REGION: MIDLANDS

PROGRAMME: BEDM INTAKE: 38

FULL NAME OF STUDENT MATESANWA DOREEN

PIN:pp1535251d MAILING ADDRESS:TORE PRIMARY SCHOOL BOX

128 REDCLIFF
CONTACT CELI.0773396010 D NO:03-
109834d38 COURSE NAME:GENDER
ISSUES AND CULTURE IN EDUCATION

COURSE CODE:404BEDM
ASSIGNMENT 1. DATE 22
December 2020

ASSIGNMENT TITlE: Discuss the

Theory of Gender Inequality in the
context of your country
 The Zimbabwe Gender Commission was established to monitor issues
concerning gender equality to ensure equality is provided in the
constitution of the country.The commission also investigates the possible
violations of rights relating to gender.This write up is to discuss the Theory
of Gender Inequality in the context of Zimbabwe.

According to the World Health Organisation gender is male or female

roles and resonsibilities that are socially or culturally constructed.Gender
roles can change overtime.Unicef (2000) veiw gender as a social or
cultural condition of being male or female.Meena (1992)is of the opinion
that gender is a system of power relationships that shape in equality
between men and women.Acker (2002) also confirms that gender refers to
male-female differences that are not biological but are based on social
/cultural factors. Therefore gender refers to rules,norms,customs and
practices by which biological differences between males and females are
translated into socially constructed differences between men and women
and boys and girls.The result both genders are valued differently and given
unequal opportunities and chances.

Inequality can be viewed as moral injustice in distribution of resources.It is

the distributing of benefits and costs of any endeavour in a way that is
considered to be unfair.Its the broadest sense encompasses
injustice,inequality ,wrong and immorality.Its a form moral injustice and
unfairness.Gender inequality is constructed through society's law and
cultures and some unwritten norms and shared understanding have with
stood.
Gender inequality is the social process by which men and women are not
treated as equals .This treatment can be from distinctions regarding
cultural norms ,psychology or biology.These distinctions are empirically
-grounded and socially constructed.Therefore gender inequality refers to
unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals beased on their gender
rising from differences in socially constructed gender roles.Gender
systems are sometimes dichotomous and hierarchical.Gender birary
systems may reflect the inequalities that may manifest in numerous
dimensions of day to day life.They stem from distinctions which can be
emprically grounded or social constructed.

Gender empowerment measures moved the focus of gender inequality

from basic capabilities to disparities in choices and opportunities
available to women.The capabilities is revealing gender dimensions of
poverty are important when considering inequality.For instance ,gender
-disaggregated measurement of basic expects such as life expentancy
,education and labour forces and political participation and professional
achievements help in building a complete picture of the extent ,scope and
distribution of gender inequality in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe there is overwhelming evidence that women and girls are

more disadvantaged than men and boys in the societies and the
poor.Gender equality should be promoted in the society reinforcing
equality and the effects would be felt across different social
classes.Gender inequality can be seen informal laws and status that make
official ideologies of a society and its institutions like schools and
unwriten norms and shared understanding that help shape everyday
behaviour in the global world.

Roles and responsibilities of men and women in the domestic domestic

domain also reveal that the wider society views their natures and
capabilities and this constructs gender differences and inequality.Women
and men's participation is in the wider economy is influenced by relations
in the household.Women and men are positoned un equally in terms of
access to resources assigned unequal value in the public domain,The
women in Zimbabwe remain employed in insecure forms of employment
as vendors,cross boader traders where benefits like pension,social
security or medical insurance do not exist.
Most women who are employed still are very vulnerable to sexual
harassment and are still in low level ranks in employment.A very few
women are in top management and decision making positions.Most
women in Zimbabwe assume primary resposibility of feeding families
and contribute so much to the food production in the country .The
women's involvement in the agriculture production is so critical ,their
control over the means of production is weakening with globalization of
food industry .Lack of women's ownership over land they farm may
well lead to massive evictions of female subsistence farmers from these
places being turned to commercial crops.

