GENDER INEQUALITY IN TVET INSTITUTIONS – BRIDGING THE GAP: THE CASE OF ACCRA POLYTECHNIC

Abstract

In many countries, gender differentiation within education has become a key principle which shapes the selection, distribution and evaluation of educational knowledge for young men and women. Issues of gender have been topical and dominate most education related discussions in recent times. Access to Technical and Vocational education in Ghana has increased in the past decade. Within these TVET institutions, the challenge has been gender disparities, with focus on female involvement both as trainers and trainees. For Technical Education, males dominate and in Vocational Education, females outnumber their male counterparts. The Polytechnics are no exception as some of its programmes are aligned in this way. Improving access to higher quality tertiary education and skills training is central to enhancing Ghana’s productivity, spurring social inclusion and reducing inequality. Even though females today have an increased opportunity to enroll in Technology education programs, the vast majority still choose not to. They perceive Technology education as a male domain to which they do not belong. There is the need to address this lack of participation by understanding the differences between males and females choice of study. This paper is concerned with the under-representation of women in Engineering education as well as men in Vocational education and the underlying reasons. A stratified random sample of staff and students selected from the Science and Engineering faculties of Accra Polytechnic was used in this study. Data on enrollment and graduation were also used for further analysis. This study recommends that competency based training must be adopted in the Technical and Vocational fields of study in our TVET institutions.

Keywords: Gender, TVET, Polytechnic, Stratified.