Parity Of Access Research Articles

Gender disparity in access to education, under-5 mortality, and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper empirically analyses the impact of gender disparity in access to education and under 5 mortality on economic growth in selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from the period 2005 - 2020. The study engaged a panel data of 17 selected SSA countries sourced from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and the United Nations Institute for Statistics (UNIS) and applied the instrumental variable generalised method of moments analytical approach. The result shows that the interaction between gender parity in access to education and primary school enrolment has a significant impact on economic growth. The study concludes that policies to promote gender parity in access to education would be of paramount importance to increase economic growth towards the actualisation of sustainable development goal related to inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities (SDG4) in SSA countries.

Kipsigis Cultural Values and Participation Rates Among Boys in Public Day Primary Schools in Trans-Mara East Sub-County, Narok County, Kenya

Education is the foundation of the economic development of human resources. A country that provides free access to quality education for all its citizens is far more likely to reduce poverty, promote economic growth, lower child and maternal mortality and achieve social inclusion. Despite efforts by the Kenyan government to attain gender parity in access and participation in school by both boys and girls, there are still gaps in Trans Mara East Sub-County, Narok County, with boys' participation being low. This study aimed at establishing the influence of the Kipsigis' cultural values on participation rates among boys in selected public day primary schools in Trans Mara East Sub-County, Narok County. The study used a descriptive survey research design. The study was conducted in twelve public day primary schools selected randomly from sixty primary schools in Trans Mara East Sub-County. The target population for this study was 10,060, comprising 120 parent representatives, 60 Headteachers, 9600 pupils in classes six, seven, and eight, and 240 class teachers. Simple random sampling was used to select 144 pupils, while purposive sampling was used to select 12 head teachers, 31 class teachers, and 12 parent representatives, from which a sample of 199 participants was achieved. A pilot study was carried out in the Mogondo zone that was not part of the actual study involving 33 respondents. The reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach's Alpha, and a reliability coefficient of 0.758 was obtained. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0. The descriptive data was presented using tables of frequencies and percentages, while the Spearman Rho Correlation Coefficient was used to infer the relationship between Kipsigis cultural values and primary school participation among boys. The findings of the study showed that there is a moderate positive correlation between Kipsigis' cultural values and participation rates (r =0.587). The study concluded that Kipsigis' cultural values greatly influenced primary school participation among boys in public day primary schools. Based on the study, the researcher recommends positive cultural values to be used as instrumental tools to instil positive values in enhancing the participation of boys in primary schooling. It is hoped that the findings of this study may be useful in helping primary school administrators and managers, the Ministry of Education, and other key educational stakeholders in coming up with ways of strengthening primary school participation among boys

Gender Inequity in Jordanian Higher Education Leadership: Analysis and Recommendations

