Women in higher education in agriculture with reference to selected countries in East and Southern Africa

In Africa, the continued under-representation of women in education is particularly severe, especially in tertiary level programs relevant to agricultural development. The underlying premises of this paper are, firstly, that African agricultural development would be better served by an increase in the number of well-trained women leaders in agricultural research, extension, training and policy. Secondly, that there are currently very few women in positions of leadership in agriculture development agencies in countries visited in this study. And thirdly, that although there is a relatively low rate of participation of trained women agriculturalists in field positions, higher education in agriculture provides a passage through which women could gain greater access to leadership positions in agriculture. This paper examines the current status of women's participation in higher education in agriculture in selected East and Southern African countries, identifies existing obstacles to their greater participation, and presents several strategies attempted in Botswana, Tanzania, and Malawi, for surmounting these obstacles.