Africa's women crack open its universities

Women's eNews has launched an eight-part series on women and how they are making inroads into higher education institutions in Africa. The research and production of the series is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. (WOMENSENEWS)--As part of Women's eNews' ongoing effort to uncover the hidden stories of the changing role for women in Africa, we have partnered for a second time with the Carnegie Corporation of New York to develop a series of eight stories that focus on higher education on the continent. African women often face overt forms of discrimination at institutions of higher education. Student bodies typically have skewed gender ratios, and many women are excluded from universities altogether. Female faculty are also a minority continent-wide; many, however, are taking a proactive approach to challenge gender bias and advance the status of women in academia. Profiling the risks and rewards for women at Africa's universities and colleges, the series is unearthing both the obstacles that women face as well as the groundbreaking efforts to overcome those obstacles and lay down a new course for the future. The Carnegie Corporation has extensive philanthropic involvement in Africa, and through its financial support and partnership with Women's eNews to produce this series, is also taking a lead in bringing to light the African success stories that too often are neglected by the international media.