Gender Inequity in Jordanian Higher Education Leadership:Analysis and Recommendations Richard Savior (bio) Introduction The higher education system in Jordan has experienced significant growth over the past 25 years as a series of government-led reforms have sought to help the country transform from a predominantly agrarian to an industrialized nation. The focus of these changes was to bring the country's educational policies and programs in line with the demands of a 21st century knowledge-based economy.1 These reforms strengthened the institutional [End Page 1] capacity of the country's Ministry of Higher Education in terms of policy formation, strategic planning, quality of curriculum, and student assessment but failed to address the goal of gender equity in the country's higher education leadership.2 Women in Jordan have made great gains in higher education and are now earning more degrees than men. According to UNESCO, women now make up 54 percent of the total enrollments at Jordanian colleges and universities.3 While advancements in educational attainment are important, women continue to face significant barriers in higher education employment and advancement: women hold a small fraction of senior leadership positions and are also underrepresented in tenured and full professorships, which in turn limits opportunities to advance into formal leadership positions at colleges and universities.4 Barriers to women's advancement are complex as women are not simply denied top leadership opportunities but lack the critically needed institutional and government support required to build a pipeline to such advancement.5 Even when women do all the right things to prepare for such opportunities, they face challenges embedded within institutional structures and cultural systems that require transformative change. Women often must balance the responsibilities of life with their educational and career aspirations that men may not be aware of or acknowledge.6 These imbalances in equity and opportunity have consequence not only to emerging female leaders in higher education but as role models to their students. The purpose of this study was to assess the demographics of Jordanian college and university faculty and senior leadership and examine how gender specifically influences perceptions related to gender inequity in higher education leadership. The study follows a quantitative research design that incorporated data collected from surveys with senior Jordanian higher education leaders. The findings of this study reveal differences in how the issue is perceived, the factors that contribute to those inequities and offer recommendations for progressive measures and serve to highlight [End Page 2] the strategic implications for higher education policy and practice. The research is however limited by the absence of longitudinal data to review longer-term outcomes. Literature Review A review of the existing literature determined that while there have been ample studies on the factors that limit employment opportunity and advancement of women in the Jordanian labor market,7 studies focused on the higher education space were quite limited8 and did not examine potential measures that might serve to address the underlying inequities. Gender inequities in Jordanian higher education are manifested on multiple levels. The country has never had a female minister of education, women make up less than a fifth of its workforce, and women hold just 4 percent of board of trustee seats.9 What is perplexing is that while in school, Jordanian females outperform their male counterparts in just about every subject and at every age level. To cite one example, at the University of Jordan, the country's largest university, women outnumber men by a ratio of two to one and earn higher grades in science, technology, engineering, and math as well in a range of other subjects.10 Although Jordan has achieved parity in access to education in both primary and secondary schools, Jordanian women's educational achievements are not being reflected in their participation in the economy. Despite earning higher grades and more degrees than men, women in Jordan are unlikely to put their degrees to paid use for very long-only one in five workers in Jordan are female.11 In general, women do not go on to have long professional careers after graduating, but rather spend much of their lives working at home as wives and mothers. Specific to employment in...

Towards Achieving Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Girl-Child Education Factor

It is the dream and aspirations of every nation to achieve development. Hence, the policies and laws of any nation whether developed or developing is geared towards achieving development in every sector. To promote socio-economic development globally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were signed (SDGs). The SDGs are the seventeen goals set and signed by the 193 UN member nations in 2015 and agreed to be achieved by 2030. They represent a shared commitment by all member countries of which Nigeria is one to promote and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all, good health and well being for all, gender equality and empowerment of women and girls among other time-bound goals through partnership. Before the SDGs were the eight Millennium Development Goals which were signed in 2000 by 189 heads of state to eradicate inter alia hunger and poverty, diseases, gender inequalities etc. Four years after the 2015 target of the MDGs and four years into the SDGs 2030 target, there is still gender disparity in access to quality education between the boy-child and the girl-child in favour of the former in many countries including Nigeria. This paper therefore examines and tries to find answers to the following questions: (a) how do respondents perceive girl-child education? (b) What factors pose the greatest challenge to gender parity in access to quality education and training in Nigeria? The paper concludes with cogent recommendations.

‘The Ties That Bind’: Indonesian Female Academic Leaders’ Agency and Constraints in Higher Education

<p style="text-align:justify">Indonesia has achieved equal parity in access to education, income, and career opportunities. Yet in many parts of the country, female academic leaders are still highly under-represented in top academic boards. This study examines how fourteen (14) Indonesian female higher education academic leaders (FALs) enact identity salience and agency in performing their duties, while experiencing social control schemas or ‘triple binds’—exigencies of gender roles, unequal power-plays due to social status and positions, and lack of organizational resources and capital in higher education—in Indonesia, one of the world’s emerging economies still consolidating democracy and building necessary social, fiscal, and physical infrastructures. Taken as a whole, the study found the ‘triple binds’ as aggregate constraints for female leadership progression, driving female academic leaders to resist and rise above this discursive struggle and confrontation through sense-making, assertiveness, depth of conviction, a take-charge attitude, and the use of other tactical strategies like networking with key gatekeepers to obtain the resources they need. The study presents a framework of the triple binds that university leaders can use to assess constraints to academic leadership.</p>

