EDUCATION OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN IN AFRICA
A MORAL RIGHT
Keywords:
Colonial and Post-colonial Periods, Education, Evangelization, Human Rights, Moral Right, Women Religious, ProclamationAbstract
Africa has suffered setbacks in terms of education. This paper looks briefly at education in East Africa during pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. During colonial period, various changes occurred in the life of the African people: family kinship ties, social interaction and stability, economic production, political organization, religious and cultural traditions were altered. Colonialism limited the contribution of African women to national issues. Although elementary education was given to African children, very few girls went to school. This meant that women would remain illiterate, poor, and marginalized. This is confirmed as about 30% women in Africa still illiterate; thus, lagging behind in education and evangelism. These are the same women who become women Religious. The essay highlights education as a human and moral right for all women and men. It also emphasizes that Women Religious are called to proclaim the Word of God. Therefore, it is imperative that women religious are empowered through education to carry out this mission.
References
Ursula Okoth, “Conceptualizing Patristic Domains in the 8-4-4 System of Education: Towards the Realisation of Holistic Education in Kenya,” in Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 5, Rome: MCSER Publishing, April 2014.
UNESCO, Report Paris, www.unesco.org/education/pdf/15_60.pdf accessed 12/22/2017, 1972.
UNESCO. Report, Unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000911/091102eo.pdf accessed 12/22/2017, 1991.
George S. Eshiwani: “Implementing Educational Policies in Kenya,” in 85 World Bank Discussion Papers, Washington D.C.:African Technical Department Series, 1993.
Ester Boserup, Woman’s Role in Economic Development, London: Sterling Virginia, Earthscan, 2007.
Oyeronke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press: 1970.
Paul Kingston W., The High-Status Track: Studies of Elite Schools and Stratification, Sunny Frontiers in Education Series, Paperback, 1990.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/society/c_education.html.( Accessed 2911-2017).
http://www.belurmath.org/swamivivekananda.htm (Accessed 29-11-2017).
Peter I. Gichure, “Fostering Meaningful Growth and Evangelization: Church Relations with Religious Congregations,” in Voices of Courage: Historical, SocioCultural and Educational Journeys of Women Religious in East and Central Africa, Nairobi: Pauline Publications, 2015.
Margaret Gannon, “The Shaping of Tanzania Women Religious Congregations,” in The Voices of Courage, 2015.
Oyeronke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
M. Louis, Love is the Answer: The Story of Mother Mary Kevin OSF, Dublin: Fallons Educational Supply Company, 1964, 126-130.
George S. Eshiwani, “Implementing Educational Policies in Kenya,” in 85 World Bank Discussion Papers, Washington D.C: African Technical Department Series, 1993.
Paul W. Kingston, The High-Status Track: Studies of Elite Schools and Stratification, Stanford, Sunny Frontiers in Education Series Paperback, 1990.
Paul W. Kingston, http://works.bepress.com/hkerbo/17/ 2002 (Accessed 28-112017).
Margaret Gannon, “The Shaping of Tanzania Women Religious Congregations,” in The Voices of Courage, 2015.
“General Assembly resolution 217 A,” http://www.un.org/en/ga/ search/view_doc-asp?symbol=a/res/217(iii) (Accessed 28-11-2017).
http://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/pages/searchbylang.aspx Accessed 28-112017.
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, ( 1993: Para. 5), http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(symbol)/a.cof.157.23.en.
Jane Wakahiu, Peter J. Gichure & Anne Rita K. Njageh, ed., Voices of Courage: Historical, Socio-cultural and Educational Journeys of Women Religious in East and Central Africa, Nairobi: Pauline Publications Africa, 2015.
Peter J. Gichure “Fostering Meaningful Growth and Evangelization: Church Relations with Religious Congregations,” In Voices of Courage, 2015.
Katarina Tomaševski, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, and adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 13 on the right to education 1999.
Micheal J. Sandel, Justice, What’s the Right Thing to do? New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
Constance Bansikiza, Restoring Moral Formation in Africa, Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications, 2003.
Vatican Council II, “Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” ed. Austin Flannery, Vatican II Council, The Basic Edition, Constitutions Decrees, Declarations, Northport, N.Y.: Costello Publishing Company Inc, 1996.
John Paul II, Letter to Women, 29 June 1995, AAS 87 (1995).
Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa, WIPF and STOCK Publishers (originally published by Maryknoll: Orbis Books 1986).
Yiu Sing Lúcás Chan, The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes: Biblical Studies and Ethics for Real Life: Bengaluru: Dharmaram Publications, 2015.
Vimala Chenginimattam, “Through Her Eyes: The Role of Women Theological Ethicists in Terms of the Future Development of Moral Theology,” in Doing Asian Theological Ethics in Cross-Cultural and an Interreligious Context, ed. Yiu Sing Lúcás Chan, James F. Keenan and Shaji George Kochuthara, India, Dharmaram Publications, 2016.
