Participation Of Poor Women Research Articles

Trends of Women’s Participation in Engineering Education in the Republic of Benin and Implications for the Future of Higher Education

Engineering, as well as men’s and women’s valuable labours or contributions, are important for the socioeconomic development of countries. This reality and the lack of data in this field in developing countries brought this paper’s authors to investigate the extent to which female and male students are enrolled and graduate in engineering education faculties in the Republic of Benin, a West African country. To this end, statistics of enrolment, graduation, failure, and exclusion of female and male students of the two oldest engineering education faculties, i.e., the Polytechnics School of Abomey-Calavi (EPAC) and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (FSA) of the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), have been estimated using Excel software and available enrolment, and academic results’ books and database. Pedagogical bylaws and other education policy documents were also reviewed for the sake of understanding the gender participation trends of the studied faculties. The analysis of almost four decades (1985–2022) of data revealed that very few (about 4,912, including 694 women) students got enrolled in the engineering programmes of the studied faculties. The total number of engineering students enrolled in the two faculties represents less than 1% of the total number of those who got their baccalaureate over the study period. Of the total number of women enrolled over the four decades, about 25% got excluded, while only about 22% of men got excluded at the polytechnic school EPAC. Meanwhile, at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences FSA, 2% of the women enrolled were excluded against 1% of men. These results show that students are more excluded in the industrial engineering programmes of the polytechnic school compared to the agricultural engineering programmes of FSA. The main reasons identified for the small number of students enrolled in the engineering education faculties were, among others, the limited number of scholarships and places given to the engineering programmes by the government, donors and the faculties due to limitations in infrastructure and other resources available. With regards to the very poor participation of women in engineering programmes, socio-cultural stereotypes, poor social support or care provided to ladies and women, poor gender-responsiveness of STEM education and pedagogies, poor and late information on the advantages of engineering education and careers, sexual harassment, and early pregnancy, are few of the reasons mentioned by interviewees. More advocacy and more gender-responsiveness of further interventions might help improve the overall number of engineering students and the participation of women and other valid but less-represented people in engineering education programmes in universities of the Republic of Benin.

Rural development through people's participation in Gram Sabha: A study from Central India

Rural development can never be possible without a robust implementation of governmental policies in rural regions. The Panchayati Raj institutions were introduced in India in 1993 with the goal of rural development through the people's participation. In this context, this study explores the level of involvement of villagers in Gram Sabha and their awareness of state development policies and investigates gender participation in rural development. The study adopts both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The data have been collected from the village Chitoura, Sagar, district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) via semi-structured interview methods, case studies, and observations. A total of 50 villagers were selected as respondents through random sampling. Notably, the findings point out that the Panchayati Raj institutions are failing to deliver the development policies on the ground due to a lack of awareness among the villagers and poor participation of women in village activities. This study recorded that caste and gender hinder rural development as some specific castes gained more benefits from the Panchayati Raj institution. Keywords: Gram sabha; Panchayati Raj institution; rural development; women representatives.

Do Gender-Based Disparities in Authorship and Editorship Exist in Healthcare Simulation Journals? A Bibliometric Review of the Research.

Publication in peer-reviewed journals, and serving on editorial boards, is considered an indicator of academic productivity and success, and a means of influencing discourse and practice in a field. This bibliometric review explored gender in authorship, and editorship, across the 3 existing English language, nonspecialty specific healthcare simulation journals. In total, 40.4% of publications had women first authors and 34.4% had women senior authors. There were no differences by journal and no apparent changes over time. Poor participation of women on editorial boards (38.1% of editorial board members were women) was observed. The observed level of representation of women as first and senior authors, and on editorial boards, is comparable with other health sciences domains but nonetheless warrants attention and improvement. Future research examining the profile of those working within simulation or evaluating strategies to improve the participation of women within healthcare simulation research and journals would be of interest.

A formal future is possible: unpacking perceptions perpetuating African women's informalisation

This paper presents women's nurtured perceptions as possible drawbacks to their progression into formal system. Findings show that women sometimes hold limiting perceptions on things of economic relevance. This was established by interrogating women's perceptions on value and type of property ownership, business growth and associated risk among other things using netnographic focus group discussions. The major underlying factor, as will be exposed, emerged as cultural factors and socialisation nurturing women into subordination to patriarchal systems. This, to a great extent, confines women to informal sector culminating in poor participation of women in formal economic spheres. In the long-term, unchecked continuation of this informalisation is detrimental as it lays a wrong precedence in which the history being created will be a history of women as 'masters' of informal space. The paper unpacks the formal space, demystify existing perceptions on things of economic relevance and set women on a path leading into a future of participating in the formal sphere.

