women access to science at the university of dar es salaam - Ozean ...

European Journal of Educational Studies 2(3), 2010PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND FUTURE TRENDSThe findings have revealed the consistently lower rate of enrolment of females in science and engineeringdisciplines in the University of Dar es Salaam. Despite the remarkable recent progress in female enrolmentand performance owing to positive actions and sensitization campaigns, gender disparities still exist and arequite striking in some disciplines.Indeed some possible reasons for the low female science admission at the University of Dar es Salaamrevealed in table 1 and 2 are suggested below. First, the admission criteria, or standards, by which so manysecondary school test takers are weeded out, may simply be too much high, given the realities of poorlypaid and unmotivated teachers plus inadequate teaching and learning facilities in many secondary schoolsin Tanzania, especially public secondary schools.Additionally, the findings here have revealed that the education plans of action have led to significantimprovement in female‟s science enrolment at the University of Dar es Salaam, although male students stilloutnumber female enrolment. It also agrees with the observation of Morley (1997) that there is need tostrategize and create equality in higher education between male and females.Despite the positive efforts of gender-sensitive policies, factors that limit female‟s enrolment in sciencediscipline at the University of Dar es Salaam seem to bring a greater impact on gendered access thanfactors that facilitate it. Bookie Kethugisile, et al. (2000) indicates that social-economic and cultural factorswhich inhibit girls‟ access to education in primary and secondary levels effectively cut off their access totertiary education.Indeed Masanja (2001) reports that in 2000/2001 admissions, very few females qualified for admission intothe engineering and science programmes in University of Dar es Salaam even after the lowering of cut offpoints. Thus, in Africa, based on misconception, women students tend not to enroll in fields of science,Technology, Engineering (Rathgeber, 1995).Further still, the findings show that the much expected 50-50 enrolment between males and females inscience courses is still a challenge. This may be a result of several factors that affect girls‟ enrolment inscience subjects during the lower levels of education. It can also be attributed to the social and culturalbehaviour and perception in relation to the field of science as male domain. Mlama (1998; 2001) cites,among many indicators of the unwelcoming sphere of the higher education characterized by its „maleness‟,sexual harassment, the shortcomings of lecturers whose poor preparation and lack of awareness make itpractically impossible for female students to benefit fully from their learning experience, especially inhitherto male-dominated subjects,in which the few enrolled female students have to endure loneliness and lack of support from fellow malestudents.279