ABSTRACT
Although the general mission of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT, established in 1994) is to enhance adults’ access to education, in 1996 President Benjamin Mkapa announced that the OUT’s special mission is to promote the education of Tanzanian women, because their only hope of attaining higher education is by the distance mode (Mkapa 1996). Despite efforts to attract female students, the extent of women’s participation in tertiary education in Tanzania is limited: for the OUT only 12 percent, 683 women of the total population of 5,689 students (Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education 1999). As a faculty member and Dean of Education (1994-96) of the OUT since its establishment, and since, I have been concerned at the low participation rates for women. I believe that unless the OUT fully understands the underlying causes of women’s low enrollment, inadequate participation, and unacceptable completion rates, it will be unable to adjust its planning, managerial, and administrative procedures to provide appropriate learning opportunities for women.
