Women in Higher Education in Bangladesh

 Introduction:

Bangladesh is an agrarian country. It has a patriarchal society. Bangladesh has a population of about 152.51 million. Numbers of male and female are 76.35 million and 76.16 million. Male and female ratio is 100.3:100 (http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com). Women represent around fifty percent of population. As, Bangladesh is a densely populated country it needs to develop human resources. While, education is the formal process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another (wiki.education). Adult literacy rate of Bangladesh is 55% where male constitute 60% and female constitutes 49% (Nazmuunnessa Mahtab, 2012). To get an educated nation it is important to ensure female education. Improving girls’ educational levels has been established to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community. Female education incorporates surrounding all education primary, secondary and tertiary (wiki. Female education).

In the present research higher education of women is core concentration. Higher education creates a human being self dependent, self reliant, self confident. In Bangladesh higher education of women depends upon several factors. Socio-economic status influence education of female students. For instance it has been noted that high level of parental education of the family, and high income positively influences academic achievement of children (Juma, 2012). Higher education of female students accelerates the level of empowerment. Empowerment is an ability to enhance women’s self confidence and internal strength. Women’s ill health and lack of education may stand in their way of true liberation (Naz, 2006). There are barriers of female education in Bangladesh. These barriers expand from family to the University campus. Main barriers in higher education are lack of family support and problems of seats in hall.

To identify relationship between socio-economic background and faculty of the respondents, faculty and level of empowerment two Universities have taken as study area. In J.U. male and female seats are separate. Every year a number of female students can get chance in a department. So, it is a matter of concentration that this facility accelerates participation or not. On the other hand in D.U there are no separate seats for female students in D.U. Male and Female students compete together to get admission. But number of female students in D.U is proportionately higher than female students of J.U. Percentage of female students in D.U is 34.63% and 32.49% in J.U (students’ profile, 2012). In competitive admission test percentage of participation is higher. In this situation, comparative analysis will provide representative data regarding socio-economic background and level of empowerment.

Statement of the problem:

“If Women are to contribute effectively to national development into the twenty-first century, “the fundamental question is whether they will be sufficiently equipped to participate fully by receiving a quality education that will prepare them to inter in any field, expose them to science, technology and communications and stimulate their creativity” (Source: Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012)

Educating Women, it is said that educating the whole family. Educating at all levels is an impetus to social development and the education of half of the population, inevitably posses a major problem. Education is a cornerstone of women empowerment because it enables to respond to opportunities, to challenge their traditional roles and to change their lives. Educating women benefits the whole society. It has a more significant impact on poverty and development (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012). For every individual, the right to education is one of the first provisions of the universal provisions Declaration of Human rights. The right of access to higher education is mentioned in a number international human right instrument. The UN international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights of 1966 declares in Article 13, that “higher education shall be made equally accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education. The government of Bangladesh operates many schools in the primary level, secondary level and higher secondary level. It also subsidizes parts of the funding for many private schools. The government also operates Universities through the University Grants Commission.

Despite above facilities for female education still the percentages of male and female students in public Universities are not equal. According to the statistical year book of 2010, the percentages of male and female students in the Public Universities are 59.99% and 40.01%. Education increases self reliance, empowerment among the human being. For Women this is very much important to create self reliance, self confidence and empowerment among them. But it is an important question that why participation of female students is low in the higher education level?

This research will explore the barriers of higher education that influence lower participation of women in higher education. The Education of father and mother, occupation of father and mother, family size, religion, residence, family income all factors that influence education of women will be analyzed in this study. After analyzing influence of socio-economic background in the study relation with higher education and empowerment will be studied. Barriers of higher education will also be analyzed in this study. According to the present situation in Bangladesh the condition of participation in the employment including administration, government services, Bank job, teaching etc is not much satisfactory. The influencing level of women in the family depends upon the education level, the willingness and also the position she holds after finishing of the education. So, all things are equally connected with each other.

