Gender mainstreaming: myths and measurement in higher education in Ghana and Tanzania

Abstract

This article critically examines the concept of gender mainstreaming and raises questions about a series of category slippages in debates and discussions. Some key concerns are the way in which women are constructed as a unified analytical category, and how gender equality is frequently reduced to issues of representation. It also critically interrogates how gender mainstreaming initiatives can be undermined by sexist practices such as sexual harassment. Focusing on higher education, it draws on empirical data from the research project 鈥榃idening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard鈥� (sussex.ac.uk/wphegt). Central arguments relate to the call for intersectional analyses and how GM needs to go beyond access and representation and address feminist concerns with the way in which gendered power and privilege are enacted in everyday social relations in higher education institutions.

Citation

Morley, L. Gender mainstreaming: myths and measurement in higher education in Ghana and Tanzania. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (2010) 40 (4) 533-550. [DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2010.490377]

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2010