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This study explores the perceptions of female middle managers of academic faculties at three universities in Zimbabwe to ascertain their lived experiences, feelings, opinions, and views regarding gender equality in the discharge of their duties. Open-ended, semi-structured, and in-depth interviews were employed for data collection. This method enabled the female deans to describe and reflect on their experiences. Engagement with the female deans of academic faculties revealed that: a) Promotion of women into deanship positions did not translate into eradication of gender-based discrimination against them; b) A lack of a broader vision of gender equality was observed which limited conscious efforts to address all facets of gender equality. Gender equality, as enshrined in some of the universities' mission statements, remains just rhetoric rather than reality; c) No gender training, sensitization, or awareness was conducted at the institutions; hence a culture of conscious gender inclusion was not cultivated; d) The mainstream attitudes and relations that once kept women at bay were never interrogated when these female deans were hired. This indicated that the integrationist strategy of mainstreaming women into leadership lacked a transformative ethic or revolutionary potential e) Gender inequality tended to lower self-esteem, productivity, and efficiency of the female deans. This study concluded that hegemonic masculinity was very alive, strongly felt, and experienced by women deans despite the strides to achieve gender parity. This article--which brings out the nature, context, and consequences of the exclusionary tendencies towards female deans--ends by providing a prescription that could see universities' aspirations for gender equality turned into accomplishments and excellence as far as middle-level leadership is concerned. This prescription is the novelty of the study. Keywords: Gender equality, Gender mainstreaming, Higher education, Introduction Zimbabwe is heralded as one country where men's vis-a-vis women's education has progressed tremendously, and great strides are being made to achieve parity in the various sectors of the [...]

This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The researcher's interest arose from the realisation of persistent gender inequalities despite initiatives to close gender gaps. Of particular concern is the conceptualization and operationalisation of gender equality in institutions. Focusing only on the student admissions sector, this paper critically surveys the experiences of the departmental chairpersons and students who enrolled through affirmative action, their vision of gender equality and the impact thereof on the inclusion of the said students in the mainstream. The study applied a gender perspective to development as well as in-depth and focus group interviews with purposively sampled stakeholders. The findings of the study shed light on the adopted tailoring model of gender equality by the institutions and how the model blinkered the other qualitative gender dimensions of the mainstream, rendering the envisaged goal of gender equality elusive due to the exclusion of the students from the mainstream. Based on the findings, useful recommendations are made to resuscitate the almost paralysed gender equality agenda of the institutions.

The paper is based on a collection of text posters displayed on the inside and outside body of commuter omnibuses. Direct observation and collection of these posters formed the main data collection technique. Combining I. A. Richards' tools of literary analysis with those of the feminist theory, the article teases out the images of women, weighing them with the reality of women in the new millennium. The purpose was to determine whether the manner in which women in Zimbabwe are portrayed by the commuter omnibus posters was consistent with Zimbabwean women in the new millennium. A content analysis found the poster portrayals of women more insulting, offensive and negative than the reality on the ground. The paper advocates for a 'cross over' of images of women that is in tandem with change in the social structure. The paper ends by a strong recommendation for the need for extensive and intensive gender sensitisation of members of civil society that tries to change public perceptions of what women and womanhood entail. Keywords: Image, content analysis, I.A.Richards, poster, communication, new millennium,, Introduction The commuter omnibus in Zimbabwe is by far the largest means of transport of most urban commuters. No other means of transport rivals it, especially since there are no [...]

This article explores concerns about gender inequality in Zimbabwean state universities. The researcher's interest arose from the realisation of persistent gender inequalities despite initiatives to close gender gaps. Of particular concern is the conceptualization and operationalisation of gender equality in institutions. Focusing only on the student admissions sector, this paper critically surveys the experiences of the departmental chairpersons and students who enrolled through affirmative action, their vision of gender equality and the impact thereof on the inclusion of the said students in the mainstream. The study applied a gender perspective to development as well as in-depth and focus group interviews with purposively sampled stakeholders. The findings of the study shed light on the adopted tailoring model of gender equality by the institutions and how the model blinkered the other qualitative gender dimensions of the mainstream, rendering the envisaged goal of gender equality elusive due to the exclusion of the students from the mainstream. Based on the findings, useful recommendations are made to resuscitate the almost paralysed gender equality agenda of the institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]