Feminism, sexual violence and the times of #MeToo in India

ABSTRACT This article begins with the aftermath of the Delhi gangrape in 2012, which shook India and the wider world. It examines what new insights emerged as sexual violence and harassment became a touchstone for naming what ails women in India, in public life and for feminist politics. The essay goes on to point out how the special focus on violence has obscured the contexts structuring and constraining young women students’ aspirations, namely the peculiar twin developments of near parity in access to higher education coupled with one of the lowest female work participation rates in the world. The arrival of #MeToo in India from 1917, first in academia and then in several workplaces, brings in a further twist. Through the controversial staging of anonymous lists and collective testimonies through social media, the experience of #MeToo in India has revealed the ongoing force of a politics of naming acts of sexual harassment in a hostile climate where “job loss growth” is only going to increase most women’s exclusion from employment and their greater dependency on men. I liken this contradiction to a new form of “hermeneutic injustice,” which calls for vigilance and understanding as protests change their face yet again.

Determinants of Attraction, Retention and Completion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree Research Students: A Systematic Review to Inform Future Research Directions

Expanding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian (hereafter respectfully Indigenous) talent pool to undertake valuable roles in business, health, education, academia, government, policy development and community development is critical for addressing current disparities between Indigenous and other Australians. Parity of access and engagement with education plays a key role in facilitating participation in these roles but has not yet been attained. This article provides an initial systematic review of literature on the state of the evidence regarding access/attraction, retention and completions for Indigenous Higher Degree Research (HDR) students. This article identifies the quantity (number examined), nature (e.g. focus of study), quality (peer reviewed and evidence of methodological rigour) and characteristics (e.g. publication type, authorship) of the limited publications. Using specific search strings (words or phrases of relevance to the topic), a systematic review methodology was employed to search nine databases and grey (non-peer reviewed) literature from 1995 to 2015. The resultant 12 publications were mined with quality assessed and a predetermined framework used to extract and synthesise the characteristics from individual publications. This research contributes to existing literature about Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs internationally in identifying significant cultural and institutional barriers and highlighting institutional enablers which can contribute to attraction, retention and completion. Building on the prior limited research reported in the review, the article highlights the need for further research and provides an initial agenda of directions for universities and government to redress the disparity in entry and completion of Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs.

Disparities in the completion of steps to kidney transplantation: protocol for a systematic review.

IntroductionDisparities in access to transplantation have been well documented. The extant literature, however, focuses largely on disparities and related barriers for African-American patients and none has used the steps to transplantation as a guiding framework. This review will catalogue disparities in the steps to transplantation as well as the barriers and facilitators to completion of each step identified in the extant literature. The results of the review will be used to generate recommendations for future research to improve equity in access to kidney transplantation.Methods and analysisStandard procedures will be used in the conduct of the review. Searches will be performed using the following electronic databases: PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, CINHAL, EMBASE, Cochrane library and Web of Science. Reports of original research will be eligible for inclusion if they are published from 2005 to present, written or available in English language, performed in the USA, enrol adult participants (18 years of age or more), and employ descriptive or observational designs. Two authors will independently screen retrieved articles for inclusion. MaxQDA will be used for data analysis and management. All included reports will be coded for article characteristics; disparities identified; barriers and motivators of completion of steps to transplantation; and proposed solutions to disparities and barriers. Each report will be coded independently by two authors and discrepancies resolved by discussion among the full team. A qualitative approach to data analysis is planned. Risk of bias will be assessed using standard procedures.Ethics and disseminationThe findings will provide crucial information on the current status of disparities in access to transplantation. PRISMA guidelines will be followed in reporting the results of the review. It is anticipated that these results will inform research which seeks to increase parity in access to transplantation.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42014015027.

