Patrick Allala's Final Dissertation
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AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF GHANAIAN TEACHERS’ SOCIAL DISTANCE WITH THEIR FEMALE PRINCIPALS: A GENDER IDEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Patrick Nicanda Kodzo Allala May, 2012 AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF GHANAIAN TEACHERS’ SOCIAL DISTANCE WITH THEIR FEMALE PRINCIPALS: A GENDER IDEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION Patrick Nicanda Kodzo Allala Dissertation Approved: Accepted: Advisor Department Chair Dr. Suzanne MacDonald Dr. Sharon Kruse Co-Advisor/Committee Member Dean of the College Dr. Kristin Koskey Dr. Mark D. Shermis Committee Member Dean of Graduate School Dr. Bafour Takyi Dr. George R. Newkome Committee Member Date Dr. Huey-Li Li Committee Member Dr. Leisa Martin ii ABSTRACT In predominantly patriarchal societies, decision-making and authority issues are considered the natural prerogatives of the male figure. Cultures that support such traditional views of gender ideological beliefs tend to ascribe leadership roles to men over their female counterparts. As a result of this, women are perceived as the subordinates in the trade of gender roles and power ascriptions. Women, who defy these culturally held beliefs of male hegemony and thus attain top administrative positions, often struggle in the midst of challenges to establish their authority as superiors. Even though current statistics on teachers show that there are more women than men teachers in the Ghana educational system, only a few of these women hold leadership roles. For example only a few are administrators. How teachers relate interpersonally with their headmistress can affect the administrative climate of a particular school. The lack of collaboration due to poor interpersonal relationship between teachers and their female principals (i.e., headmistresses) in Ghana can result in ineffective processes of the decision-making apparatus of school administration. It is within this context that the social distance prevailing between teachers and their headmistresses is investigated in this study. Knowing what the correlates are and understanding the potentials these relationships have for the administrative climate is crucial for policy implications. Such a study has iii become more important in the light of the fact that the Ghanaian society is split along two main lineage systems: the patrilineal and matrilineal. These two lineage groups offer different costs and benefits to members, which in turn can affect the social statuses of men and women vis a vis how they are perceived and related to in the Ghanaian society. The suggested variables investigated in this study therefore include lineage ties, age, gender, and gender ideological belief (degree of egalitarianism). An examination of the contributions these socio-demographic variables make in determining the social distance between teachers and their headmistresses is of research importance. Using the Sex Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) scale and the self-constructed Ghana-Specific Behavioral Differential Scale (GSBDS), which have measures on degree of egalitarianism and perceived social distance respectively, I explored the relationship between the predictor variables and social distance of teachers. Findings from the analysis showed that teachers’ age and degree of egalitarianism were statistically significant correlates of teachers’ perceived social distance towards headmistresses in this Ghanaian sample. These findings lend support to what previous studies have reported from other cultures of the world. However, perceived social distance of teachers towards headmistresses in the Ghanaian second cycle institutions was not a function of their gender and lineage ties. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Emmanuel Kosi Akondo Allala (of blessed memory) and Perpetua Abra Allala. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank the good Lord for His love and providence which guided me all these years to bring a rather long and challenging journey to a successful end. To Him be glory and honor. I extend my gratitude to Dr. Isadore Newman (Professor Emeritus), a mentor and an inspiration, who was my methodologist at the commencement of this doctoral dissertation. A teacher, whose mentorship enkindled my love, interest and courage for quantitative research and for this dissertation, which he once chaired. I owe him a debt of gratitude. May I also express profound gratitude to Drs. Suzanne MacDonald, Kristin Koskey, Bafour Takyi, Huey-Li Li, and Leisa Martin, the five-member committee of my dissertation. Under the able chairmanship of Dr. Suzanne MacDonald, your encouragements, patience, open and constructive comments saw me through many moments of frustration and breaking points. Dr. Kristin Koskey, you broadened my knowledge in statistics and made otherwise challenging moments less problematic. Drs. Bafour Takyi, Huey-Li Li, and Leisa Martin, you will be forever remembered for your frequent emails of encouragement, which in no doubt, pushed me to the finish line. I would be remiss if Dr. Susan Olson is not mentioned here for her ability to help me vi reorganize and reshape the focus of this dissertation at a time when I almost gave it up due to financial constraints. I wish to thank the following for their mammoth contributions: Rev. Frs. Paschal Afesi, Major Francis Agble, Raphael Azarias Benuyenah, and Jeremiah Ankutsitsia, who were my field assistants and all who helped them in the collection of data for this study. May the Good Lord bless you all: Mrs. Ann Holzapfel and Ms. Jessica McMahon, thanks for helping with the computation of scores and the generation of the data file for this dissertation; Mr. and Mrs. Bill and Linda Marion for proofreading earlier drafts of the dissertation. Finally, but not the least in the line of gratitude, for the prayers and moral support of Rev. Msgr. Wynnand Amewowo, Mr. and Mrs. John and Cartie Antoneli, Dr. and Mrs. Robert and Betty Sobieski, Mr. Mark Raadaway, Mr. John Madia, Rev Dr. Forson Cletus, Dr. Alexander Rock Kofitse, Rev. Fr. Ted Kofitse, Rev. Fr. Ben Adzogba and all who have helped in one way or the other. I share this honor with you with deep gratitude. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Background and Statement of the Problem ........................................................ 1 Theoretical Perspectives of the Study ................................................................. 11 The Sociocultural Setting in Ghana .................................................................... 13 Study Purpose ..................................................................................................... 16 Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 17 Delimitations ....................................................................................................... 19 Operational Definitions of Terms ....................................................................... 20 Summary ............................................................................................................ 22 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 24 The Ghanaian Sociocultural Background ........................................................... 25 The Fate of the Ghanaian Woman .................................................................. 26 Violence Against Women .............................................................................. 27 Discriminatory Cultural Practices .................................................................. 29 Educational Imbalance in Ghana ........................................................................ 36 viii Public Sector Administration .............................................................................. 43 The Ghanaian Response to Gender Inequity ...................................................... 46 The Struggle of the Ghanaian Headmistresses ................................................... 52 Cross-cultural Evidence of the Struggle of Female School Administrators ....... 56 The Conceptualization of Social Distance .......................................................... 63 Valence as a Force of Social Distance ................................................................ 66 Background to the Research Hypotheses ............................................................ 71 Research Questions and Hypotheses .................................................................. 74 Research Question 1 ....................................................................................... 74 Research Question 2 ....................................................................................... 75 III. METHOD ............................................................................................................. 76 Research Design…………………………………………………………. ......... 76 Sampling Method ................................................................................................ 77 Power Analysis ..................................................................................................