Report

Gender Barriers Faced by African Women in Graduate Programmes and Research in the Social Sciences

“This scoping study begins with a brief description of the state of universities in Africa, highlighting some current problems and challenges. Section II undertakes a review of literature about the role and status of female students and faculty members in African universities, especially in the social sciences and discusses issues of access. Section III
provides an in-depth analysis of social sciences journals published in Africa and outside. Section IV explores the organisational culture of the social sciences in Africa, focussing
specifically on governance structures and exploring the gender activities that have been carried out by social sciences organisations. Section V discusses measures that are underway to redress gender imbalance while Section VI makes some recommendations for potential activities to support the participation of women in social sciences research. The
paper concludes with a brief review of some of the main findings.”