 Significance of the study:

Without the participation of both men and women development of a country is impossible. If we recall the definition of governance then it will be very clear to us. The definition of governance is the undertaking of activities, management of resources, organization of men and women by groups of people, communities, local government bodies, business organizations and the branches of the state (Legislature, Judiciary and government) through social, political, administrative and economic agreements that meet the daily needs of people and ensure sustainable development (Hasnat Abdul Hye, 2000). For ensuring governance it is mandatory to ensure the education in a country. Education is also essential for the development of Bangladesh. The ultimate purpose of the development is to provide increasing opportunities to all for a better life, it is essential to expand and improve facilities for education, health, nutrition, housing and social welfare, and to safeguard the environment (Education Sector Policy Paper by World Bank, 1980). So, emphasize in the education level is must to gain the satisfactory level of participation of all including male and female equally in the society. Women is not only half of the population they represent the nation also. In a family to build up the mental condition of the child it is very important to be educated of women.

In the past 40 years the female education has been encouraged very much but in the developing countries the higher education rates among adult women is not that much satisfactory. Poor, overworked and illiterate these are the profile of women in the developing countries. Literacy is an effective instrument for social and economic development and national integration. Women become aware of their social and legal rights, learn and improve their skills acquire a voice in the affairs of the family and the community.

A plethora of study have found in  women empowerment, socio-economic background of the students but there is no other research about higher education of women and its relation with empowerment. So, this study is needed to perform. In this study the female educational area has been selected, because female education will lead an educated and developed nation. Moreover the influence of female students in their family will also be studied. Family is the centre of the social life. The effectiveness and efficiency of work depends upon the happiness of the family. In the article of “Education and Women Empowerment” the author has shown an example that the educated mothers are more favorable regarding the independence of a child. This kind of attitude influences the future educational achievements of the child. As a student of Public Administration, I have chosen this research topic because female students in J.U. and D.U. will join in the administration and in most of the cases they will involve in the service to serve the nation. So, it is important to conduct such kind of research to identify the socio-economic background of female students and also the perception of the female students regarding the participation of women in the higher education. This study will represent some barriers of higher education that are facing by the female students. The barriers are need to be focused in the National Education Policy, National Women Policy, and in Development plans of Bangladesh.

Research objectives:

a)      To identify the socio-economic background of the female students of J.U. (J.U.)and Dhaka University (D.U.)

b)      To identify the level of empowerment of the female students of J.U. (J.U.)and Dhaka University (D.U.)

c)      To identify barriers of female students in education of J.U. (J.U.) and Dhaka University (D.U.).

Research questions:

a)      What is the influence of the socio-economic background in higher education of female students?

b)      Does the level of empowerment differ among female students in J.U and D.U?

c)      Have any barriers of higher education for the female students?

 Research Hypotheses:

a)      Socio-economic background influence in faculties of respondents

b)      The level of empowerment dependents upon some indicators

c)      Residential facilities of University decreases the barriers of higher education

 Scope of the research:

The study is based on two universities D.U and J.U. Therefore, generalization of study findings for the whole country may not be appropriate, but it would provide guiding principle regarding women empowerment and its relation with higher education. The study considered two geographic locations mainly for testing hypotheses in two different socio-cultural areas. The major environment covered by the study is method for measuring women’s empowerment, influence of socio-economic background in the higher education of women, barriers they face in the university campus. Socio-economic background of the female students will be measured in this study with education of father and mother, occupation of father and mother, family income, size of the family etc. This research will also be a guiding principle for the suggestions to improve the condition for female education in Bangladesh. For the preparation of policies, programmes, and implementation of the existing policy this research will be helpful.

In order to measure women’s empowerment decision-making power, autonomy, involvement with organization, involvement with profession etc. the impact of higher education in empowerment will be measured in this research. Empowerment level is highly influenced by the higher education of the respondents.

