIs nationally and regionally. By bringing together real-world insights from action-based research, the book demonstrates the impact of real-time social change and gender transformation, with implications both for Tanzania and beyond.
Bringing novel empirical insights and policy recommendations, this book will be of interest to researchers and policy makers across the fields of gender studies, education, and African studies.
Introduction and Challenge
Susan P. Murphy and Perpetua John Urio
Part I: Gender Relations and Knowledge in Tanzania
Chapter 1: Gender Equality Practices in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania: Opportunities and Challenges
Ikupa Moses, Perpetua John Urio and Susan P. Murphy
Chapter 2: Exploring Female Academics Underrepresentation in Senior Leadership Positions: A case of Public and Private Universities in Tanzania
Anna Mwakitalu, Joseph Roche and Susan P. Murphy
Chapter 3: Exploring the Gendered Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Academic Staff in Tanzania
Perpetua John Urio, Susan P. Murphy, Ikupa Moses, Consolata Chua and Immanuel Darkwa
Chapter 4: Knowledge Mapping of African Theories on Gender Masculinities and Femininities: A Scoping Review
Ikupa Moses and Carlotta Smalen
Part II: Insights from the GATE Project
Chapter 5: Gender Awareness and Transformation through Education: the promise and perils of a participatory action research project
Susan P. Murphy, Perpetua John Urio, Immanuel Darkwa, Christina Raphael and Ikupa Moses
Chapter 6: Case Study: Disruptive development: Exposing and Unpacking Accounts of Gender Stereotyping in a Teacher-Training College - Tanzania
Samar Mudawi, Susan P. Murphy, Perpetua John Urio and Ikupa Moses
Chapter 7: To what degree do students’ perceptions of gender norms influence their participation in Higher Learning? Case study of trainee-teachers in Tanzania
Consolata Chua, Catherine Devine, Perpetua John Urio, Ikupa Moses and Susan P. Murphy
Chapter 8: Transforming Gender Relations and Dynamics Through Active Learning: A Case Study of the Effects of Gender Responsive Pedagogy Training in a Tanzanian Teacher-Training College
Perpetua John Urio and Ikupa Moses
Chapter 9: The slow path of progress from institutionalising gender mainstreaming to internalising equitable gender norms: A case study of a Tanzanian higher education institution.
Susan P. Murphy, Perpetua John Urio and Ikupa Moses
Biography
Susan P. Murphy is an Associate Professor in Development Practice as the School of Natural Sciences, (Geography), Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Susan was the Co-PI for the Gender Awareness and Transformation through Education (GATE) Project. Her research interests are in international development governance, ethics, policy, and practice.
Perpetua John Urio is a lecturer of Educational Leadership, Management and Gender issues from the Department of Educational Foundations, Management and Lifelong Learning, Faculty of Education, University of Education Tanzania. Perpetua was the Co-PI for Gender Awareness and Transformation through Education (GATE) Project.
This is an exemplary book that documents how academics contribute to the transformation of higher education through gender mainstreaming in teaching and research, and allows the reader to appreciate the use of gender as a key analytical category in understanding society, and academic processes. I highly recommend reading this book.
Rosemarie Mwaipopo, Social Anthropologist, Tanzania.
This book on Gender-Inclusive Higher Education in Tanzania is a must read for everyone interested in understanding factors that sustain gender inequalities. Universities just like the society they belong, are affected by factors that consciously or unconsciously weave gender biases. The result are structures and policies that advantage only one gender- the male over the female. This justifies the need for social transformation. Only then will female be included in research, leadership and development.
Ruth Nsibirano, School of Women and Gender Studies
This book explores the complex interaction between gender theory and practice in transforming 14 Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania. In so doing, and in this context, it provides an expanded understanding of genders, mainstreaming and equality. Through a detailed analysis and critique of the Gender Awareness and Transformation through education project it explains how changes took place, while respecting the traditional views and narratives and expanded our understanding of resistance and the challenges that such work confronts. This book raises new questions for debate and research, making it a rich resource for all people working in High Education Institutions where social, political and economic issues are being researched and policy and practice refined.
Mary Crewe, Research Associate, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria.
It seems appropriate that a chance meeting between two female scholars with a shared interest in gender equality in systems of higher education should give rise to a decade of friendship and scholarly engagement and this important collection, a significant addition to the scholarship on gender and equality. African relational understandings of gender are given voice throughout the collection. In a field often dominated by the northern and western social-libertarian ideologies of individual freedoms and rights, these new/old wisdoms have much to offer. Despite the ideological differences in the analyses, the conclusions are similar; emerging from a decade of initiatives some documented in this collection, change is slow, hard-won, usually led by women, and sometimes at a price. This collection is a significant addition to the global scholarship on gender and equality in higher education. In a field more familiar with the western focus on individual rights and freedoms, the African scholarship of care and interconnectedness underpinning the analyses is a challenge for scholarship and public discourse to move beyond familiar ideologies in the pursuit of institutional and social transformation.
Prof Anne Looney, Executive Dean| DCU Institute of Education| Dublin City University
