GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES:

PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

By

Prof Olabisi I. Aina Dept of Sociology/Anthropology

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife

Professor Olabisi Aina served as the Director, Centre for Gender and Social Policy

Studies (OAU Ife); Foundation Director, Ekiti State University Centre for Gender and

Development Studies; and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences at OAU Ife.

Outline 1. Introduction

2. What is Sustainable Development

3. What is Gender Equality?

4. Consequences of Gender Inequality

5. Gender Inequality and Sustainable

Development

6. Why Concern For Gender Issues In

Higher Education?

7. International Frameworks for

Mainstreaming Gender in Tertiary

Institutions

8. Gender Profile In Nigerian

Universities

9. Status of Women in Nigerian

Universities

10. A Case Study

11. Closing the Gender Gap: Advocate for

Gender Equality

12. MECHANISMS FOR MAINSTREAMING

GENDER IN HIGHER EDUCATION

13. Problems, Prospects And Challenges

14. Conclusion

Introduction Pre-colonial patriarchal: Oral transmission of occupational skills predominant

trade of the family to mostly boys (in form of farming, fishing, trading, tie/dye, handicrafts, black/gold-smithing among others) and functional skills to girls in form of house-keeping, and raising up of children

Colonial Era: Laid the foundation of the educational system in Nigeria, and also also heralded the distinct gender norms.

Post-Colonial Era:

Human Rights Protocols

MDGs: Eradication of Gender Poverty

Agenda 2030: The paradigm shift towards sustainable development requires a renewed focus on people-centred development that prioritizes the expansion of capabilities, the eradication of poverty and the reduction of all types of inequalities. It is an all inclusive agenda

3

What is Sustainable Development (SDGs)?

1

2

It is a

“universal,

transformative

and integrated

development

agenda.

It

replaces

the

MDGs

It is “Development that

meets the needs of the

present without

compromising the

ability of future

generations to meet

their own needs.”

~ The Brundtland

Commission, convened

by the United Nations,

1983

25/05/2016 4

Three Pillars of Sustainable Development

Affirmed the following concepts

as the three 'pillars' of

sustainability:

1) Economic

2) Social and

3) Environmental

These three factors are

interconnected, overlapping

and interdependent.

The

United

Nations

World

Summit

(2005)

25/05/2016 Oluwatoyin Olatundun ILESANMI (PhD) toytundun@aol.com 5

What is Gender Equality?

Equality between men and women exists when both sexes are able to share

equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal opportunities

for financial independence through work; enjoy equal access to education and

the opportunity to develop personal ambitions, interests and talents; share

responsibility for the home and children and both are completely free from

coercion, intimidation and gender-based violence both at work and at home

(FMWA, 2014).

Overall Objectives of Gender Equality:

Is the establishment of a society in which women and men enjoy the same

opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life.

Gender Inequality and Sustainable

Development

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to

sustainable development and is vital to the

realization of human rights for all.

A major component of gender equality agenda is

the empowerment of women, with a focus on

identifying and redressing power imbalances,

economic inequality, educational gaps and other

manifestations of inequality.

Gender Equality and Education

Globally, education is fundamental to achieving sustainable social and economic development.

Education at all levels promotes health, improves the quality of life, expands access to paid employment, increases productivity and facilitates social and political participation for men and women.

Women’s education is a key to gender equity, justice and poverty reduction, as well as the socio-economic development of nations.

Why Concern For Gender Issues In Higher

Education -I

Universities are the hubs for creative thinking, learning,

innovations, and knowledge production.

University education has being equipping both male and

female students and staff with problem-solving and

production skills as well as modifying their values and

attitudes so as to contribute meaningfully and effectively

to the society (Warrigon – Maikama, 2003).

University education and jobs are currently opened to

females and males.

Why Concern For Gender Issues In Higher

Education -II

Educational institutions are pivotal in seeing the female population engaging in every facet of sustainable human development

Tertiary Education:

Women make up 58% of university graduates

Faculties such as Computer Science and Engineering remain predominantly male

Women are predominantly in Arts and Social Sciences

Research:

The vast technological development and innovations recorded in the Western world has resulted mainly from the products of relentless research efforts and innovative discoveries of great men and women of the ivory tower.