Methodology of the study:

• Rationale for using quantitative approach:

Quantitative research includes some structured techniques of data collection that allow quantification, hypothesis, measurement and operationalization as well as the use of quantitative method of data analysis including statistics and computers (Sarantakos, 1998). Moreover the qualitative approach will also be applied here for the detailed analysis of the data. For measuring the level of empowerment, socio-economic background and barriers in higher education quantitative methods have been used in the present study.

• Selection of University:

Bangladesh has some thirty-two public universities providing education to the bulk of higher studies to the students (Wikipedia.org/wiki/list of Universities in Bangladesh). These universities are funded by the government while managed as self-governed organizations. Among them, two Universities have been selected for this study. The rationales behind selecting the two Universities are:

• Research areas are different from location,
• J.U. is totally a residential university,
• Male and female students compete separately in J.U.
• No separate seats for male and female students in D.U.
• Huge dormitory problems in D.U.

By keeping these things in the consideration this research will be conducted. Higher education of the female students will be studied by comparing Jahangirnagar and D.U.

• Selection of respondents:

The following table provides the idea about the total students of Dhaka and J.U. In the D.U. there is no separate distribution of male and female seats but in Jahangirnagar there is quota for male and female students.

Table 1.1: Male and female students of J.U. and D.U.

(Source: Data collected from the data sheet of students in the 2011 of two Universities)

In the D.U the percentages of male and female students are 65.37% and 34.63%.  On the other hand the percentages of male and female students in J.U are 67.51% and 32.49%. The percentage shows that though there is separate quota for the male and female students but the percentage is not satisfactory.

(Source: Data collected from the data sheet of students in the 2011 of two Universities)

In the above figure description of the sample for this research has been presented in the study.  Total population for performing the present research depends upon the similarities of subjects and faculties in D.U and J.U.

Total number of respondents for this study is 174. From the D.U the number of total respondent is 118. In the D.U the total number of population for this study is 6626. The percentage is 1.80% approximately in this percentage 56 students have been selected for the study.

In the present study two types of sampling method have been used. One is Cluster sampling and another is accidental sampling. Characteristics of this sampling method is that first groups of elements (clusters) are selected (school, classes, etc.) and then individual elements are selected from these clusters (sarantakos, 1998). In the book of Social Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches by W. Lawrence Neuman cluster sampling has discussed elaborately discussed. Following table has been prepared as described in this book.

Box 1.1: selection of sample for the study

Sources of data:

For conducting this research there are huge data sources that helped to fulfill the study. A unified questionnaire has been prepared for this study and through this questionnaire the author has studied in the two campuses those are Dhaka and J.U. Finally observation of present author has also used for the investigation of the attitudes of female students.

• Measurement of the study:

The subsequent table includes variables of the study and the indicators of measuring those variables have been incorporated. Some scales have been selected for measurement of the study.

Table 1.2: Measurement table

• Techniques for data analysis:

In order to process and analyze data the following techniques and tools were used:

• To assess the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of women usual indicators like rates, average, and percentages etc. have used.
• To assess the relationship and effect of higher education on empowerment of women changes simple correlation, chi square test, models have used. All the data of this study were processed through Microsoft excel 2007.

Description of the research area:

For completing this study the author has collected data from two Universities. Those are D.U and J.U. Two Universities have been chosen because these two universities have dissimilarities and will be representative in the context of Bangladesh. Some dissimilarity between selected Universities is:

• J.U. is fully a residential University. On the other hand D.U. is not fully residential University.
• Students of D.U. can get facilities of Dhaka city very easily but the students 0f J.U. cannot get the facility. Basic information’s about J.U. and D.U. have given below in a table.

Table 1.3: Basic information of D.U. and J.U

Source: Compiled from websites of both University

Limitations of the study:

In this study the author has tried to focus objectives and to prove hypothesis. For conducting this study researcher have faced some problems. Some of them have given below:

• Limitation of time
• No other University has taken as the research area for the study. So, this research may not be representative.
• There is very few research according to the topic of this research

Structure of the study:

The present study consists of eight chapters. The first chapter describes introduction, statement of the problem, Significance of the study, Research objectives, Research questions, Research Hypotheses, Scope of the research, Methodology of the study, Description of the research area, and Limitations of the study.

