Women in Higher Education Institutions in Ghana: Discourse on Colonial Legacies and Cultural Norms (Published)
This study addresses the fundamental question of the under representation of women in higher education institutions in Ghana. The paper employed the qualitative research method to interrogate and understand beyond the statistics how the legacies of Colonialism have impacted the lives of female academics. Using a post-colonial theoretical lens, this paper explores the experiences of senior female academics by analyzing their perspectives on under-representation of females within public universities in Ghana. The study elicited information from 9 senior female academics within three Ghanaian public universities. A multiple case study design was adopted to provide a wider set of contexts in which to explore the research questions. The discussion in this paper produced knowledge that being a senior female academic was a struggle that has several gendered dimensions bequeathed through traditional Ghanaian practices as well as colonial vestiges that ensured the academy is male dominated. From the data discussed, this study argues that issues of postcolonial gender inequalities and the interface of cultural norms created gender tensions for women within higher education institutions and the wider society.
Keywords: Higher Education, Institutional colonialism, gender inequalities, post-colonialism