Gender Differences Among Academic Staff and Students Offering STEM in National Universities in Uganda: The Case of Kyambogo University

Female University students and academic staff continue to be underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. This study examined the status of female academic staff and students offering STEM at Kyambogo University (KyU), Uganda. The status and trend of female to male ratio of academic staff and students were determined. Practical strategies and policies for narrowing the gender gap for students offering STEM were identified. The status and trend of female to male ratio of students was determined by analyzing Student’s Academic Registrar’s   and graduation records   for the academic year 2014-2018. For academic staff, a gender analysis of Human Resources records was conducted based on the number of male or female academic staff teaching at the University in both STEM and non-STEM disciplines. There was an increase over time in student’s graduation from the Non-STEM fields with R2=0.3254 for the undergraduate programmes (P<0.05). The number of students in STEM fields declined gradually overtime, R2= 0.91; P<0.05). Male dominance among students and leadership position among academic staff in STEM and Non-STEM fields was evident. Difference between career pathways are causes for low female students and academic staff enrolment and teaching in STEM fields. The University needs to implement gender responsive programmes that enhance entry, retention, and participation in leadership positions for both female staff and students in STEM fields. Keywords: Status, Female Academic Staff and Students, STEM, Kyambogo University DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-24-09 Publication date:August 31st 202

A Gender Perspective of the Status of Water and Sanitation Landscape in East African Universities.

Access and utilization of adequate water supply and sanitation facilities is high on the agenda of both International national and local communities including East African Universities EAUs Despite global demand for higher education characterized with increased male and female enrolment the current levels of access and utilization to water supply and sanitation facilities remain largely inadequate and gendered in EAUs Among the contributing factors is limited gender scholarship to question the causes of gender inequalities in access and utilization of water and sanitation facilities in universities including selected EAUs This paper aims to explore the gender responsiveness of access and utilization of water and sanitation facilities and to ascertain the underlying gendered causes of the current status of water and sanitation facilities in EAUs The paper adopted crosssectional gender focused study design A total of 701 respondents were interviewed at both Makerere and Dar es salaam Universities Qualitative gender disaggregated data was collected using semi-structured and in-depth interviews focus group discussions and follow up site visits for observations Water and sanitation facilities were georeferenced and analysed using geo-statistics techniques and Euclidian distance in ArcGIS 10 1 Gender concerns were captured both in access and utilization modeling gender related criteria in the reclassification of the number of toilet per person Strong evidence indicates that EAUs are gendered and exhibit severe deficiencies in water and sanitation facilities Major contributing factors of the observed deficiencies in water and sanitation facilities were lack of gender focused research rapid increment of student enrollment lack of water and sanitation policies and prioritization decline in government support associated with liberalization and expansion of universities among others Based on these findings there is need to improve and engender the curren

The social-economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods of commercial Boda-Boda motorists in Uganda

The social-economic effects of Covid-19 pandemic on livelihoods of commercial boda-boda motorists in the Kira Town Council, Uganda. Were investigated by the author cross-sectional research design was adapted. Four focus group discussions and 4 in-dept interviews were conducted. Covid-19 movement restrictions paused challenges to boda-boda motorists including loss of employment, their families grappled with food insecurity and they suffered violence from spouses and brutality from security agencies. Awareness creation and interventions on violence against boda-boda motorists and social protection systems and services for men who suffer violence from the public and private spheres are required. Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, social-economic, livelihoods, boda-boda motorists, Ugand