Evaluation of the Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Centre for ...

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263.3 Women’s law as a discipline: Academic impact andrelevance of the Women’s Law Masters ProgrammeThe Centre’s Masters programme in women’s law is academically relevant and theapproach to teaching is deemed highly innovative and sound. The course curriculumis comprehensive with respect to women’s law. Students are provided with a broadoverview of relevant issues and debates in the first semester, and then provided withthe opportunity to choose two electives in the second semester in order to gain amore in-depth understanding of selected themes, such as criminal law, commerce,sexuality, and family law. Emerging issues such as the intersection of women’shuman rights and HIV are included as they arise. There are also courses addressingpertinent socio-economic issues such as labour law and social security. The coursealso considers key jurisprudence in the region, as another way to contextualise theissues. The curriculum is critically reviewed every two years at the regional colloquiaand responds to, and evolves from, feedback from the regional advisory board,teachers, and student evaluations. For example, past students had expressed a desirefor the women’s human rights course to be compulsory rather than optional and inresponse to this request the course became compulsory in 2011.Particularly striking with respect to the programme, is the emphasis on facilitatingpersonal transformation amongst the students whereby a process of ‘breaking the[gender] mould’ is applied. Stewart explains in the Centre’s recent publication Women& Law that in order for students to be able to analyse how the law affects womenthey must become ‘sharply sex and gender aware.’ A number of practical exercises,some requiring deep personal introspection, are assigned in the first semestertowards this end. There is evidence from interviews with staff and students, anddocumented evidence in the text book, that this necessary sex and gender awarenessleads to a necessary shift in outlook and attitudes with respect to the gendered natureof society and the role of the law. Considering the proven limits of the law alone inaddressing violations of women’s human rights in the region, shifting views ongender is an important outcome and one which is an innovation of the Centre.The teaching of research methodology is a very strong and successful component ofthe programme and includes a practical exercise in the field during the first semesterand a dissertation in the third semester. A perusal of some of the dissertations on theSEARCWL website provides evidence of the acquisition of research skills by thestudents. The dissertations overall, are well written, and include well-articulated,relevant, and refined research problems. They also display an analytical approach tothe problem that is aligned with the teaching methodology and objectives of theprogramme which evidences the transfer of knowledge from educators to thestudents. This is likely attributable, in part, to the high level of attention that thestudents receive in writing their dissertations. Not only are they carefully takenthrough the process from identifying the topic to the write up of findings, but theyreceive a visit from their supervisor at the site of their research in their home countrywhere they receive hands-on support and teaching. This further exemplifies theCentre’s innovative, dedicated and effective approach to teaching.These findings are particularly significant in view of the Centre’s assumption that bystrengthening this discipline you establish a cadre of highly skilled women (and men)
who through their respective employment and personal decision making will improvethe status of women. In other words the assumption has more chance of beingcorrect the stronger the graduate capacity built.We find an extremely interesting and possibly unique approach to understanding thelaw. The course identifies gaps in law, involving some typical assignments such aschoosing whether to advocate or litigate on particular issues. If litigating on women’srights issues, for example, students are challenged not just with finding legalarguments but to explore other reasons for why litigation might not work, whethersocial, such as a closed society, or cultural factors, related to customs, or otherwise.One could pose a counter argument that the course down plays more theoreticalapproaches. However, in view that it is intentionally very practitioner-oriented anddeliberately targets those candidates who could achieve impact through their workexperience, we feel that what is perhaps most important is the relevance topractitioners. What is also striking is how in the following accounts it is possible tosee a clear connection, and hence knowledge transfer, from the course into thegraduates world view and application of ideas and approaches.3.4 Individual impact3.4.1 Personal impact: “I have learnt to argue about biases now”Many graduates describe rather dramatic impacts upon their personal development.The survey and interviews capture common phrases such as the course ‘opened myeyes’ or ‘was a door opener’. Some respondents even saw their experiences on thecourse have played a role in their own personal circumstance. A common graduaterefrain was how they benefited immensely from course related activities thatcontributed to instilling self-confidence. The self-confidence also appeared to be thefoundation for the new found insight or explanatory power provided by themethodological approach of the course. In some cases graduates expressed how theconfidence had impacted their domestic arena, precipitating challenges to genderrelations in the home that had put them in an abusive or oppressive relationship.Graduates drew attention to how they had developed a ‘gender lens’ in looking at theworld, including work related issues and that the Centre has completely changed theway they did things.27
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76can share with you as they were a
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NoradNorwegian Agency for Developme
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