CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN PARTICIPATING IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNINGAT THE ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY:A Case of Matabeleland North and Bulawayo Regions

Abstract

This paper recognizes that women‘s participation in higher education is very low.

Women’s marginalization in higher education stems from the traditional patriarchal

tendencies, customary law and colonialism. The paper discusses the opportunities and

challenges that female students face in trying to access distance education in Zimbabwe.

Female students are under-represented at ZOU, the sole open and distance learning

institution in Zimbabwe. The female student population is worsened by the fact that a

larger proportion of them than male students drop out. The reasons for this are multiple

but revolve around women’s multiple roles of home keeper, wife and mother. The paper

focuses on Matabeleland North and Bulawayo Regions in order to compare a rural and an

urban set up. Data was collected from ZOU students and lecturers through in-depth

interviews. It is hoped the paper will bring to the fore the various challenges that female

students encounter and finally emerge with some possible intervention strategies that

could help increase the number of female students’ participation in distance education.

The Gender approach to development (GAD) will also guide this study. GAD analysis

highlights the incentives and constraints associated with the work of women and men

and highlights differences in their roles, workloads, access to resources and decision

making opportunities, the impact of interventions on them and the implications for

planning and implementation. The gender approach to development advocates for the

lessening of social inequalities between men and women. Gender as a policy criterion has

been found to reduce poverty, raises farm efficiency and improves natural resources

management (Ellis, 2000). It also emphasises participatory approaches as a tool to

empower women through their articulation of their needs, rights and capabilities.

Communities should be encouraged to embrace the gender approach when focusing on

development issues in communities. Once women are empowered and have the social and

economic resources the quality of life of their households improves. If women therefore

contribute so much to the social well-being of families in particular and communities in

general it is therefore necessary for policy makers to develop policies that enable

communities to improve women’s access to resources like distance education.

Keywords

• -

Kaynakça

1. Abiodun, F. O. (2008). Distance Learning and Women Marginalization: The Gender Oriented Perspective (G.O.P). Paper presented at The Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open and Distance Learning (PCF5). http://wikieducator.org/images/e/e8/PID_746.pdf accessed on 6th August 2011.
2. Annual Reports of the Secretary for Education, 1981-1991.
3. Benza, T. (2001). “ZOU extends the frontiers of Tertiary education beyond the Traditional Boundaries in Zimbabwe in M.A Izuagie, (ed). International Journal of Distance Education, 1 (1): 18-40.
4. Cragg, B.; Andrusyszyn, M. A and Fraser, B. (2005). Double Days: Implications for Women Studying by Distance Education While Maintaining Work and Family Responsibilities. North American Consortium of Nursing Allied Health International Corporation, November.
5. Government of Zimbabwe. (1999). Zimbabwe Open University Act. Harare: Governement Printers.
6. Gudhlanga, E.S. and Chabaya, O. (2001). Striving to achieve gender equity in education: a Zimbabwean experience- successes and challenges. Paper presented to the SASE 27 Annual Conference, Pietersburg, South Africa, 26-29 September.
7. Haralambos M. (199). Sociology Themes and Perspectives. London: University Tutorial Press.
8. Hochschild, A. 1989 The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution in the Home. New York; Viking.

9. Makamure, K. (1996). Equality of Women And Affirmative Action In Zimbabwe, Paper presented at the Department of Public Law Seminar, University of Zimbabwe, 23 May.
10. Nyaruwata, L. T. (2010). Open and Distance Learning Strengthening Space of Higher Education, Zimbabwe Challenges and Experiences. http://events.aou.org/userfiles/file/.../leonorah_nyaruwata_promotingodl. Accessed on 11-08-11 at 1430 Hrs.
11. Statistical Year Book (1993). Harare: Central Statistics Office ZOU International Conference on Research and Scholarship, Harare, 16-17 June 2011. ZOU Institutional Statistics, Harare: ZOU.
12. UNESCO (2002). Open and Distance Learning: Trends, Policy and Strategy Considerations. http://www.scrib.com/doc/20177079/Open-Learning-Distance-Education. (accessed on 21st July, 2011).