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Obstacles to Girls' Education and Girls' Lived School Experience in Benin: School As an Institution of Cultural Transmission

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Obstacles to Girls' Education and Girls' Lived School Experience in Benin: School As an Institution of Cultural Transmission University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses November 2015 Obstacles to Girls' Education and Girls' Lived School Experience in Benin: School as an Institution of Cultural Transmission Simeon Afouda University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Afouda, Simeon, "Obstacles to Girls' Education and Girls' Lived School Experience in Benin: School as an Institution of Cultural Transmission" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 460. https://doi.org/10.7275/7381477.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/460 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. OBSTACLES TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION AND GIRLS’ LIVED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IN BENIN: SCHOOL AS AN INSTITUTION OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION A Dissertation Presented by SIMEON AFOUDA Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 2015 Educational Policy, Research and Administration College of Education © Copyright by Simeon Afouda 2015 All Rights Reserved OBSTACLES TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION AND GIRLS’ LIVED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IN BENIN: SCHOOL AS AN INSTITUTION OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION A Dissertation Presented by SIMEON AFOUDA Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________ Ash Hartwell, Chair _________________________________________ Cristine Smith Crispin, Member _________________________________________ Amanda Walker Johnson, Member ______________________________________ Christine B. McCormick, Dean College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my appreciation, my gratitude, and most sincere thanks to my advisor, Dr. Alfred Hartwell, for his continuous support and sustained efforts to bring my fieldwork to completion. I have been honored and blessed with the opportunity to benefit from Dr. Hartwell’s vast field experience in international education. His rigor, his determination, and his detailed feedback and suggestions every step of the way guided my way through the daunting and murky world of research fieldwork. As I grappled with family-related problems, long periods of illness, and the demands of the field, Dr. Hartwell was there, offering hope and encouragement. Little would have been achieved without his guidance and leadership. Thank you very much indeed for bringing this work to the final draft. My most sincere thanks and gratitude go to Dr. Cristine Smith, professor at the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Many thanks for agreeing to sit on my dissertation committee. I have been honored to be Dr. Smith’s student and to benefit from her rich experience in international education. Her rigor and her constant feedback and suggestions have shaped my study and pointed me in the right direction. I would also like to extend my gratitude and most sincere thanks to Dr. Amanda Walker Johnson, professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dr. Walker Johnson agreed to sit on my dissertation committee despite her busy schedule. Through her constant feedback and suggestions, she has brought an anthropological perspective to my study. Her keenness for details has contributed to the accuracy of the ideas developed in this study. My academic journey started from my first year in the doctoral program at the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Ever since, my iv professors at the Center for International Education have played an instrumental role in bringing this study to completion. I would like them all to find here the expression of my gratitude. Many thanks to Professor Bernard H. Russell from the University of Florida for spending time to perform a check on the analysis of the free list data collected in this study. The valuable feedback he offered enhanced the credibility of the study findings. Many thanks to my friends and colleagues for kindly providing feedback on some of the issues raised in the course of this study. I am grateful to Dr. Craig Wells, professor of Statistics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Professor Roland Abiodun of Amherst College, and Dr. Emmanuel Babatunde from Lincoln University for their support and interest in this study. Their feedback and suggestions shaped the early stage of this project. My appreciation and thanks also go to my research assistant for her availability at every stage of the research and for her full involvement throughout the fieldwork. She did a great job conducting the focus group discussions with the 30 female participants involved in this study. I am most grateful to Jane Eklund for providing technical assistance. She edited and kindly reviewed the final draft of my dissertation. Finally, to Jerry and Karen, my caring and beloved children, I would like to express my deepest gratitude. Thanks for bearing with me for staying away for so long while completing my doctoral studies. Your encouragement and unfailing support kept me going when the times got rough. This work is for you. v ABSTRACT OBSTACLES TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION AND GIRLS’ LIVED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IN BENIN: SCHOOL AS AN INSTITUTION OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION SEPTEMBER 2015 SIMEON AFOUDA, B.A., NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF BENIN M.A., NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF BENIN M.A., THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY LONDON M.Sc., ANTIOCH NEW ENGLAND GRADUATE SCHOOL KEENE Ed D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Ash Hartwell The persistence of gender inequality in education has received increased attention over the past few years. Findings from research studies have documented the hardships that girls experience in their day-to-day school life. Yet, more girls are being sent to school. This study explored the lived school experience of 30 girls in a public secondary school in Benin. Using a qualitative methodology informed by the grounded theory approach, the study investigated girls’ perception of their school experience and the meaning that this experience holds for them. Thirty girls were interviewed on their lived school experience, and participant observation was also used as a method of data collection. The findings revealed that greater attention is given to girls’ access to school than to their presence inside schools. Further, the study found that gender practices in the school setting, informed by a culture of women’s subordination, create an environment of oppression, discrimination, and discouragement for girls. Based on these findings, the study made policy recommendations. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ xiiii DEFINITION OF TERMS ................................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 4 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 11 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................ 14 Importance of the Study ................................................................................................... 14 Delimitation ...................................................................................................................... 15 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE: OBSTACLES TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION ............................................ 17 Obstacles to Girls’ Education in Existing Literature .......................................................... 17 Obstacles to access ........................................................................................................... 18 Economic Obstacle ............................................................................................... 18 Distance ............................................................................................................... 19 Cultural Barriers ................................................................................................... 20 Girls’ Daily School Experience .............................................................................. 25 Obstacles to Attendance and Performance ...................................................................... 26 Socialization through Cultural Transmission ......................................................
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