IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/118327.html

Women's Access to Post-Secondary Education and Structural Inequalities

Author

Listed:
  • Alnaa, Samuel Erasmus
  • Matey, Juabin

Abstract

UN Sustainable Development Goal No.5 urges the attainment of gender equality and women empowerment by 2030. This has intensified the fight for gender parity and female empowerment in Africa with some successes. Despite this, changes in Ghana's educational system have not dispelled the widespread belief that men are better equipped for careers. This is especially in the technical and vocational fields. This misconception has hampered disadvantaged young women's motivation, making them less likely to pursue careers in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Entrenchments of gendered divisions in higher education and the labour market contribute to structural inequality in society. This study looks at women’s access to post-secondary education and structural inequalities. Additionally, the article updates recent changes in the ratio of female students enrolled in university programs and employment statistics in Ghana. The paper argues that although there are improvements in female enrolment numbers in post-secondary institutions, there is a need for a deliberate policy to increase female intake into tertiary institutions, especially technical universities by granting female-favoured scholarships and opening more online/distance learning platforms for degree programs as well as services to support online enrolment. Employment opportunities should favour the female for a deepening supplementary role at all levels of their participation. Besides, to encourage women gradually shift from conventional roles, it is necessary to invest in their human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Alnaa, Samuel Erasmus & Matey, Juabin, 2023. "Women's Access to Post-Secondary Education and Structural Inequalities," MPRA Paper 118327, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Jul 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:118327
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/118327/3/MPRA-COPY.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    2. Jonathan David Ostry & Jorge Alvarez & Raphael A Espinoza & Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion; New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/06, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Nicole M. Fortin & Philip Oreopoulos & Shelley Phipps, 2015. "Leaving Boys Behind: Gender Disparities in High Academic Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(3), pages 549-579.
    4. Dylan Conger & Lisa Dickson, 2017. "Gender Imbalance in Higher Education: Insights for College Administrators and Researchers," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 58(2), pages 214-230, March.
    5. Pierre-André Chiappori & Murat Iyigun & Yoram Weiss, 2009. "Investment in Schooling and the Marriage Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1689-1713, December.
    6. Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Jorge A Alvarez & Mr. Raphael A Espinoza & Mr. Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion: New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/006, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sever, Can, 2025. "Legal gender equality as a catalyst for convergence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 376-391.
    2. Zuzana Brixiová Schwidrowski & Susumu Imai & Thierry Kangoye & Nadege Desiree Yameogo, 2021. "Assessing gender gaps in employment and earnings in Africa: The case of Eswatini," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 643-663, July.
    3. Nordin, Martin & Stanfors, Maria, 2024. "The Reversal of the Gender Gap in Education: Exploring its Consequences for Partnering, Employment and Voting Behaviour," IZA Discussion Papers 17437, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Margaux Suteau, 2020. "Inheritance Rights and Women's Empowerment in the Labor and Marriage Markets," Thema Working Papers 2020-17, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    5. Mayuri Chaturvedi, 2022. "Schooling Down to Marry Up: Marriage Norms and Educational Investments," Working Papers 202216, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    6. Nikolova, Elena & Polansky, Jakub, 2022. "Children and Female Employment in Mongolia," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1015, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Elena Nikolova & Jakub Polansky, 2022. "Children and Female Employment in Mongolia," Discussion Papers 61, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    8. Rasmané Ouedraogo & Idrissa Ouedraogo, 2019. "Gender Equality and Electoral Violence in Africa: Unlocking the Peacemaking Potential of Women," IMF Working Papers 2019/174, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Stimpfle, Alexander & Stadelmann, David, 2016. "Marriage Age Affects Educational Gender Inequality: International Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145492, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Kostov, Lyuboslav, 2020. "Inequalities and political populism: The case of Bulgaria," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(2), pages 233-244.
    11. Goes, Carlos & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Robertson, Raymond, 2023. "Gender-Segmented Labor Markets and Trade Shocks," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10518, The World Bank.
    12. Minhee Chae & Xin Meng & Sen Xue, 2025. "Fertility, son preference, and the disappearing gender gap in literacy/numeracy tests," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 1-51, December.
    13. Ata Can Bertay & Ljubica Dordevic & Can Sever, 2025. "Gender inequality and economic growth: evidence from industry-level data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(5), pages 2291-2326, May.
    14. Asongu, Simplice A. & Bouanza, Jean R.F.K. & Agyemang-Mintah, Peter, 2024. "Globalization in lifelong gender inclusive education for structural transformation in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    15. Iregui-Bohórquez, Ana María & Melo-Becerra, Ligia Alba & Ramírez-Giraldo, María Teresa & Tribín-Uribe, Ana María & Zárate-Solano, Héctor M., 2024. "Unraveling the factors behind women’s empowerment in the labor market in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Nikolova, Elena & Polansky, Jakub, 2022. "Children and female employment in Mongolia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    17. repec:ocp:rpaeco:pb_12-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Adnan M. S. Fakir & Tushar Bharati & Ashraf S. Khan, 2026. "The impact of media coverage of sexual violence on women’s work decisions in rural Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 1-29, June.
    19. Luis Rene Cáceres, 2021. "Causes and Consequences of Idle Youth in Guatemala," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(1), pages 1-61, January.
    20. Wei Huang & Xiaoyan Lei & Ang Sun, 2015. "The Great Expectations: Impact of One-Child Policy on Education of Girls," Working Papers id:7387, eSocialSciences.
    21. Mr. Boileau Loko & Yuanchen Yang, 2022. "Fintech, Female Employment, and Gender Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2022/108, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:118327. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.