Women and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Power, Opportunities and Constraints by Marianne N. Bloch, B. Tabachnick, Josephine (Eds ). Beoku-Betts, B. Robert Tabachnick (Editor), Josephine A. Beoku-Betts (Editor)

Women and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Power, Opportunities and Constraintsby Anonymous

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

April 14, 2000: For scholars in the fields of gender issues, development economics, and education, the authors offer a comprehensive presentation of current research at the nexus of these disciplines in sub-Saharan Africa. Some 19 contributors are represented in this eminently readable collection of papers. With 34 tables, the book is an authoritative source for students and teachers with an interest in African studies in general and education for women and girls in particular. Bloch and Vavrus prepare the reader at the outset for what is to come with a well documented survey of the sub-field of gender and education in the region. Country-specific papers address issues of women?s education in Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania, Nigeria, and South Africa, while topical papers address cultural constraints, nutrition, and nonformal and formal education. Of special note is Marjorie Mbilinyi?s chapter, ?Searching for Utopia: The Politics of Gender and Education in Tanzania,? a sweeping survey densely packed with historical and political insights seldom found in scholarly journals. Mbilinyi?s reminder of the admonition of the late Julius Nyerere in The Arusha Declaration speaks for the entire volume: ?We want revolution?a revolution which brings to an end our weakness, so that we are never again exploited, oppressed, or humiliated.? The book, one of the series, ?Women and Change in the Developing World,? edited by Mary Moran of Colgate University, is unique in its coverage and rare in the quality of its writing. No serious scholar of development and education should be without this book.