Achieving a gender balance at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania : the experience of women in senior academic positions

TL;DRAbstract

This article discusses gender issues at the University of Dar es Salaam as experienced by women in senior academic positions. It focuses on factors that influenced the women to join academia, their research and publishing experience, perceptions of promotion criteria and their ability to influence university policies. The article shows that the decision to join the university was based on encouragement from Heads of Departments and other academic staff. A number of constraints hinder female academics from competing with their male counterparts to secure research opportunities and publish in order to achieve promotion. These include, among others, the time spent in child bearing, household chores and lack of networking. The article recommends the inclusion of the teaching component in promotion criteria, the consideration of gender in academic staff recruitment, facilitation of research opportunities and confidence building among female staff.

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