Gender Disparities in Education: Examing the Role of Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Policies in Achieving Gender Parity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/ssh.v1i1.926Keywords:
Gender, Gender mainstreaming, Equality, Equity, Parity, Policies, LegislationAbstract
International concern for gender equality has been demonstrated by several conferences that have been held to address gender related issues. One such conference is the Beijing Conference of 1995. It came up with a number of resolutions meant to promote gender parity. There are a number of programmes and strategies that have been adopted by different countries to promote gender equality. One such strategy is gender mainstreaming. The paper focuses on gender mainstreaming in education. The paper starts by examining the concept gender mainstreaming. It then proceeds to examine the policy framework that has been used in Zimbabwe to promote gender mainstreaming. The paper looks at the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the African Charter, the Zimbabwe Education Act, National Gender Policy and specific gender policies in education. The legal frameworks are discussed in relation to the extent to which they have supported gender mainstreaming in education. The paper also discusses the role of education in contributing to gender parity. The last part of the paper discusses strategies that have been used to address gender disparities in education. The paper concludes that while the passing of legislation, and the formulation of policies that were meant to promote gender equality demonstrates political commitment to achieve gender parity, this in most cases has not been matched by the provision of budget allocations to support implementation. As such the paper concludes that gender mainstreaming still has many challenges as education as a sector is still characterised by inequalities which are a result of traditions, stereotypes, beliefs and lack of support.
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