Gender differences in barriers to participation in higher education for final year secondary school students in Yaoundé Cameroon

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday IV)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Higher education

Proposal

Female education plays a crucial role in the different dimensions of society. Although the importance of female education is gradually being recognised, gender inequalities in education still exist and female students are generally in a disadvantaged position, particularly in developing nations. International organisations (e.g., UN, UNESCO, UNICEF) have, for decades, called for worldwide cooperation to reduce educational gender inequality. However, gross enrolment ratios in tertiary education in Sub-Saharan African countries are still low, gender inequalities in education still persists. Countries may face with challenges in widening access to higher education, while students may experience barriers to participation in higher education. Therefore, this study aims to find out if there’s any gender differences in the potential barriers for students to participation in higher education in Cameroon.
The conceptual framework of this study is rooted in the classifications of Hyde (1993) and Gorard et al. (2007). Hyde’s classification is based on research in Africa, which makes it suitable for this study. However, it covers general factors influencing female education status, while Gorard et al. deal with this topic from a more direct barrier perspective with a focus on participation in higher education. Therefore, in addition to gender, five types of barriers were covered in this study, including economic barriers, socio-cultural barriers, institutional barriers, family barriers and personal barriers.
This study adopted an explanatory sequential mixed method research design. In the first stage, questionnaires were used to gain a general idea about gender differences in students’ perceived barriers to participation in higher education. The qualitative research in the second stage used in-depth interviews to test and verify the quantitative conclusions. In total 1975 questionnaires were collected from 14 schools in Cameroon, along with 23 semi-structured interviews. A second-round interview was also carried out after the students graduated from secondary school.
The findings suggest that family and institutional barriers played a more vital role in students' attitudes towards participation in higher education: the better the parents educated and the better jobs the parents had, the more students indicated their wish to pursue higher education after graduation; students came from the private and Anglophone schools were more positive about continuing their studies compare with their counterparts from public and Francophone schools. Few differences were found in the personal barriers, including gender, age and religion differences. Both male and female students were positive towards going to university, and over 80% of students (both males and females) stated that they would like to continue their studies. The influence from economic and socio-cultural barriers were not as large as the above-mentioned barriers.
The study contributes to knowledge with respect to gender equality and access to higher education in Cameroon. Findings will be relevant for a range of stake holders in education such as education practitioners, researchers, parents and policy makers, to enable them to recognise the importance of gender equality and equal access to higher education, as well as promoting the sustainable development goal to be achieved by 2030.

Author

• Tongtong Zhao, CES, University of Warwick