Contributions of Female Scholars to Global Development: Though, many-at-times are unannounced, female scholars have made significant inputs to global development in various academic fields compared to their male counterparts.

Why Concern For Gender Issues In Higher

Education –III (Gender Inequality) Existence of comprehensive gender inequalities in:

Leadership positions: There still exists a prevailing failure of full acceptance of women in the nation’s tertiary institutions’ most senior leadership and governing structures. Only very few institutions have women occupying key positions at top management cadre.

Students’ Admissions, Enrolments, and Retention: The number of males in tertiary institutions as students exceeds that of females.

knowledge Transmission: Exiting huge gender gaps in knowledge transmission, students’ enrolment and staff recruitments, promotions and appointments in Nigeria.

Staff recruitments, promotions and appointments in Nigeria

Institutional management

Administrative policies and programmes

It is therefore important to ensure that these institutions respond positively to the engendering process.

Policy Environments for Mainstreaming

Gender in Tertiary Institutions - 1

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights: This sets the tune for gender equality and women empowerment around the world by making education to become a veritable implementation tool for promoting and achieving gender equity, social justice, poverty reduction and the overall advancement of women.

World Conferences on Women : These have being championing the course of gender equality and social justice principles around the world;

The 1979 UN General Assembly landmark Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

UNIFEM (now called UN Women) advocated for institutional focused approach to women’s empowerment at global and local levels;

UN Millennium Development Goals in particular MDG3 on Gender Equality and women empowerment

Policy Environments for Mainstreaming

Gender in Tertiary Institutions - 2

The Beijing Platform of Action (BPoA) and the UN Economic and Social

Council (ECOSOC) promote the active and visible mainstreaming a gender

perspective in all policies and programmes so that, before decisions are

taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women and men respectively.

The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA): maintained that

an effective gender mainstreaming strategy should initiate and sustain change

processes within the organisation itself – in its

policies, procedures, culture and people.

Policy Environments for Mainstreaming

Gender in Tertiary Institutions - 3

The Dubai 2013 British Council's Going Global conference’s Manifesto for

Change for Women in Academic Leadership and Research states that:

Research Projects: "gender implications and impact" of research projects

must be included by grant-making bodies as a criteria against which funding

applications are assessed.

Gender Mainstreaming: Gender Mainstreaming should be fundamentally

incorporated in all of a university's practices and procedures

Global Database: All higher institutions should have a global database on

women and leadership in tertiary institutions so that it's easier to see how

slowly – or indeed how fast – the situation improves country by country.

MECHANISMS FOR MAINSTREAMING

GENDER IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Gender Equality Framework: Has four dimensions including Equality of

access; Equality in the learning process; Equality of educational outcomes;

and Equality of external results.

Equality of

External Results

Equity Strategies:

Policy reforms;

Curriculum review;

Engendering administrative

process

Engendering the learning

environment

Equality of Access

Equality of Educational

Outcomes

Equality in the Learning

Process Aggravating Accommodating Transforming

The Gender Mainstreaming Process

Institutional Support for Gender Mainstreaming:

-University level ((Gender Policy);

- Faculty/Unit Level

Skills in Gender Analysis and Framework Across

Depts/Units

Review of Curricula/Programmes from

a Gender Perspective

'everyone is involved'

Engendering teaching; administrative process;

and the learning environment

Creating Benchmarks/Monitoring and

Evaluation

It is a strategy for making

women's as

well as men's concerns and

experiences

an integral dimension of the

design,

implementation, monitoring and

evaluation of

policies and programmes in all

political, economic and

societal spheres so that women

and men benefit equally

and inequality is not perpetuated.

The ultimate goal is to achieve

gender equality.

GENDER PROFILE IN NIGERIAN

UNIVERSITIES

Nigeria has over 141 universities registered by NUC (public universities being about 80 and 61 universities are privately owned – only 7% of the total students’ population are in the private universities)

Existing huge gender gaps in:

- students’ Admissions, Enrolments, and Retention

- knowledge transmission,

- staff recruitments, promotions and appointments in Nigeria

- Institutional management

- Administrative policies and programmes

Thus, the number of males in tertiary institutions as either students or staff exceeds that of females.

