adminThe usual reason is that the boys are expected to be providers and heads of future families while girls could get married and be looked after by men. In a bid to have sons, there are also men who even go to the extent of having extra-marital affairs just because the wife is giving birth to girls. At times one wonders what will happen if those girls fail to get married or choose not to get married, or what happens when the same bread winner dies.
While nowadays some parents are quite aware of the correct position that their children ought to obtain the same education and treatment irrespective of sex, other parents still revert to the archaic, ingrained cultural perceptions and stereotypes that offer differential treatment to the boy and the girl child. A certain family has seven girls and the reason is that those were futile trials to have a boy child. Numerous examples can be cited of girls who have done wonders for their parents so much that one wonders what is so special about a boy child.
Some parents also go to an extent of giving chores at home according to gender thereby forcing the girl child to have little time for study. While the girl child is busy assisting the mother with the household chores, the boy will be busy doing his homework.
Comparisons in terms of intelligence between the boy and girl child further complicates the issue. Research however, has revealed that usually differential treatment of boys and girls is highly determined by such attributes as the parent’s life exposure, educational level and their geographical location.
In the book Life Skills, Sexual Maturation and Sanitation by Professor Stewart, boys and girls interviewed also confirmed the parents’ views on the provision of life skills as the girls indicated that they expected to be provided with home management skills and boys identified a series of masculine skills. It has been observed that these images portrayed by boys and girls also affect their self-image, performance and even their expectations from the educational system. No wonder most girls have a negative attitude towards Mathematics and Science subjects.
According to SARDC 1997 and UNICEF 1995, tracking disparities in cognitive achievement in Zimbabwe at all levels since 1993, shows girls scoring lower than boys in Science and Mathematics. The girls tend to perform better in the Arts, Humanities and Languages. The curriculum might appear gender-neutral but the hidden curriculum may affect the children’s gender specific choices in life.
It is also unfortunate that girls are faced with other problems such as menstruation, teenage pregnancy and early marriages some which are compounded by the parents themselves. These factors also affect girls’ academic achievements, attainment and performance. Writing in 1998, a prominent local educationist argues that 73,1 percent of girls reach Grade Seven, 47,1 percent proceed to Form One, 29,9 percent proceed to Form Four and only 1,5 percent proceed to Form Five. This suggests that the education system may be pushing out the girls while something outside school might be pulling the girls out of school. This is an indication of interplay of in-school and out-of-school factors that account for girls lower rates of completion and participation in education. Some authors though postulate that there is significant improvement in retention rates of girls in schools. The tables below bear testimony to these arguments:
Estimated total enrolments by levels in the Zimbabwean Education System 1999
Level Female Male Total
Primary schools 1 045 07 4 1251 533 2 296 607
Secondary schools 391 813 443 067 834 880
Tertiary institutions 1 456 543 1725 710 3 182 253
Source: CSO 2001
Basic Literacy Rates 1999
Sex Rural Urban Total
Male 88% 97.1% 91.7%
Female 78.4% 95.4% 87.8%
Total 82.7% 96.3% 87.8%
Source: CSO 2001
At university level, women constituted only 30, 1 percent of the total enrolment. Most female students are enrolled in the humanities. At times where affirmative action is used, it rarely brings about parity between the male and female students especially in the engineering and sciences. Of course the issue of gender biased subject choices has to be dealt with at “O” and “A” level stage.
Arguably, there is need to explore the major reasons why children especially girls drop out of school and try to seek practical solutions to these so that the educational needs of both boys and girls receive the utmost attention they deserve.
While the Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training by Dr Caiphas Nziramasanga has not been implemented some of the solutions to the identified problems do not require complex solutions.
The plight of girls and women does not end during years of schooling but spills over to women as workers. In the book Striking Back: The Labour Movement and the Post-Colonial State in Zimbabwe 1980-2000, women as workers are not recognised as bread winners despite the fact that many households would not survive without the services and income provided by their female members. Wrangles on property inheritance between widows and in-laws usually emanate from the same belief that a husband is always the breadwinner even in households where the wife is a worker too. There is a strong belief among the Zimbabwean people that a wife’s income is just there to augment the more important income of the male family members.
In terms of employment, women are largely marginalised and still occupy low ranks. The Central Statistics Office (now Zimstat) Labour Force of 1986-87 stated that only 15 percent of people in management positions were women. In 1983 for example, there were 169 000 women in the formal sector employment accounting for only 16 percent of total employment in that sector. It is sad to note that women are still largely employed in unskilled labour such as agriculture and the domestic sector. In 1992 women comprised of only two percent in the manufacturing sector.
Even where women are employed as farm labourers during off season periods farm owners tend to lay off women and retain men who maintain machinery, provide security and drive vehicles. It is unfortunate that the same women are needed during the peak of labour demand especially during the harvest period. All in all many women therefore are employed in sectors which do not provide any terminal benefits. As such most women remain poor yet research has also revealed that the poorest households are those headed by females. Besides women’s income as farm labourers is far below the Poverty Datum Line and the living conditions are far below the expected standards.
As long as women are not well represented in the workers committee and in the mainstream economy their plight will remain static. It is high time women are absorbed in the high echelons of the social, political and economic spheres so that they can be able to manage and solve the problems that affect them.
Online Reporter