This paper is based on interim findings from a research project on gender equity in
higher education in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Nigeria. The project,
funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, and co-ordinated by the Centre for Higher Education Studies
at the University of London Institute of Education, is investigating interventions for
change in relation to access, curriculum transformation and staff development. It is also
searching and analysing published and unpublished literature from low-income
Commonwealth countries on gender equity.
Themes are emerging in the research. These include the international policy drivers for
gender equity, representation of women in senior academic and management posts;
access as a redistributive measure, gender violence, organisational culture, micropolitics
and the gendered division of labour in academia. There are concerns about the current
distribution patterns of women in universities as students, academics and managers and
the qualitative experiences of women in Commonwealth universities.
The research project offers the opportunity to gain comparative insights across the
Commonwealth. It aims to contribute to multilateral dissemination and scholarship in
an area that has not been traditionally researched.