It Is a Long Way to the Top: Increasing Women's Leadership in Ugandan Public Universities
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
It is a Long Way to the Top This is a research report of the CODESRIA: Higher Education Leadership Programme (HELP) Launched in 2011, with funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), the HELP program sought to support research networks, policy forums and publications to document and provide an understanding of transformations underway with regard to the governance and leadership of higher education institutions in Africa. In initiating the program, CODESRIA was motivated by the desire to contribute to the knowledge base and initiate policy debates that would deepen the reforms, as leadership and governance are central to ensuring the quality and relevance of higher education in the continent. CODESRIA Working Paper Series The CODESRIA Working Paper Series disseminates outputs from CODESRIA’s research activities. Working papers constitute work in progress. They provide insights into the breadth and depth of work undertaken by the Council’s various programmes and research networks. These are published to stimulate discussion and contribute to the advancement of knowledge. It is a Long Way to the Top Increasing Women’s Leadership in Ugandan Public Universities Tabitha Mulyampiti Roberts Muriisa Catherine Kanabahita Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa DAKAR © CODESRIA 2018 Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop, Angle Canal IV BP 3304 Dakar, 18524, Senegal Website: www.codesria.org ISBN: 978-2-86978-787-2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission from CODESRIA. Typesetting: Alpha Ousmane Dia Cover Design: CODESRIA Distributed in Africa by CODESRIA Distributed elsewhere by African Books Collective, Oxford, UK Website: www.africanbookscollective.com The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is an independent organisation whose principal objectives are to facilitate research, promote research-based publishing and create multiple forums geared towards the exchange of views and information among African researchers. All these are aimed at reducing the fragmentation of research in the continent through the creation of thematic research networks that cut across linguistic and regional boundaries. CODESRIA publishes Africa Development, the longest standing Africa based social science journal; Afrika Zamani, a journal of history; the African Sociological Review; the African Journal of International Affairs; Africa Review of Books and the Journal of Higher Education in Africa. The Council also co-publishes the Africa Media Review; Identity, Culture and Politics: An Afro-Asian Dialogue; The African Anthropologist, Journal of African Tranformation, Method(e) s: African Review of Social Sciences Methodology, and the Afro-Arab Selections for Social Sciences. The results of its research and other activities are also disseminated through its Working Paper Series, Green Book Series, Monograph Series, Book Series, Policy Briefs and the CODESRIA Bulletin. Select CODESRIA publications are also accessible online at www.codesria.org. CODESRIA would like to express its gratitude to the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Open Society Foundations (OSFs), UN Women, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Oumou Dilly Foundation and the Government of Senegal for supporting its research, training and publication programmes. Contents Preface.............................................................................................................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................................................................ix Figures, Plates and Tables................................................................................................................................................................ xi 1. Background to the Study...............................................................................................................................................1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................1 Universities and the Equality Challenge............................................................................................................3 Organisation of the study report ..............................................................................................................................8 2. Methodology and Objectives..................................................................................................................................11 The purpose of the Study and Design................................................................................................................11 Conceptualisation...............................................................................................................................................................12 Methods of Data Collection and Analysis.........................................................................................................16 3. Gender and Higher Education in Africa......................................................................................................19 A Post-colonial History of Women’s Involvement.................................................................................19 A Brief Description of Higher Education and the Crisis of Public Universities in Uganda...................................................................................................................................................................................20 Current Efforts towards Gender Mainstreaming in the Public Universities..............................25 4. Assessing the Gender Terrain in Gulu University: A Situational Analysis ...............33 Gulu University Establishment...............................................................................................................................33 Access to University Education...............................................................................................................................48 Gender, the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Environment in Gulu University....... 57 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards Gender........................................................................64 Summary, Conclusions, Emerging Issues and Way Forward.......................................................71 vi Higher Education Leadership Programme (HELP) 5. The Gender Terrain At Mbarara University Of Science And Technolgy...................79 Establishment of the University of Science and Technology Mbarara (MUST).....................................80 The Legal and Policy Framework on Gender Mainstreaming...................................................82 Access, Teaching and learning at MUST......................................................................................................92 Levels of Knowledge on Gender at Mbarara University of Science and Technology............................95 Gender in the MUST Learning/teaching environment...................................................................97 Gender and Budgeting...................................................................................................................................................97 Levels of knowledge on gender................................................................................................................................97 Research and innovation...........................................................................................................................................100 Gender-based Challenges.........................................................................................................................................112 Conclusion and recommendations..................................................................................................................113 6. Women Leaders in Ugandan Public Universities:... “It’s a Long Way to the top...”.....119 Experiences of Selected Women with University Leadership..................................................119 7. Overall Conclusions and the Proposed Strategies to Increase Women in Leadership Positions in Ugandan Public Universities................................................................131 Overarching Conclusions.........................................................................................................................................131 Building on the Strategies to Increase Women in Public Universities’ Leadership........... 135 Notes.............................................................................................................................................................................................................141 References..................................................................................................................................................................................................143 Preface The CODESRIA