M.Ed. / In a country which has just acquired its democracy, education for all citizens is of primary concern. The illiteracy rate in South Africa is high, especially in the rural areas of the country. During this time when South Africa finds itself in a period of transition and of prioritizing items on its agenda, education in general and in particular education of those who had little or no education at all, is high on the priority list. While the government has targeted illiteracy as a major issue, other issues such as gender make the illiteracy situation even more complex, especially in the rural areas where the traditional tenets of the communities are still observed. The aim of this study is to explore the role gender plays in the involvement of adult learners in literacy programmes in the rural Mapulaneng area of Mpumalanga Province, in order to determine the possible implications for literacy programmes in other similar rural areas of South Africa. In order to achieve this aim, an interpretive design is applied and qualitative methods of data—collection are utilized. A literature study which consists of the exploration of the field of Adult Basic Education and gender in global education, with special reference to South African rural areas in particular, forms the theoretical background of the empirical research. Empirical data was obtained through observations and interviews and processed and analyzed by unitizing, categorizing and patterning, resulting in the findings of the research. Lastly, findings of this investigation are discussed in the light of relevant theory. The following are the main research findings: Gender does play a role in the involvement of learners in adult literacy programmes in the rural Mapulaneng area of Mpumalanga. There are learning needs that are specific to females but no particular needs specific to males. However, some needs are not gender—related and are common to both females and males. The main implications of the findings are: Adult literacy classes should be conducted during the evening, in order to accommodate workers, mostly men. There is a need for teacher training of both female and male literacy teachers. Some of the gender—related reasons for non—involvement of adult learners, particularly those that pertain to the dominance of males, would be difficult to address as they are deeply rooted in culture. In order to address the needs of male and female adult learners, a holistic approach should be applied. A holistic approach entails: not only teaching literacy but addressing other needs of the learners; not only addressing the expressed needs of learners (male and female), but also addressing the needs that they are not aware that they have.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM), especially in higher levels. Researchers term this phenomenon "the leaky pipeline." While the issue is well-documented in the literature, little is known about its antecedents. The current study offers insight into factors that relate to career choice and contribute to the lack of diversity in STEM fields by investigating how sense of belonging and psychological capital (PsyCap) influence important psychological, academic, and career outcomes for women in these fields. Female undergraduate STEM majors were recruited for participation at two times during the fall academic semester (N=182 at time one, N=86 at time two) and data were analyzed using correlation and regression. Results provide support for the influence of both sense of belonging and PsyCap as important correlates of an individual's academic and career making decisions. Specifically, PsyCap mediated the relationship between belonging and well-being and belonging and career outcomes of engagement and participants' intentions to apply to graduate programs in an unrelated major. In addition, PsyCap moderated the relationship between sense of belonging and participants' intentions to switch majors and intentions to apply to graduate programs in a field unrelated to their current major. An increased understanding of the factors that contribute to the leaky pipeline in STEM will serve as a basis for developing further research questions and targeting interventions.