Managing the time: Gender participation in education and the benefits of distance education information technologies.
Presentation notes prepared for the Ghaclad conference on Computer Literacy and Distance Education, Accra, Ghana, May 1998
1. Introduction: the client demand for opening up opportunities in distance education.
We have two main starting points in our argument today. Our first point of departure is the Audience Survey of Distance Education carried out by the speakers on a national basis and for ODA Education Field Office, Ghana in the mid 1990s (Apt and Grieco, 1994a,b; Grieco and Apt, 1994 a,b). The survey was carried out in the context of the development of distance education programmes associated with the University College of Winneba on Ghana's coastal belt. The survey revealed a general awareness amongst the teachers, teacher trainers and educators of Ghana that conventional education arrangements for the delivery of further and higher education were not viable options for countries with severe resource constraints.
Distance education was not viewed primarily as a substitute for traditional educational arrangements but rather as the opening up of a new category of opportunities which had not previously been available. There was widespread recognition that the scale of traditional higher education facilities was not adequate to the general up-skilling of the teaching profession. Distance education was viewed as a mechanism for up-grading teaching skills in the context of historical and continuing resource constraints which under traditional arrangements operated as barriers to the University education of teachers. It offers a way of overcoming admission problems at the Universities; admission problems which in the past had operated against degree level qualification for the majority of teachers. There was a recognition that distance education opened up opportunities for those who would have experienced difficulties in undertaking full time residential courses because of their local commitments: however, only one respondent focused on the opportunites that distance education afforded those teachers living in remote communities. Equally, it was recognised that because distance education was compatible with remaining in post while learning, it would permit the mass registration of students for study with least disruption to the Ghana Education Service. Minimising the disruption to the normal running of the Ghana Education Service was seen as an important factor in maximising the number of teachers simultaneously engaged on the distance studies programme. Distance education is welcomed as a practical policy for implementing a general upgrading of teachers.
There was a clear client demand for distance education for adults whether this was in the field of a first degree or in terms of the upskilling of existing teacher credentials. Although the study did not focus on gender and the demand for distance education per se, there were clear indications from those women studied in the course of the research that distance education could be specifically tailored to meet the time constraints experienced by women seeking to improve their credentials in combination with meeting their household, kinship and employment obligations.
Our second starting point is found in the University of North London Business School where there is presently interest in developing a Distance Education electronic MBA with a strong gender content aimed at NGO organisers and other development professionals. The new information technology offers considerable opportunities for the delivery of educational services to development professionals and NGO organisers without their having to absent themselves from the field during the course of their instruction and learning.
From these Ghanaian teachers' voices recorded here it is evident that there is a clear client demand for distance education in Africa: and the new information technologies can enable this to be delivered directly into the field in a way which was previously inconceivable (see 'intelligent development' and 'kente connections'). It has been widely recognised that women have been greatly underrepresented in decisionmaking positions throughout Africa and that measures including improving the access of women and girls to education must be taken to correct this imbalance (Apt, Agyemang-Mensah and Grieco, 1998). In seeking to improve women's access to education, there are certain benefits to the distance education mode, most particularly in its electronic form. There are three features of the fit between gender constraints in education and distance education which should be considered:
Women, as a consequence of their universal multiple roles, experience severe time constraints in the exercise of their sets of routine and crisis activities. Women are those most frequently charged with the health care of other family members and with the responsibility for the care of dependants, both old and young. Taking large blocks of time out of familial responsibilities in order to train and educate is problematic for many women: distance education can be designed in components which better fit women's time management needs than do conventional education arrangements. Delivering distance education in an electronic form will become increasingly viable with the speed of current satellite developments, digital radio, hand held solar technology and on-line education developments. Africa already has substantial experience of distance education delivered by radio: past mass education in Ethiopia and recent experiences in East Africa show the vitality and viability of the distance education form.