Chapter two includes literature review and theoretical and conceptual framework. Chapter three describes about the history of female higher education in Bangladesh, steps of Bangladesh government to accelerate female education.

Chapter four describes about the analysis of the research findings in three parts those are socio-economic background, higher education and empowerment and barriers in higher education.

Chapter five includes the perception of female students regarding the improvement of higher education of women. Chapter six describes final discussion and findings of the study. Chapter seven includes the test of research hypothesis. Finally chapter eight includes the conclusion of the study.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

In the first chapter of this paper, the research purpose and some questions have been identified. In the current chapter to expand this analysis and to analyze empowerment of female education and higher education some discussions will be added. To this end, this chapter presents a brief discussion of literature regarding higher education, women empowerment, and psychological set up of human being as well as women.

The literature review:

1)      Education and Women Empowerment: Khadiza Khatun

In this article the author has provided some essential information regarding female education and their empowerment. She has performed this research on working women. She has also studied the background of the women specially the female members of the family. In this study she has shown the improvement of female education after studying the education level of female members (grandmother, mother etc.) of their family. This research also focuses on the influence of female members in the decision making of the family. This research paper is helpful for the current research. The present researcher has studied this paper and this will be helpful for the analyzing the socio-economic background and the influence of female students in their family. But this research did not focus on the perception and profession choice of the female students.

2)      Familial Influences and Higher Education: Anjali Shah

In this research paper the author has studied about family income level and education attainment of children has a positive relationship.  As income increases, so will the level of education the child attains. Both parents married and living together has a positive relationship with a child’s educational level.  The educational level of the parents and the attainment of higher education by the child have a positive relationship.  The more educated the parents are, the more likely the child is to pursue higher education. For analyzing the socio economic background part this paper will be helpful.

3)      Higher Education: On life, Landing a Job, and Everything Else they didn’t Teach You in College, Kenneth Jedding

There are four parts in this book. Those are careers, relationships, parents, perspective. In this book the author has provided some basic ideas to build up career of a person. The author has emphasized over relationships with parents, setting one up to succeed, and drawing friendship as a model. In the first part of the book the author has said about relation between major job and major subject. He has provided several examples that major subject should have some relevance with future profession. He has also opined that one can do a job with his or her passion. In last chapter of this book the author has said about the faith on oneself.

4)      Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Change: Tapash Kumar Biswas, Department of Statistics, J.U.

This study is related with the empowerment of female and its impact on the demographic change. In this study the indicators for the measurement of the empowerment are mobility, Decision making power, Autonomy, Ownership of household assets, freedom from domination of the family, political and legal awareness, Participation in social and development activities, contribution to family income and expenditure, Reproductive right, exposure to information media, participation in development programs. In this study female education is the most important predictor for their empowerment. It is the foundation of their development. More years of schooling provide a woman higher exposure to the world and the society which increases their awareness level, decision making power, negotiating capability, choice of freedom and economic security. In this study the hypothesis testing method is very clear and it will be helpful for this research.

5)      Higher education, Freedom of Women, and Their Influence in the Family: The Realization of the Experience of Married Women, Amina Akhter

This thesis paper has been conducted by Amina Akhter a student of Anthropology department J.U. She has been studied the experience of married women regarding the higher education and the influence of them in the family. This study has also revealed that the influence of the female members in their husbands family and in their father’s house. In the society of Bangladesh most of the families are based on patriarchy. But the higher education can provide the opportunity to expose the opinion of women in some critical issues of the family. In this study several examples have shown that, a respondent Chobi has said that she is more educated then her brother and she get more preferences then her brother. Mukti is another respondent and said that she is a doctor and her brother comes to her for suggestions. In this study it has also identified that the higher educated married women also get preference in their marital house. In several matters like education of the younger member of the family the opinions of the female higher educated women get preferences.

