Reluctance to Identify as Woman: The Experiences of Female Students in Ethiopian Higher Education

• In Event: 28.076 - New Directions in Postcolonial Studies and Education

Abstract

Women are starkly under-represented in science and technology majors at public universities in Ethiopia. In this study, the author interrogated the experiences of women who were able to successfully navigate educational barriers and persist in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how certain women utilized an atypical strategy for persistence in Ethiopian higher education: the silencing of their female identity. An exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods approach was used utilized for data collection and analysis. Moreover, postcolonial feminist theory is used as the primary theoretical framework because it allows us to consider the socio-cultural context of Ethiopian life.

Author

• Meseret Hailu, The Ohio State University