Study On Gender Equality Issue In Higher Education In Zambia

Gender equality issue is obvious in education in Zambia, especially in higher education. To solve the gender inequality, Zambia has issued a series of policies aimed at eliminating gender inequality. Guided by these policies, higher education institutions in Zambia have also carried out a series of action projects to encourage female students to enter the universities. As a result, to certain extent, the government policies and action projects of higher education institutions have been implemented effectively. But, it cannot be denied that gender inequality is still existing in higher education in Zambia, especially in some specific disciplines.Firstly, from the perspective of students, female students are not treated equally as male students in education start, process and achievement. In some majors or subjects, female students are much fewer than those male students, which comes as serious gender imbalance. Secondly, from the perspective of working staffs in higher education, gender segregation is obviously seen in administrative staffs and teaching staffs, which means male staffs are over-whelmingly more than those female staffs. Gender inequality as a historical issue, is closely related to the social, economic and cultural factors. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the factors that impede the course of realizing gender equality.The essay is composed of five parts. Part 1 introduces the background of the topic, literature review, key concept and research methods. Literature review introduces the status-quo of the research of gender equality, from which we can learn the research methods and perspective.Part 2 introduces the education system, especially higher education system in Zambia broadly to help the readers have a general idea of education in Zambia. Both the development of higher education and gender equality are closely related to the sufficient financial support and the steady educational system.Part 3 is the main body of the essay. It, firstly, introduces the policies and measures that the government and higher education institutions have taken. Based on this, it analyzes the status-quo of gender equality in higher education in Zambia, both from the perspective of students and working staffs. Through the comparison of the two public schools in Zambia, we can summarize the effectiveness of the policies.Part 4 further analyzes the factors that impede the realization of gender equality, from the social, economic and cultural perspectives.Part 5 is the conclusion part. It summarizes the close relation between the gender equality and higher education and highlights the importance of gender equality for the development of higher education.