Figure 1: Students Enrolment in Nigerian Universities -

2005/2006 Session (Source: NBS, 2010)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

PhD

Masters

PGD

Undergraduate

Sub-Degree

PhD Masters PGD Undergraduate Sub-Degree

FEMALE 28,4 28,5 19,6 31,1 35,8

MALE 71,6 71,5 80,4 68,9 64,2

FEMALE MALE

Table 1: Public University Admission Figures

by Year and By Gender

YEAR Sex Application

s by Sex

Total

Application

s

Admissions

by Sex

Total

Admissions

Female as % of

Total

Admissions

2004 Male

Female

486,539

355,339

841,878

69,715

52,777

122,492

43.0

2005 Male

Female

526,281

390,090

916,371

45,256

31,728

76,984

41.0

2006 Male

Female

456,953

346,519

803,472

52,413

36,111

88,524

40.8

2007 Male

Female

911,653

390,876

1,302,529

64,706

42,664

107,370

39.7

2008 Male

Female

598,667

455,393

1,054,060

NA 113,100

-

Figure 2: Graduate Out-Turn by Doctoral

Degree in Nigeria, 2001-2005 (in Hundreds)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Male Graduates

Female Graduates

Table 2: Distribution of Student Enrolment in Nigeria by

Disciplines (Undergraduates)

DISCIPLINES 2009/2010 2010/2011

Mal

e

% Female % Male % Female %

Administration 54124 55.7 43124 44.3 57433 57.9 41799 42.1

Agriculture 26172 59.3 17995 40.7 30360 60.4 19938 39.6

Arts 33067 48.9 34525 51.1 36245 49.8 36601 50.2

Dentistry 872 58.9 609 41.1 849 59.0 590 41.0

Education 49846 52.7 44758 47.3 62852 52.4 56998 47.6

Engineering 65441 82.8 13601 17.2 71584 86.8 10916 13.2

Environmental

Sciences

19779 74.4

6822 25.6

20055 73.3

7308 26.7

Law 15492 50.5 15168 49.5 25124 54.8 23047 45.2

Medicine 24923 55.0 20417 45.0 27964 54.8 23047 45.2

Pharmacy 3766 52.7 3386 47.3 4389 54.2 3707 45.8

Sciences 106003 62.3 64219 37.7 124496 61.4 78130 38.6

Social Sciences 71182 64.1 39813

35.9

70212 66.5 35924 335

Veterinary

Medicine

1874 70.2 795 29.8 1911 71.2 772 28.8

Total

472543 60.7

305232 39.2

533482 61.8

329855 38.2

Women in Leadership Positions in the Nigerian University System:

73

83

66

87

82

82

88

27

17

34

13

18

18

12

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

UNN

FUTO

ESUT

IMSU

IBADAN

CALABAR

PORT HARCOUT

Fig. 3: Academic Staff Profile In Some Selected Nigerian Universities

FEMALE MALE

Status of Women in Nigerian Universities

Masculinisation of the academia in Nigeria: Currently men occupy most of

the top hierarchy positions in the Nigerian universities. For example, only

24.7% of Principal Officers in the Nigerian universities are women, and for the

other categories the trend is the same, if not worst off – Governing Council –

16.9%; Deans/Directors – 18.3%; and Professors – 15.6%.

Academic Status: the proportion of female to male lecturers is abysmally low

Tokenism status of Women: This exposes women to various types of abuses,

including sexual harassments, and poor institutional support for women-

focused issues (since men are largely in control of the management of these

institutions, and are generally controlled by men who are often insensitive to

gender issues).

