African Journal of Gender and Women Studies ISSN 2241-4517 Vol. 2 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2016. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Attitude as a factor in men’s and women’s participation in technical education in Botswana: Implications for counseling education
Raditloaneng Wapula Nelly
University of Botswana, Department of Adult Education, Faculty of Education, P/Bag 00702, Gaborone Botswana. E-mail [email protected]. Tel: 011-267-3552066 (w) 3918474(h) 72474403 ©. Fax: 011-267-3552266.
Accepted 21 October, 2015
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the importance of attitude as a factor that reinforces and disproportionately affects boys and girls on one hand, and men and women on the other. The main argument posed in the paper is that attitudes are an important factor in the way men and women are disproportionately participate and are affected by access to technical training and work based learning opportunities. The camp of transformation and critical feminist thinkers who view part of the overall mission of adult education as critical feminist pedagogy call for the need for an inclusive technical training for both men and women, as part of the global initiative to ensure gender equality in access to technical education. Gender research and literature that inform this paper, and the empirical study conducted under the auspices of Botswana training authority metaphorically conceive technical training as a male province while women have remained relatively invisible, partly due to unfavorable attitudes, in training and employment opportunities in the technical sector. The post independence Botswana as a nation has worked towards a reversal of this trend by creating the necessary housing infrastructure, and striving to gradually reshape the trend by mainstreaming gender on a pilot basis in some government ministries. As a nation, Botswana can take pride in mainstreaming gender as a step in the right direction towards redressing gender inequality in technical training. However, a lot can be achieved through addressing negative attitudes that men are the most suited for technical training and employment than women.
Key words: Technical education, attitudes, technical training, gender