Government to investigate low female-enrolment numbers

Zimbabwe’s government will launch a commission to probe why fewer women than men reach university, with the hope of reversing the trend.

The country has the highest literacy rate on the continent and its leader, Robert Mugabe, despite being an autocrat, is highly educated and has invested heavily in the education sector.

Zimbabwe’s state media reported earlier this month that acting Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr Ignatius Chombo said a comprehensive study would be undertaken to ascertain the reasons for the low enrolment for women and to proffer solutions on how to improve their intake at universities and colleges.

Chombo, a former University of Zimbabwe lecturer, has been the acting minister since the death of former higher education minister Stan Mudenge last year.

Statistics for enrolments at state universities and polytechnics show that 56% and 62% of students respectively were male. However, enrolments were higher for females at teacher training colleges, with the percentage standing at 69%.

“This can be attributed to the fact that women have a passion and are naturally good teachers,” Chombo said. “We want to encourage more females to enrol at polytechnics and universities.”

For females with access to higher education, being at a tertiary institution does not come easily or cheaply. According to a recent survey, 15% of women resorted to prostitution to pay for their studies and accommodation.

The report detailed how at Chinhoyi State University, student prostitution was so commonplace that elaborate euphemisms had grown around the practice, borrowing from cricket.

A ‘one-day international’ was a sexual transaction lasting a single night; test matches were relationships running the whole term, while a world tour was an arrangement lasting much longer. Some female students rarely made it through lectures, often falling asleep after ‘work’ during the night.

Plans to institute measures to level the playing field for men and women in higher education coincide with Zimbabwe’s parliament being due to pass a new constitution next month, guaranteeing women the same rights as men when it comes to university access.

The new constitution says every citizen and permanent resident has a right to basic, adult and further education, which the state, through reasonable legislative and other measures, must make progressively available.

The new charter also says every woman should have full and equal dignity of the person with men, and this includes equal opportunities in all spheres.

“All laws, customs, traditions and cultural practices that infringe on the rights of women conferred by this constitution are void to the extent of the infringement,” reads part of the new document.