Table 4: Distribution of Academic Staff by Disciplines in

Nigeria

DISCIPLINES 2009/2010 2010/2011

Male % Female % Male % Female %

Administration 2414 62.5 1446 37.5 2580 66.5 1298 33.5

Agriculture 2094 69.8 908 30.2 1878 70.9 769 29.1

Arts 2017 66.0 1041 34.0 2293 64.7 1251 35.3

Dentistry 56 54.9 46 45.1 75 56.8 57 43.2

Education 1896 58.0 1371 42.0 2607 59.7 1763 40.3

Engineering 2983 86.0 484 14.0 3652 89.5 427 10.5

Environmental

Sciences

1154 80.0 290 20.0 1109 78.7 300 21.3

Law 510 60.2 337 39.8 546 64.8 296 35.2

Medicine 2273 60.8 1465 39.2 2441 62.7 1452 37.3

Pharmacy 261 55.4 210 44.6 341 57.9 248 42.1

Sciences 5907 70.0 2531 30.0 5967 69.3 2639 30.7

Social Sciences 2583 66.7 1292 33.3 2575 69.1 1153

30.9

Veterinary Medicine 123 71.5 49 28.5 282 80.8 67 19.2

Total

24271 67.9

11470 32.1

26346 69.2

11722

30.7

Elements within the Gender Equity

Model

The Gender

Management System

(GMS): is constituted

of 4 levels of

processes, including

creating the enabling

environment;

establishing

structures; creating

processes and

mechanisms for

implementation of

the model

Source: Adapted from the Commonwealth Gender Management System

Handbook, 1999

The Gender Management System (GMS)

Mechanisms for Accelerating Gender Parity in Universities

The Management System for the

University Gender Equity Model Enabling Environment

Political will (Gender Caucus)

Adequate human and financial resources

Policy and administrative framework

Women in decision-making positions at all levels;

Gender friendly admission and employment criteria

Active involvement of all stakeholders (staff, students)

University administration/Council

GEM Processes

setting up GEM structures and mechanisms-

developing and implementing a Gender Equity Policy

mainstreaming gender: administration, academic programs, and student life

Gender disaggregated data available for policies; programmes; teaching;

and research etc.

GEM Mechanisms

gender analysis (communication and awareness levers) - outreaches

gender training (awareness lever) – Union leaders; staff; students etc.

management information system (communication lever) – gender disaggregated data backed with appropriate software(s)

performance appraisal system (incentive/boundary lever)

GEM Structures

Lead Agency: Gender Centre and/or Gender Mainstreaming Office

Gender Caucus at top university level

Gender Implementation Committee

Gender Focal Points (faculties/units)

Gender Equality/Diversity Officers

Gender Peer Educators (Students)

Framework of Action for Accelerating Gender Parity in

Universities

System Wide

Approach to

Gender

Education

and

Sustainable

Development

25/05/2016 27

University Gender Policy Operational Strategies

25/05/2016 28

Operational Strategies for

Policy Delivery

Policy, Linkages & Programme

s Human Rights

Protection

Capacity Building and Skill

Devt

Access to Resources

Advocacy Information

and Communicati

on

Knowledge Management, Research

& Data Gathering

Monitoring &

Evaluation

Coordination &

Networking

Gender Educatio

n

Coordination Framework: University

Gender Machinery

University Council

Vice Chancellor

DVC (Academic

s)

Academic Units

Registry Bursary /Audit

Division

Gender Centre (if

any)

Students' Affairs

Division

Other Units in the Univ.

Closing the Gender Gap: Operationalising the

Gender Equity Model for Higher Education

It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved

-Swami Vivekananda

Step 1: defining the vision of the desired outcome, and aligning this to the

core strategic goal of the university.

Step 2: Conduct a review of the gender situational analysis of the institution

through Gender Audit of the entire institution

Step 3: Document the Institution’s Gender Profile with clear gender gaps

Step 4: Draw up a Gender Action Plan to guide the institutional engendering

process.

Case Study 1: The Ife Gender Equity Model

Began with the establishment of the Women Studies Program in the 1980s, then

hosted within the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

The program brought together the first group of feminist scholars, with funding supports from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

It later dovetailed into the Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies (CGSPS) which serves as a centre of excellence for Gender and Social Development Studies (Aina, 2003).

the Phase I of the OAU-Carnegie Gender Equity Project – (2003 - 2006) led to the major effort at institutionalizing gender equity principles and practices in the university.

Phase I of the Gender Equity Project (GEP) derived from the situational analysis (SA) data collected from the university in 2002,

the 2002 data showed that in over 40 years of existence, female undergraduate and postgraduate students’ enrolment at Ife never exceeded 30%, while only 10% of female postgraduates ever graduate.

Goals and Objectives of the Ife Gender

Equity Initiative

The primary Goal: This is to institutionalize gender equity and gender justice principles within the system, and thereby ensuring organizational effectiveness and efficiency, and to create a more egalitarian university environment with deep concern for multi-cultural needs.