In order to manage their range of tasks, women frequenly handle their task overloads by multi-tasking. Many tasks are undertaken at the same time: child care, economic activity, food preparation. Enabling education to be undertaken within the routine scheduling of a woman's day makes great sense within this framework: the use of radio to broadcast agricultural extension materials to African women farmers provides one avenue that might be adopted. Similarly, electronic access to education materials can take place outside of the normal active household hours: women frequently make use of the time when the rest of the household is asleep to undertake many survival and creative activities. Access to electronic education materials through web sites is asynchronous and this quality can be used to better service women's educational needs: women can access web sites outside of the normal active household hours. The use of new technology in delivering education would thus have a very major gender benefit.
The third area in which women's circumstances and the provision of distance education, most particularly electronic distance education, dovetail is in respect of women's constrained mobility. Women, because of their caring responsibilities and frequently because of their weaker access to control of household resources, most particularly transport, often experience highly constrained mobility as compared with their male counterparts at every income level. The consequence is that whilst males may be free to travel to centres of educational opportunity, women very often are not. Distance education, and most particularly electronic distance education, has the potential for clear gender equity benefits in this respect.
In Ghana, the location of the bulk of educational provision is problematic: there is a southern bias which has emerged out of the style of educational provision in colonial times. The colonial legacy was to provide educational facilities along the coast and the impact of this remains in the weaker provision of educational facilities in the North of the country. In the present, the Republic of Ghana has attempted to correct this historical distortion by establishing a University of Development Studies at Tamale, however, this development is unsupported by the major donors. Following on from our arguments above concerning the gender benefits of distance education, it can be argued that are clear gender equity arguments which could be advanced in support of the establishment and resourcing of the University of Development Studies in Tamale. Women from the North would find it easier to travel to Tamale for studies than to travel to and reside in the south for their higher education. Northern women on distance education courses could more readily attend short residential components of courses at UDS, Tamale than would be the case if such components are primarily located on the coastal belt.
Designing distance education courses out of UDS which specifically attended to gender equity given the regional imbalance of educational provision could prove a sustainable basis for attracting donor funds. As of yet, it seems the gender equity component of the case for financing the University of Development Studies at Tamale has not been addressed. This conference organissed by the Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance Education organisation represents an appropriate point to reflect on the links between gender, distance education and the geographical distribution of educational establishments within Ghana. A donor financed exploration of these issues would be an appropriate step to take: the importance of regional equity in achieving gender equity in education is critical given the time, task and mobility constraints of women.
2. Understanding the constraints, designing for improved gender delivery of educational services.
The consequences of understanding the time constraints imposed by women's task loads for the provision of distance education are clear.
From our earlier arguments, it is clear that education and the management of time necessary to undertake education is a gender equity issue of considerable proportion. In moving forward with this approach, resourcing the distance education forms best able to deliver education in an appropriate time frame for women must be a priority. Electronic forms of education can be developed with a specific gender perspective, though currently it seems as if this issue has not received sustained attention in any particular distance education initiative. As we have already indicated the asynchronous qualities of electronic education make it particularly suitable for women.
Electronic forms of education can be modelled on or involve the following:
The electronic delivery of education to women in Africa could take place through a range of forms:
Currently there are a range of gender initiatives on Information Communication Technology in Africa. Nidhi Tandon in association with Abantu has been organising training courses in the new communication technologies in East Africa; the World Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa hosted the development of a gender communication network called AFR-FEM as part of the Global Knowledge initiative; the African Virtual University seeks to achieve a gender balance in its activities and has female faculty within its operation; Jeff Turner of Manchester University is developing on line African gender and transport course materials in conjunction with African colleagues: and there are other similar initiatives in process with other organisations and elsewhere in Africa. At the moment, these activities are highly fragmented but the use of electronic communication tools can accommodate their better integration with definite benefits for future operations in the area.
