Best Practices in Gender Mainstreaming in the Academia: Lessons from African Higher Education Institutions

Abstract: Gender equity in higher education has been faced with continued resistance over the years in Africa resulting from the extension of the patriarchal nature of the society. This has impacted negatively on the composition of human resources in academic. Female staff are fewer than males and mostly occupy lower grades while the male counterpart take possession of the top level positions and constitute the decision making organ. Gender mainstreaming has been adopted as a strategy for promoting gender equality in higher education in Africa. Although it isstill in infancy stagewith new emerging issues, gender equality must be entrenched into the structures and system of higher education to enhance its sustainability. 1