Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines how gender equality is discussed in national and university education policies and sets out to understand gender inequalities in higher education in the South African context. It focuses on the experiences of young adults in Tanzania and South Africa and looks at female and male students who have reached higher education, with a focus of analysis on the critical issues that enabled them to reach higher education, understood as their well-being freedoms. The book discusses how participatory and digital technologies can socially empower young people by giving voice to marginalised communities outlining personal barriers such as gender, status or geographical location. It provides an interesting–and one of the earliest and most recent–analysis of women's participation in resisting the July 2016 attempted coup d'état in Turkey.