Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana

Gender disparities are rife in Ghana and its educational sector. Despite the plethora of research on gender disparities in Ghana’s education system, there is no coverage on gender disparities in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields in Ghana. The paper’s purpose of the...

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Main Author: Fred Kofi Boateng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-01-01
Series:Cogent Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1418135
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author Fred Kofi Boateng
author_facet Fred Kofi Boateng
author_sort Fred Kofi Boateng
collection DOAJ
description Gender disparities are rife in Ghana and its educational sector. Despite the plethora of research on gender disparities in Ghana’s education system, there is no coverage on gender disparities in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields in Ghana. The paper’s purpose of the article was to examine the experiences of successful STEM women in Ghana utilizing semi-structured interviews. Fifteen women in STEM in senior faculty ranks were interviewed. Although they faced gender discrimination, their socialization emanated from their parents and other family members who are STEM professionals. Their agency made them linchpins in their study groups, excelled in their studies, and they were assisted to progress on their STEM trajectories by their professors and other mentors. As faculty, their productivity soared and they have been psychologically empowering their protégés.
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spelling doaj.art-899f9bc203d84dc99e3f36d9cad0888e2023-09-02T09:54:40ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Education2331-186X2017-01-014110.1080/2331186X.2017.14181351418135Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in GhanaFred Kofi Boateng0University of GhanaGender disparities are rife in Ghana and its educational sector. Despite the plethora of research on gender disparities in Ghana’s education system, there is no coverage on gender disparities in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields in Ghana. The paper’s purpose of the article was to examine the experiences of successful STEM women in Ghana utilizing semi-structured interviews. Fifteen women in STEM in senior faculty ranks were interviewed. Although they faced gender discrimination, their socialization emanated from their parents and other family members who are STEM professionals. Their agency made them linchpins in their study groups, excelled in their studies, and they were assisted to progress on their STEM trajectories by their professors and other mentors. As faculty, their productivity soared and they have been psychologically empowering their protégés.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1418135gender discriminationwomenstemghana
spellingShingle Fred Kofi Boateng
Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
Cogent Education
gender discrimination
women
stem
ghana
title Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
title_full Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
title_fullStr Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
title_short Unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination: Gendered experiences of senior STEM women in Ghana
title_sort unfettering the ball and chain of gender discrimination gendered experiences of senior stem women in ghana
topic gender discrimination
women
stem
ghana
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1418135
work_keys_str_mv AT fredkofiboateng unfetteringtheballandchainofgenderdiscriminationgenderedexperiencesofseniorstemwomeninghana