6)      Women in Bangladesh: from Inequality to Empowerment:  Nazmunnessa Mahtab

In this book the author has included some information regarding female education in Bangladesh. A chapter named Education and Training of Women: An assessment of Beijing she has added that the educational status of women in the higher education is not satisfactory with the comparison of other regions of the world. For the patriarchal society the participation is not satisfactory. On the other hand she has also added that the participation level of women in higher education is increasing day by day. In the field of higher education she has added that in average, only 19% of women are in higher education. The general Universities like the agricultural and the Engineering constitute 12% and 11% of female students respectively. While in the case of degree levels, there are about 31% female students comprising of 35% in Medical colleges, 38% in Dental colleges, 4.4% in BIT, 9% in Agricultural college and 16% in Law college. She has provided important information regarding the women participation in the education level. This is helpful for me to perform this research because I have collected data on the reasons of lower participation of women.

7)      Attitude of Educated Women Toward Social Issues: Vimla Mehta

This a research works of Vimla Mehta. She has studied about the educated women and their attitude in the Assam of India. The author has studied the attitude of educated women in the Uttar Pradesh of India in 1979. In this study paper the author has focused the attitudes towards the several sectors of life like the family, social and cultural life, education for women, Marriage for the women, Jobs for women and the politics of the women. She has provided important data regarding the measurement of the data or the attitude of the educated women. Basically the researcher used the likert technique for measuring the attitude of the selected women. In this research paper the unit of analysis is the Women of 21 educational institutions in the Uttar Pradesh including University of Gorakhpur, St. Andrew’s college, Gorakhpur, Tara Girls Inter College, Bahraiach, etc. The total number of respondents is 900. In this study the author coated that, ‘there is a greater women behind every great man’, was never a reality in the present patriarchal society where women possess a slightly inferior position to man in physical and mental capacities. The study had been conducted to analyze the attitude of the educated women regarding several matters of the society and their surroundings.  India is a country of verities presents variations are due to socio-psychological factors to which individuals belong. These factors are the age status, caste and community status, marital status, occupational status, socio-economic status and the educational status of the family and the group. This research is helpful for our research about the measurement and the analysis.

8)      Why Women Count: Essays on Women in Development of Bangladesh: Shamim Hamid

The author has provided multiple attentions in the development of Bangladesh through the participation of women. The book has focused the non-market labor force that is the homemakers and works a lot but they do not get proper value of their work. The author has suggested that women are most of the cases the non-market labors and do not earn money because of their work. In this book the author has included several aspects including the health, education, and the contribution of government regarding the improvement of the women participation. This book has also included the sectoral allocation of the female education in the national budget.

9)      The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in Development: Rounaq Jahan

The author has incorporated her thinking regarding the importance of the inclusion of Women in the development of Bangladesh. She has added several developments regarding the women participation in the development sector. She has also presented the women’s agenda including their rights in eight sectors those have provided below:

• Rights including legal equality, Enforcement, Awareness-raising
• Entitlement means access to and control over productive resources and services
• Investment including elimination of the gender gap in human development and support for gender needs
• Voice that means decision making and women’s vision of alternative development agenda
• Poverty
• Reproductive labor
• Security
• Lastly the Empowerment

She has added that that though organization and consciousness rising have been on the women’s agenda all along, self employment gained salience as a critical strategy only in the last decade (80s). According to her opinion only through self employment they can aspire to break out of gender subordination.

10)  Contemporary Feminist Perspective: Meghna Guhathakurta

In this book the author has indicated the development of the feminist perspective among the women in the several decades. The discussion includes several type of feminist perspective including the radical, modern, and post-modern regarding women. This book includes the comparison of feminist politics and women-centered politics.