A formal future is possible: unpacking perceptions perpetuating African women's informalisation

This paper presents women's nurtured perceptions as possible drawbacks to their progression into formal system. Findings show that women sometimes hold limiting perceptions on things of economic relevance. This was established by interrogating women's perceptions on value and type of property ownership, business growth and associated risk among other things using netnographic focus group discussions. The major underlying factor, as will be exposed, emerged as cultural factors and socialisation nurturing women into subordination to patriarchal systems. This, to a great extent, confines women to informal sector culminating in poor participation of women in formal economic spheres. In the long-term, unchecked continuation of this informalisation is detrimental as it lays a wrong precedence in which the history being created will be a history of women as 'masters' of informal space. The paper unpacks the formal space, demystify existing perceptions on things of economic relevance and set women on a path leading into a future of participating in the formal sphere.

Land grabbing and the gendered livelihood experience of smallholder farmers in northern Ghana: through a human development and capability lens

The phenomenon of land grabbing in developing countries has led to worsening livelihood choices for smallholder farmers who depended on communal lands for subsistence. While previous analyses of land grabs were framed in a paradigm that emphasised outcomes, this study is framed within a human development approach which places emphasis on both outcomes and procedural concerns. The procedural concerns are in relation to representation prior to and during negotiations for land acquisitions. The study is based on analysis of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to assess BioFuel Africa Limited’s investments in two communities in northern Ghana. Results show the company is no longer operating its jatropha (jatropha curcas) plantation and therefore the inability to provide jobs promised. Meanwhile the clearing of large contiguous tracts of lands have had devastating impacts on the livelihoods of women and men. The study revealed that there was poor participation of women in all stages and processes of the land acquisitions for the project, and that the land acquirer had failed to fully implement the procedural concerns of equity, efficiency, participation and sustainability in the acquisitions of lands for the project. It is recommended that large-scale land deals should be conditioned on proper disposal and utilization of lands within specified time frames, failure for which land is reverted to original use. Keywords: Land Grabs, Equity, Efficiency, Participation, Sustainability

ASSESSMENT ON NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN NYANGATOM DISTRICT OF SOUTH OMO ZONE, SOUTH ETHIOPIA

The aim of the study was to identify the local common resources, conducting SWOT analysis of existing traditional institutions, identify how access to and control over of common resources administered by traditional institutions, identify community and government proposals to enhance existing institutional mechanism and other measures to address unnecessary competition over resources and identify alignment of local government role with that of community priorities. The study employed Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interview (KII) to collect the primary data. 1 FGD and 2-3 FGDs were held in each kebele. Natural pasture, trees and shrubs, livestock and water bodies are the major natural resources in the area. The communities in nyangatom have their own traditional way of administrating the available natural resources. Everybody in the community has access to the available resources but the control of these resources mainly lies on men’s specifically community elders. participatory nature of the decision making system and way of acquiring information prior to enforcement of punishment are the strengths of these traditional institutions whereas poor participation of women, lack of long lasting binding rules and lack of regular frame of time for meeting are among the weaknesses. In addition, there are resource use committee’s in the community that administer specific resources. The involvement of government in development of pasture land found to be poor. Increase in population, recurrent drought, disease outbreak, incidences of conflict and introduction of invasive alien species are the threat to NRM. Rehabilitation of the depleted grazing lands and introduction of improved pasture management, Maintenance, rehabilitation and construction of water infrastructure, improving livestock health, Expanding small scale irrigation, Ensuring security and Countering prosopisjuliflora were the mitigation measures suggested by the community.

Gender Politics and the 2011 Elections

This paper provides an analysis of the results of the 2011 elections by gender and offers an explanation for the trends noted. It observes that since the 2011 elections there has been a slight fall in the number of women in elected positions. Nigeria is still a long way from meeting the international standard of 35% representation for women. Factors accounting for the situation include structural issues of religion and culture, women's lack of access to funds, godfatherism in the political parties and the undemocratic disposition of party leaders, political and electoral violence and vote buying. Arguing that increased participation of women will improve the quality of decision-making by enriching the harvest of ideas to inform policy, it maintains that the poor participation of women in politics casts doubts on Nigeria's democratic credentials. Democracy relies on the principles of liberty, equality and full participation of all citizens in government activities. The 2011 election results show that the needs and interests of women will remain peripheral and that the presence of a critical mass of women in decision-making processes and leadership positions will be achieved only in the long run.

The gender and poverty nexus in the DFID White Paper: opportunity or constraint?

This article considers the implications of the strong poverty focus in the new White Paper for advancing gender equality. Recognizing that there are efficiency arguments in its focus on poor women and some dangers in too rigid a link being made between gender and poverty, it is argued that an equity and empowerment focus nevertheless inform the gender and poverty nexus. This does not necessarily imply that women's subordination is adequately dealt with. Making gender a cross-cutting issue in human rights goes some way towards escaping an anti-poverty approach to women. However, this does not automatically address gender relations and there are some contradictions even within the human rights focus itself. Beyond the principles of the White Paper, the real potential for promoting women's empowerment and advancing gender equity lies in its practice. The commitment to building partnerships needs to be extended to gender equitable partnerships which imply developing skills and new forms of practice among all partners to accommodate the participation of poor women, and recognising that accountability is a two-way street. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.