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Research on barriers to women’s leadership in Tanzania's education system - Lydia Wilbard at Brookings

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On December 4, 2024, Lydia Wilbard, CAMFED’s Executive Director, Learning and Engagement, presented her research on the barriers to women’s leadership in Tanzania’ education system.

She conducted the research as a 2024 Echidna Global Scholar, revealing the findings at the Research and Policy Symposium on Gender Equality in and through Education hosted by the Center for Universal Education at BROOKINGS, focused on “Centering Marginalized Girls and Women for More Inclusive Policy.”

Re-watch the Symposium here:

During the event, four 2024 Echidna Global Scholars presenting their research on the challenges marginalized girls and women face in education across various contexts. They explored how we can address women and girls’ unique challenges holistically, including by centering them in research, policy and action to promote gender equality in and through education.

The BROOKINGS Research Symposium covered:

  • Inclusive education for girls with disabilities in post-conflict Tigray (Ethiopia)
  • Women’s leadership within the education system in Tanzania
  • Sexual and reproductive health education for adolescent girls in Nepal
  • Second-chance education to overcome structural inequalities in Mexico
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Women’s leadership in Tanzania’s education system: What is holding us back?

As an Echidna Global Scholar, Lydia Wilbard researched women’s leadership pathways in Tanzania’s secondary education sector from July to October 2024, seeking to identify the factors enabling or hindering women’s advancement into leadership. She also examined how current policies, strategies, and practices support or impede progress.

Findings reveal that social narratives about gender roles and about leadership translate into opportunities and barriers. These narratives manifest in perceptions held by women themselves as well as in their relations with others around them, and they interact with institutional policies, practices, and structures. Taken together these limit women’s advancements into leadership positions, and while promotion policies and guidelines exist, they often fail to address these issues

Read Lydia Wilbard's research and recommendations

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