Girls claiming education rights: Reflections on distribution, empowerment and gender justice in Northern Tanzania and Northern Nigeria

The article considers the analytical connection between two approaches to discussing girls’ schooling and gender justice. One trend considers injustice primarily as a question of inequalities in distribution and raises few questions about the nature of the gender norms associated with inequitable distribution. A second approach looks at issues of empowerment, the ways in which structural gendered inequalities in the political economy and socio-cultural formations constrain the capacity of girls inside and outside school to claim the rights promised by education, but tends to underplay issues of distribution. The article considers what the relationship between these two approaches to gender justice might be though a detailed discussion of baseline data collected in 2008 for the NGO led TEGINT (Transforming education for girls in Nigeria and Tanzania) project. Girls’ identification of the obstacles to claiming education rights and possible solutions are used as proxies for empowerment, while different features of distribution are examined with regard to gender parity in access and progression, governance and management, and teacher qualifications. Quantitative data based on responses to a survey allows for correlation between aspects of distribution and empowerment to be considered across different contexts. The strongest association between empowerment and distribution is found with regard to the levels of teachers’ qualifications, although there is not sufficient data to explain the reasons for this. The conclusion highlights the importance of contextual factors in understanding the relationships between distribution and empowerment evident from the data and the importance of designing future studies to look more closely at the dynamic two way relationship of distributional and empowerment aspects of gender justice in education.

Adult Male Circumcision

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is a cost-effective HIV-prevention intervention that reduces the risk of HIV acquisition in men by 60%. Although some countries are successfully scaling up VMMC, not all are doing this. When VMMC scale-up experiences are viewed in the context of models for the diffusion of innovation, some important themes emerge. Successful VMMC programs have in common locally led campaigns, a cultural tolerance of VMMC, strong political leadership and coordination, and adequate human and material resources. Challenges with VMMC scale-up have been marked by less flexible implementation models that seek a full integration of VMMC services at public medical facilities and by struggles to achieve geographic parity in access to care. Innovation diffusion models, especially the endogenous technology model, and multiple levels of influence on diffusion--individual males and their sex partners, communities, and health systems--remind us that the adoption of a prevention intervention, such as VMMC, is expected to start out slowly and, as information spreads, gradually speed up. In addition, the diffusion models suggest that customizing approaches to different populations is likely to accelerate VMMC scale-up and help achieve a long-term, sustainable impact on the HIV epidemic.

Towards Standardised Summative Assessment in a Neonatal Online Training Programme

An international online postgraduate programme (NOTE.) for doctors training in neonatology has been developed to provide four educational modules delivered over one year. The assessment strategy used and the outcomes for the first module are presented. Assessment methods: Three assessment strands were developed to provide an objective, reliable and valid process, delivering online summative assessment to participants. 1. Contribution to online discussions boards: participants analysed and evaluated information presented as case studies, synthesised a critical response and reflected on the comments of others. Postings over 10 weeks were assessed using a standardised rubric. 2. A collaborative project: participants in small multi-cultural groups composed a “white paper”. This assessed higher learning skills of analysis and synthesis as defined by Bloom's Taxonomy. Two examiners marked 38 collaborative projects. 3. An online multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination comprised 20 “best-of-five” questions. There were 12 sittings of the examination on two days to allow parity of access across multiple time zones and to accommodate doctors working shifts. Results: 170 doctors from 20 countries participated in the first module. 163 contributed to online discussions, 68% passing. 129 completed a collaborative project and 54% passed. Correlation between markers was satisfactory - Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.78. 133 sat the MCQ and 91% passed. In total 121 participants (72%) completed all aspects of the summative assessment. Of those 78% passed. Conclusion: We have developed and delivered an online assessment package which allows standardised summative assessment of a diverse international group of doctors in training.

Girls’ Schooling, Gender Equity, and the Global Education and Development Agenda: Conceptual Disconnections, Political Struggles, and the Difficulties of Practice

This article reviews ten years of political and analytical discussions regarding the global development agenda on girls’ schooling and gender equity. It considers struggles over the purpose and realizability of the global agenda, and attempts to widen frameworks to go beyond gender parity in access and enrollment. Drawing on a case study of one global NGO that took a women’s rights approach, it shows how difficult it has been, even in the best kind of organizational environment, to realize a women’s rights agenda that linked education to other forms of empowerment. These difficulties are confirmed by critical reflections on participation in the conference convened to review ten years of the work of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). However, the conclusions, while acknowledging problems of multiple sites of action, silences, and the attenuation of transformatory agendas, nonetheless point to a richer conceptual vocabulary, a wider range of actors, and clearer strategic orientation than a decade ago.