Women and girls participation in sports remains largely imbalance

compared to their male counterparts. Participationof women and girls in
sport has had a great impact on achieving gender equality in Zimbabwe,
Most male have adopteda positive and supportive attitude and this is now
synonymous with being aware of gendered roles and norms.In Zimbabwe
there is now equality of educational opportunities. Every child should be
given a chance to be admitted in school. Eduaction is now open to all
equal opportunities for all learners. However, there are barriers that block
the accessibility of education to some groups of people. Culture, religion,
economic status of women, history, HIV and AIDS and COVID 19
pandemic, disablities and administrative policies.

The government of Zimbabwe has put in place some measures to ensure

equity and greater participationafter ensuring that disadvantaged groups
and individualshave gained access to education. Educational expansion
in most rural setups where most of the disadvanteged masses lived, the
government of Zimbabwe is now deploying qualified personnel to both
rural and urban areas to address the disparity of trained teachers between
rural and urban setups.The constitution of Zimbabwe requires the
government to promote full gender balance in Zimbabwe society.
Promote full participation of women in all spheres of Zimbabwean
society on the basis of equality with men. Ensure that both genders are
equally represented in all institutions and agencies of government at
every level. The government also take practical measures to ensure that
women have access to resources, including that women have access to
resources, including land on the basis of equality with men
The affirmative action allowed women to get access to colleges, technical
collges, universities. The government further stipulated quotas indicating
numbers of females to be recruited in the institutionsof higher
learning.The Basic Education Assistant Module also now has a certain
percentage of girls to compete for the grants.In Zimbabwe most women
have now been promoted to positions of authority in most educational
institutions. The 1999 Nziramasanga Commission addressed equity at
secondary school level with barners being channelled into areas they are
competent on.

The government is urging everybody to be educated in the community

about the need to give equal opportunity and resources to all learners and
change traditional stereotyped thinking that boys are superior to girls.
During school consultation and speech and prizegiving ceremonies,
schools are urged to document and demonstarte the inequitable
distributionof educational benefits between boys and girls.Facilitators
and parents have to expllore and explain subtle ways in which
educational institutionsare caught up in producingand reproducing gender
inequalities. Change of illustrators in readers, development of non
discriminatory pedagogy.

Zimbabwe is trying to get rid of gender inequality. It established a

commission of Gender. It advises public and private institutionson steps
to be taken to ensure gender equality. It recommends affirmative action
programme to achieve gender equality. The commissionalso recommends
presecutaion for criminal violationsof rights relating to gender. It secures
appropriate redress where rights relating to gender have been violated
and tehy try to do everything necessary to promote gender equality in
Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is trying to balance opportunities between men and

women.Zimbabweans have started to realize that it is unfair not to give
women the same opportunities as men. It is now very important for men
and women to share responsibilities.Women now have the opportunity to
do things that they were not allowed to do in the past. Some men still
think that women are not really their equals. These changes did not just
happen on their own, but as a result of women standing up for their rights
in many ways. Zimbabwe now promote equal gender opportunities in
their constitutions.

R.
School heads in Zimbabwe are urged to monitor situations in their
schools with regard to the nature and extent of any gender inequality
related problems.They should also ensure that the knowledge, skills and
attitudes that address gender inequality problems are effectively
integrated into the school curriculum. Heads of schools have to develop a
strong community - school links that ensure an integrated approach to
tackling gender inequality problems. They are urged to put in place
mechanisms for giving learners, particularly girl child, emotional support
and guidance when it is needed.In a nutshell it is through the
implementation of gender sensitive practices at school that the situation
of the girl child will ultimately improve, with its immense benefits
spreading to the entire community, country and the world as a whole.

REFERENCES

Unicef (2000) Gender Resource Book

for Teachers, Harare, Mazongororo
Printers

Meena, R. E. (1992) Gender in Southern

Africa :Conceptual and Theoretical
Issues, Sapes Book. Harare

Acker, J. (2002)Gendered Institutions

:From Sex Roles to gendered Institution
Contemporary Sociology 21,565-568