"We will have time to reach the Millennium Development Goals-worldwide and in most, or even all, individual countries – but only if we break with business as usual." Kofi Annan
Development Analysts provide commentaries based on their expertise and knowledge on development issues in Africa. To reply to these commentaries, register on the ARYI website and click on "blog", or e-mail
The commentaries are viewpoints solely of the authors meant to initiate dialogue and critical thinking on development issues on the continent and globally.
Development Analysis Vol. 8
By: Anna Samba (Kenya/USA)
Title: A COMMITMENT TO AN ANTI-SEXIST APPROACH TO EDUCATION
I believe that sexism is one of the greatest social evils in our societies today. I believe that with determination Kenya can realize considerable change towards promoting gender equality in all sectors of the government. Gender parity should be practice in government and political offices, job positions, and in all sectors of the government. However, Kenya is still behind in these issues of gender equality. Much still needs to be done even after the formation of a cabinet recently, which saw an increasing number of women getting ministerial positions.
My focus in this article is gender and education. Specifically, I want to express my frustration in the portrayal of gender disparity in school textbooks. The traditional views about women have continued to be portrayed in textbooks and thus continued the cycle of infereorization of women in Kenya. Something needs to be done to have school textbooks that help promote both female and male voices. The one sidedness of the curriculum in school has led to teacher bias in their teaching. The need to train teachers to egalitarian practices and also to combat stereotypes in their teaching should be encouraged.
My displeasure in the representation of women in school textbooks is when I found out that one out of five books published by the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) for primary schools is not gender balanced. The books either fiction or non-fiction have advanced the male voices. Pictures in the books have also been unequally represented.
According to an evaluation done by Rotich & Musakali on the KIE approved list of books and publishers, the conclusion was “there seems to be more emphasis on the technical specifications as opposed to the contents” therefore with such an end how can we expect KIE to promote anti-sexist ideology is they are more concerned with technical specifications of texts to be used in school? Furthermore the same report shows that publishers are given just three months to come up with dummies that will be evaluated for school use, how do we expect a thorough analysis and gender balanced dummy within such a short period? KIE needs to reevaluate their system of operation and encourage critical reflection on the social construction of gender because that would contribute to an increasingly less –gendered world and this should apply to all other places where gender oppression exists (Enslin & Tjiattas 2006).
We therefore need to take extra care to ensure that those who are marginalized and oppressed in the society are not further alienated and disadvantaged by poor representation in textbooks. An anti-sexist campaign need to take center stage to guarantee a revamping of the school curriculum for purpose of gender equality. Women’s rights agencies and organizations should also come in to promote female empowerment and gender equality.
References:
Enslin, P & Tjiattas M (2006) Educating for a just world without gender. In Sage Publications Vol.4 (1) 41-68.
Rotich, D& Musakali, J. Evaluation and Selection of School Textbooks in Kenya:
The Role of the Ministerial Textbook Vetting Committee
