Overcoming Gender Inequity in Science and Technology Graduate Education in Ghana
Keywords:
Science and technology, higher education, gender, policy, agency, structuration theory, qualitative inquiry, Ghana.Abstract
Women remain underrepresented in science and technology (S&T) education in Ghana. However, very little is known about policies designed to enhance women’s participation, or about the experiences of those women who have successfully pursued S&T in Ghanaian universities. To gain a better understanding of how some women have overcome longstanding obstacles to gender equity in S&T graduate education in Ghana, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken to examine key policies aimed at enhancing women’s participation in S&T, assess the efficacy of those policies, and explore the personal experiences of a cohort of women who have been successful in three S&T graduate level education centres in Ghana.
A conceptual framework, guided by feminist theory, presents a sequence of three approaches—(a) consciousness-raising; (b) affirmative-action; and (c) gender mainstreaming—complemented by structuration theory. This framework has helped elucidate how the development and effective implementation of gender policies can lead to the transformation of institutional, social, and global structures. Structures in turn can impact women’s agency and help overcome gender disparity in S&T higher education (HE). The analysis of the women’s stories provided insights into how gendered challenges impacted the professional aspirations of women academics in the S&T centres studied.
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