"I Was Just Done with Calculations…. I Realized That I Like Working with People" Understanding Why Women Abandon Careers in Mathematics

Autor/in	Ungadi, Benard Akala
Titel	"I Was Just Done with Calculations…. I Realized That I Like Working with People" Understanding Why Women Abandon Careers in Mathematics
Quelle	In: Journal of Education and Practice, 6 (2015) 19, S.234-250 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2222-1735
Schlagwörter	Females; Career Change; Mathematics; Interviews; Family Influence; Motivation; Enrollment Influences; Barriers; Foreign Countries; Africa + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Weibliches Geschlecht; Career changes; Berufswechsel; Mathematik; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; psychologische; Motivation (psychologisch); Ausland; Afrika
Abstract	Contemporary research on women and the learning of science in higher educational institutions has persistently focused on equal representation and access. This study sets out to find out why women, after successfully completing their degrees in mathematics at undergraduate and/or masters, quit the field. This is despite the popular view that the anticipated value of a career in mathematics to one's social-economic status cannot be under-estimated. This happens at a time most governments worldwide are committing more resources in education to encourage women to study mathematics and science. This paper reports interviews conducted among three women (from different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa) who studied mathematics at undergraduate and have since abandoned it to take on new careers in humanities and social sciences. The findings reveal that as women engage with mathematics at higher levels, their expectations and value of mathematics starts weathering off. Some develop the feeling that mathematics limits one's ability to interact with people as compared to other fields of social science such as management. More surprising findings revealed that relatives still play an instrumental role in discouraging women to pursue mathematics to higher level (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	IISTE. No 1 Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong SAR. Tel: +852-39485948; e-mail: JEP@iiste.org; Web site: http://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01