What is clear is that the electronic delivery of education and training is unambiguously a development issue and a gender issue. The developing world is a key location for the delivery of electronic distance education not least because conventional educational arrangements are unaffordable for the majority of the low income countries. For women, electronic distance education can greatly reduce their time costs when in education and allows them to overcome the obstacle that fragmented time usually presents in undertaking education. The message to donors is that electronic distance education and its gender equity benefits must be directly explored, addressed and delivered to Africa. The argument that present connectivities are to weak to permit such a development should not be allowed to obscure the potential for mass distance education that the speed of current technical developments promises. Worldspace's presentation at this conference provides a clear testimony to the form the future can be expected to take - and electronic distance education technology for Africa is part of that future.
3. Conclusion: Asynchronicity and gender equity: escaping the traditional time trap.
Africa, and Ghana for certain, has a strong distance education history already. The history of the correspondence courses emerging out of the University of London with its external degrees and out of the Bible colleges as part of the extensive missionary activity which took place on the continent is a sizeable and sustained phenomenon. The collapse of many African postal services subsequent to decolonisation has had an adverse effect on the viability of correspondence courses. Remote locations which most require distance education services frequently have the least likelihood of having the necessary infrastructure to sustain such educational delivery. The poor quality of road provision and postal services in Africa provides a clear ground for leapfrogging over conventional provision and moving towardst the electronic delivery of education services.
The time tensions present in women's taskloads, tensions which are greatly accentuated in Africa by a variety of customs and by the extreme weakness of infrastructural provisions, provide a clear ground for a technology which has asynchronous capabilities.
Agriculture is a major training and education issue for the women of Africa where women predominate in agricultural activities and have responsibility for food security: focusing distance education activities on African female farmers knowledge needs would be an appropriate path to take at this juncture in history. For the first time in history we are looking at the advent of high technology at low cost in remote locations (hand held, solar powered, satellite linked information technologies), this opens up a whole new perspective on gender and education in developing countries. The cost of delivering materials electronically as opposed to delivering materials by physical mail is likely to be significantly lower in the near future. The opportunity to think differently about gender needs and education is there - the task is to seize it.
Note
Four related studies were undertaken on training needs in the Ghanaian education sector:
Apt, N., Agyemang-Mensah, N. And Grieco, M. (1998) Maintaining the momentum of Beijing: the contribution of African gender NGOs Ashgate:Aldershot
Apt, N. and Grieco, M. (1994a)Tracking study of newly trained teachers. Legon-Winneba Action Research Project, ODA,
Apt, N. and Grieco, M. (1994b) The Head-teachers' perspective: supplement to the tracking study of newly trained teachers. Legon Winneba Action Research Project , ODA,
Grieco, M. and Apt, N. (1994a) Distance education audience survey: Part 1, Tutors (teacher trainers). Legon-Winneba Action Research Project, ODA, Accra, Ghana,
Grieco, M. and Apt, N. (1994b) Distance education audience survey: Part 2, Specialist Certificate Teachers. Legon-Winneba Action Research Project, ODA,
Nana Araba Apt,
Professor of Sociology and
Director of the Centre for Social Policy Studies,
University of Ghana, Legon
and
Margaret Grieco,
Professor of Organisation and Development Management,
The Business School, University of North London
and
Professor-elect of Transport and Society,
Transport Research Institute and Department of Sociology and Psychology
Napier University, Edinburgh
Abstract
This paper emerges out of the convergence of a distance education survey of Ghana conducted by the authors in the mid 90s (for the ODA Education Field Office, Ghana) with the present short course and distance learning activities in which both authors are involved (see UK Global Learn Day II). New communication technologies have evolved in a manner which can greatly assist Africa in respect of its education needs and its development of social policy knowledge. This presentation argues that the asynchronous qualities of electronic distance learning and information services are of particular benefit to women whose time poverty and scheduling responsibilities often limit their access to services which rely on physical interaction within regular working hours.
References:
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