Spatial Mismatch of the Poor: An Explanation of Recent Declines in Job Isolation

ABSTRACT:Despite years of spatial mismatch hypothesis research, the poor’s access to jobs is not well understood. This article provides a detailed analysis of the distributional imbalance between the residential locations of poor and nonpoor families and jobs over the 1990s in U.S. metropolitan areas. Descriptive and multivariate evidence are presented addressing whether job access for the poor has improved over the 1990s. If so, what factors drove the improvement, and do they help explain the disparity in job access between the poor and nonpoor? Using data from the U.S. Census, the Economic Census and the Zip Code Business Pattern files, the analysis reveals how the change in metropolitan factors over the 1990s explains the gap in job access between the poor and nonpoor. Specifically, the factors which increase parity or exacerbate it are identified. Results indicate that job access for the poor has improved significantly, particularly for black poor over the decade. A decomposition of job isolation indicates that change in dynamic metropolitan-wide factors such as job sprawl and the variation of housing affordability overall impedes movement toward parity in access to jobs between the poor and nonpoor.

Una cartografía social del género en educación

Comprender cómo se trata el género en los sistemas educativos requiere una visión holística de los actores y espacios involucrados. La cartografía social ayuda a visualizar los múltiples terrenos y puntos de encuentro y desencuentro. El artículo resalta tanto la naturaleza independiente de los espacios privados y públicos como la interacción entre ellos. El espacio privado reduce las posibilidades de ciudadanía de la mujer. El espacio público, dominado por el Estado y las agencias internacionales, promueve la paridad de acceso a la escuela y es reacio a considerar curriculos contestarios, como la educación sexual y los derechos económicos y sociales de las mujeres. Los actores públicos no estatales apoyan la educación de las mujeres adultas pero despliegan esfuerzos débiles hacia la educación formal. Este contexto físico, aunado a tiempos de modernización y globalización que fomentan prácticas competitivas, anticipa un futuro incierto en la redefinición del género en las relaciones sociales.

The prevalence of blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring in Boston among non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites.

Racial and ethnic minorities are at increased risk for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Appropriate blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring is a critical first step in identification, treatment, and control of these conditions and the prevention of coronary artery disease. This study examines blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring among non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White subjects. Data were drawn from the 1999 Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) Boston oversample. Monitoring for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were compared across 2515 respondents to the 1999 Boston BRFSS oversample, including (67.6% White non-Hispanic, 18% Black non-Hispanic, and 14.4% Hispanic, any race). Chi-square analyses were used to test unadjusted race- and ethnicity-specific differences, and logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of inadequate blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring by race/ ethnicity, adjusting for demographic characteristics, insurance, source of care, psychosocial factors, and neighborhood characteristics. No significant differences were seen in the adequacy of blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring among the racial/ethnic groups of interest, despite significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics and morbidity. In this local dataset, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics, as compared to non-Hispanic Whites, were not more likely to report inadequate blood pressure or cholesterol monitoring. The data suggest that safety net factors in place in Boston may have contributed to the observed parity in access to preventive care among the racial/ethnic groups of interest. The data also suggest that factors antecedent/subsequent to blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring may explain the observed disparities in blood pressure and cholesterol morbidity and control reported for racial/ethnic minorities.

Universal personal communications in the new telecommunications world order: Access to wireline networks

Abstract Growing demand for wireless telecommunication services raises questions about the terms and conditions for interconnection with incumbent wireline carrier facilities. What has been a minor adjunct to wireline facilities may evolve into an infrastructure capable of providing near ubiquitous telecommunications, with significant traffic volume that never traverses wireline facilities. This article explores the potential for wireless networks to establish parity of access and a correspondent relationship with incumbent wireline carriers. Such an examination anticipates that local exchange carriers will lose bottleneck control as proliferating networks and service options make telecommunications a more porous and less hierarchical process.