“We Too have Arrived”: The shifting Gender Balance in the post-Basic Education System in Ghana.

Abstract

Until a few decades ago, education for the girl-child in Ghana was frowned upon. Girls in many Ghanaian families were basically raised and groomed for marriage. At best, they were sent into vocational training, especially dressmaking , and in recent timesin hairdressing. In effect, societal attitudes towards the girl-child underscored the axiom of a woman"s place (office) being the kitchen. Very little was considered of the girl-child in terms of education, career or other ambitions. House chores, nursing of kid(s) as well as keeping the home or family were the ultimate contributions of the women who are assisted in large part by their girl-children for whom the effective and skillful execution of these household chores were seen as training grounds for grooming them for marriage. In a typical Ghanaian home, when the need arises for a decision to be taken as to whom to send to school, the male or female child, due to limited financial means, most often than not, the male child is chosen to be in school at the cost of the female child, who maybe academically good, if not better, than their male siblings. The above situation and scenarios have shifted drastically, and very significantly over the past thirty years. More and more girls are enrolled in High Schools and post-secondary institutions and are pursuing careers in almost every discipline, even in areas previously considered as male professional bastions. This Participatory Action Research (PAR) study conducted on the campus of one of the largest and elite Universities in Ghana unearthed very interesting findings on the surge of girls into post-secondary education in Ghana, thus bucking the old and hitherto entrenched barriers to formal education for girls in Ghana. Recommendations are provided for the continuous support and policy initiatives of this trend to maintain gender equality in education for Ghanaian girls.