Strategic Objectives:

Mainstreaming gender into the academic and the administrative structures, and the living environment;

Reduce gender disparity in student enrolment, and staff employment through affirmative actions;

Sensitize the public, staff and students on gender issues

Build the skills and competence of gender equity team

Establish networks among implementers of the gender equity policy

Strengthen the Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies (CGSPS) to coordinate the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project

Disaggregate OAU databases by gender for all units in the university.

Achievements Awards of scholarships to 600 female undergraduates in S&T at N40,000 (US $307.7) per student per

session;

Awards of scholarships to 50 female postgraduates at N50,000 (US $384.6) per student per session;

Awards of 10 international fellowships to female academic and administrative staff (at $4,500 per award);

Establishment of a gender-friendly admission and employment policy

Sensitizing and training of staff and students on gender issues

Capacity building for senior trainers of the University Staff Training and Development Unit

Training staff in gender sensitive data management

A TOT Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender in Organizations, with resource persons from the Simmons School of Management (June, 2005)

Establishment of a Gender Web Forum (the forum encouraged a chat on the web on gender related issues, with contributors from within and outside the university community,

Publication of a Gender Equity Newsletter (this helps to disseminate information on gender related issues)

Conducting a number of outreach programs, for example, a Gender Forum on the Air (a National Television Program), which targets members of the society

Annual Partners’ Meeting (i.e. an annual meeting of all African Universities collaborating on the Carnegie Gender Equity Project) among others.

Unresolved Gender Issues at OAU Ife

Slow pace of gender responsive policy reforms and engagements

Although the University has a Gender Policy, much of the mandates of this policy

are yet to be implemented. For example, apart from the OAU Gender Centre, no

departments and/or units actively engage with the Gender Policy;

There is no system-wide gender mainstreaming engagement in the university,

although few individual academics now show more interest in gender research;

The OAU Gender Centre is still grossly under-funded, and has low technical

capacity for the required system-wide engagement with gender mainstreaming;

Although there is some level of political will and support for gender work, there is

no overt support for system wide gender mainstreaming.

Engendering academic programmes is still at very low pace

The learning environment is still largely gender abusive, with occurrences of

reported and unreported cases of sexual harassments and gender violence within

the university.

Case Study 2: Gender Equity Gaps in

EKSU

25/05/2016 35

Ekiti State University (EKSU) Gender Equity Model

The creation of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies which

aims not only at establishing Gender Studies academic programmes, but

importantly to engender academic and administrative processes of the

university.

The initiative targets both institutional frameworks and individual

interests within the organisational complex.

The developing EKSU’s Strategic Plan (2014 – 2018) which now drives the

process of gender mainstreaming in EKSU.

The creation of a ‘Gender Desk’ or a Gender Unit in the Vice Chancellor’s

office which then coordinates the gender mainstreaming process within

the administrative departments;

CGDS anchors academic programmes and professional trainings in Gender

Education; and provides technical supports for the engendering process

in the university.

Milestones in the EKSU Engendering Process

A Gender Audit of the University

System-Wide Gender Mainstreaming in EKSU

Development of a University Gender Policy in 2015

Special support for female academics in the area of research outputs and productivity;

Ensuring that there is at least a female among the 5 University Principal Officers as a matter of policy;

Exposing female academics to international conferences and specialised trainings in their respective fields of specialisation in order to enhance their career progression;

Instituting a gender sensitive recruitment and promotion policies;

Creating a gender friendly work environment and

Mainstreaming gender in pedagogies and the learning environment

Appointment of Equality Advisors and Gender Focal Persons across units

Establishment of Committee for Equality issues in EKSU

Mentoring of females in male dominated careers and fields

Continuous Mentoring Workshops and Career Counselling for young female academics among others.

Unresolved Gender Issues at EKSU The establishment of a Gender Management System is yet to take off in the

university;

A general low technical capacity for gender mainstreaming both in academic

programmes and administrative processes;

The Centre for Gender and Development Studies is under-funded and under-

staffed with a gross implication for the Centre’s oversight functions on a

system-wide gender mainstreaming in the university;

The University Gender Policy is still awaiting Council approval, hence,

implementation is slowed down;

Only very few academics and administrative staff have a full understanding of

the concept of gender mainstreaming;

Also, the learning environment is still largely gender abusive, with occurrences

of reported and unreported cases of sexual harassments and gender violence

within the university.

PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES INSTITUTING GENDER

MAINSTREAMING IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Inadequate funding

Low technical capacity in gender mainstreaming

Climate of hostility towards the exploration and discussion of gender

issues;

Few women heading and managing institutions of higher education,

especially in science and technology;

Few females as students and as teachers in scientific and technological

disciplines

Non recognition of gender dimensions of development outside the

humanities and arts ;

Gender violence in many institutions of higher education

Achievements in OAU & EKSU

Development of Gender Equity Policy for OAU

& Gender Policy and Sexual Harassment Guidelines for EKSU

Organized series of gender-sensitive

Workshops on Institutionalization of Gender

Mainstreaming in EKSU and the

education sector in Ekiti State.

Achievements

Developing and running Academic and

Non-Academic Programmes in OAU & EKSU

Forging linkages and Broadening Research 25/05/2016 40

PROSPECTS OF INSTITUTING GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN

NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Key Learning points of Gender equality and women empowerment best practices recorded in other African countries, including:

Incorporation of gender equality agenda in national Constitutions and development of national gender policies (including Gender Policies for the Universities);

Introduction of affirmative action instruments to correct existing gender imbalance in the respective societies;

Developing gender friendly electoral processes to allow women’s participation and representation without prejudice or sentiment.

Hinging good governance on gender equity and equality principles.

State’s partnership with the civil society organisations to achieve gender equality and gender justice

Decentralisation process at the local level in order to offer greater opportunities to identify potential women for leadership positions.

Engaging the civic education process to support women in politics and decision making and devising strategies for capacity building for effective representation of women at all levels;

Broadening application of affirmative action to other issues such as livelihoods, education, health, budgeting and allocation of resources amongst others.

GM: Strategies for Acceleration in

Universities

ESD

Gender

Education

Two Kinds

25/05/2016 42

Gender Parity & Gender Education (GE)

GE

It provides the basis for the questioning of androcentric

knowledge production mechanisms, and therefore

enriches the basis of scientific knowledge, in particular,

the mode of doing research, and the process of generating

scientific knowledge adjudged useful to achieving

sustainable human development at the Institutional and

National levels.

25/05/2016 43

Accelerators of Gender Parity

Three accelerators that can change the trajectory of

women’s advancement and gender parity in the

workplace:

• Illuminate the path to leadership by making career

opportunities more visible to women

• Speed up culture change with progressive corporate

policy, such as paternity leave and flexible working

• Build supportive environments and work to eliminate

conscious and unconscious bias. A supportive culture

throughout the organization is the top enabler of

women’s acceleration in most companies and

institutions.

The pathways to establishing socially and

politically sustainable gains for gender parity in

tertiary institutions in Nigeria include:

1. Institutionalization of ‘Gender Mainstreaming’;

2. Engagement with strong visionary leaders;

3. Full integration of programs into university

culture and academia;

4. Mainstreaming gender into the university

curricula and pedagogies

5. Review of gender-blind policies, planning,

programmes and projects

45

RECOMMENDATIONS: A Push for Gender Equality

in Tertiary Institutions -Recommendations

25/05/2016

CONCLUSION Mainstreaming of gender in the education system is multi-fold.

Gender issue is systemic and requires being treated as a cross-cutting issue in both teaching and research processes.

The treatment of gender issue or concern that is not based on evidential data is often treated casually or with sentiments. It is therefore important to start off with a situation analysis which provides basis for a baseline argument and evidence. This allows future monitoring for change and evaluation

Gender mainstreaming is a means to an end rather than being an end in itself. It is therefore dynamic, for it allows a process for change and alternative options which are also subject to future changes

The education system should implement gender mainstreaming through the introduction of gender sensitive teaching methods and learning content, the revision of curricula and of teaching material, ensure the use of non-sexist and inclusive language, promote and ensure equal educational and training opportunities and full and equal participation of women and men in the different structures of the system: administration, policy making and decision taking.

Implement an awareness-raising campaigns and training initiatives targeting relevant stakeholders in the school system in order to reverse the trend and move towards de facto gender equality.

& have a Good day – Mercie Gracia!

25/05/2016 48