Geslagsgelykheid: 'n kritiese kwessie in die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysbestel

[摘要] English: Despite various attempts from government quarters to promote gender equalityin South Africa via legislation, the security, safety and socio-economic status ofwomen are still not regarded highly in many cases. Gender inequality is evidentin education where 62% of the education corps is made up of women - yetwomen hold only 20% of management positions. Thus, there exist several criticalgender equality issues in South African education dispensation that should beaddressed without delay.A literature investigation indicate causes of gender inequality which vary fromsocial stereotyping, discrimination, patriarchal attitudes, sexism in schools,curriculum material and education management. The school as the singlegreatest organization in the country can set the tone in terms of gender relationsthrough planning, effective career guidance, considerate relationship betweenmale- and female education managers, participation and effective learningenvironment. Thus can alileamers (boys and girls) be applied to the full potentialof the country's economic and social development. In order to determine if gender equality in schools and communities is a myth orreality, the personal experiences of female teachers and -managers in theirplaces of work should be investigated to find out how much information isavailable through schools in terms of gender equality issues which occursregularly. The literature investigation was followed up by empirical investigations,which consists of quantitative and qualitative investigations.Three hundred questionnaires were sent to two hundred schools in South Africathat was selected on an equal basis to investigate gender equality issues in theeducation system. In order to further penetrate these issues and obtain additionalinformation about gender equality as a critical issue in the education system, including the role of the Education Department in this regard, use was made ofin-depth, unstructured interviews with eight women of different cultural groups ona management level higher that school principal.The participants attest to serious discrepancies between the percentage womenin education and the percentage women on management level, particularly fromdeputy principal level and upwards, distrust of the capabilities of femalemanagers, little practical management experience and insufficient support offemale managers. In addition, ignorance exists with regards to gender equalitylegislation while the low prioritization of gender equality by the EducationDepartment and several contradictory statements in the Schools Act create voidsthrough which the community can discriminate against the female pupil. Although discrimination against women in education has improved, thequestionnaires and interviews confirm that gender equality issues still occurs inpractice. Participants indicate that the core of the message, as implicated bygender equality legislation, has not adequately reached found level.Following summary of the findings of the study, indications are given as to thestate of gender equality in the education dispensation, which voids exist andwhat action steps have already been taken by the education sector. Guidelinesand recommendations for the promotion of gender equality by government andon school level are indicated. Furthermore, it is shown that the various roleplayers in education can contribute in promoting gender equality in education inorder to achieve gender equality in the South African education dispensation.

[发布机构] University of the Free State