MOVING THE CENTRE WITHOUT CONFLICT; GENDER
AND VIRTUAL EMPOWERMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION: THE VIRTUAL EMPOWERMENT MODEL
IN HIGHER EDUCATION

MOVING THE CENTRE WITHOUT CONFLICT; GENDER
AND VIRTUAL EMPOWERMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION: THE VIRTUAL EMPOWERMENT MODEL
IN HIGHER EDUCATION

ESTHER GANDARI

JUDITH TAFANGOMBE

There is a wide gap between women’s access to education and women’s empowerment in a patriarchal society. In
addressing marginalization, women in Southern Africa have made significant achievements and have excelled in a variety of fields,
including the male domain. This has been possible due to emergent technologies which present new opportunities for women by
empowering them in obtaining higher education, playing an active process of construction of knowledge, attitudes and values as well
as developing skills using a variety of resources such as printed material and electronic media. This article investigates how four
African housewives successfully moved the centre without conflict in their families especially with their husbands by getting educated
using web-based technologies across face-to-face, online, and virtual world classes with communication tools that are synchronous,
asynchronous, and automated pre-scripted. The study is qualitative and captures the narratives of the women using the ODL mode
in successfully changing their circumstances while attending to their roles as mothers and wives in their kitchens. The integration of
E-learning, which is the application of information and communication technologies in a wide array of solutions, improves
knowledge and performance. The results were IT supported learning helped some of the women to acquire the necessary skills
knowledge for their job without taking time off their traditional roles and duties in household work for example, cooking skill

EPRA International Journal of Research and Development (IJRD)

2016