FAWE has partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation on an initiative that aims to enable access, professional development and promotion of women in higher education through gender-responsive research, innovative advocacy strategies and leadership training.
Only six percent of African women participate in higher education processes as students, faculty or administrators.
Furthermore, sexual harassment, gender stereotyping, unequal or insensitive evaluation, as well as heavy domestic work and childcare loads, often compound the situation of women academics and managers in African higher learning environments.
The FAWE-Rockefeller initiative seeks to:
- Determine gender trends in staff recruitment, promotion and retention in universities.
- Influence policy-makers and administrators to take action on the gender gaps in employment and leadership identified within their institutions.
- Monitor, track and report on implementation of proposed gender-responsive actions.
- Improve the capacity of women academics and managers to advocate and influence institutional leadership for greater gender equality.
- Facilitate women’s access and promotion to leadership and management positions in universities.
FAWE is working with a number of researchers and advocates in selected African universities to move issues within their respective universities and ensure that increasing attention is paid to higher education and Millennium Development Goal 3 at regional level.