11)  Mapping Women’s Empowerment: Experience from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: edited by Firdous Azim and Maheen Sultan

The collection of essays in the book aims to capture the variety of policies, discourses, debates and interventions that have influenced the life of women in South Asia and to identify those that have led to greater empowerment of women. The essays also review as well as show us the new directions that are opening up new pathways for women to traverse. The three South Asian nations represented here share a common history of colonialisation and nation-making and have had similar cultural struggles.

12)   Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches: W. Lawrence Neuman

This book includes several chapters including elaborate discussion about quantitative and qualitative research approach, the construction of theory and the literature review. The sampling method has also used very clearly in this book. In this study the sampling method and the literature review part and also the way to apply quantitative approach has followed from this book.

Attitude of Female Students Towards Politics in Bangladesh: Noorunnahar Fyzennessa

In this study the author has studied over the female students in two halls of D.U. The purpose of the study in this context is to probe the extent to which female University students are politicized, to what extent they are conversant with socio-political problems of Bangladeshi society, and how they view political problems during their impressionable years. The study also attempts to investigate whether the female students of D.U. have been influenced by politics, have undergone any socio-political changes, such as, attaining freedom from family restraints breaking the barriers of seclusion and dependence on parents and other elderly persons in the family etc. The effect of such changes in attitude or behavior, if any, upon opinions toward the family and society was also investigated. Some other relevant issues in this study is whether their status as females limited their effectiveness in the student front and whether they aspired to join in political activities in national level after the completion of their studies. Their problems and difficulties in joining national political organizations have been brought into focus (Noorunnahar Fyzennessa, 1995). This study will be helpful for the present research as the author has also investigated about the female students. In the part of the discussion this research will also be helpful.

Women, Gender and Development Contemporary Issues: Nazmunnessa Mahtab

This book has been incorporated with the several dimensions of female education in the world and side by side in Bangladesh. Professor Nazmunnessa Mahtab has accumulated several theories regarding Gender and development issues. Not only that is book is a source book of all kind of policies regarding the higher education of female students. The recent development issues regarding female education has also shown in this book. She has incorporated the governance issue from the gender perspective. In the following the diagram has shown bellow about the relationship between gender and good governance that shown by Nazmunnessa Mahtab.

Our lives and the world we live in are shaped by negotiations with, negotiations between and decisions by a range of governance institutions. The questions raised are:

1)      Who has the power to make these decisions?

2)      Whose voices are heard during the decision-making processes?

3)      What material impacts do these decisions have of people’s lives- their opportunities, choices, access to rights and resources, and quality of life?

4)      Who are the winners and who are the losers?

The answers of these questions tell a story of gender inequality——-inequality in decision making and inequality in the outcomes of the decisions where ever they are made. Women are also excluded from the decision making in whether within the household community, local and national government or within global institutions such as the United Nations.

Even when they are included in these processes, they are struggling to get their voices heard, and having push for recognition of human rights and for adequate mechanisms to hold government to account for their commitments on gender equality. So the question arises—–

How can governance be effective if woman are unable to exercise their rights to participate in making the decisions that affect their lives and if does not lead to a more equal world where women’s rights are realized?

Science governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in decision making and implementing the decisions are made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decisions (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012). For influencing in the decisions of the family a position of women is important that is their empowerment. Education is the basic element of the empowerment. So we can say that the good governance is depends highly on the issues like gender and empowerment of women in the society.

Impact of Family Socio-Economic Status on Girl Students’ Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisumu East District, Juma, Lucy Stella Atieno et.al., 2012

In this paper author has included that socio-economic status affects children’s education. For  instance  it  has been noted  that high level  of  Parental  education  of  the  family,  high  income  and  conducive  home  environment  positively influences academic achievement of children. In the Kisumu East District of Kenya researcher has performed a study on 1560 form four girls, 33 head teachers and 33 class teachers. Study established that the girl students’ from high family income performed better than from those from low income families.  Parents with high level of education greatly enhanced girl students’ academic achievement. Moderate family sizes of about 4 children had a big positive influence on girl students’ academic achievement. The study concluded that family income, parental level of education, birth order and family size influenced academic achievement of girls in secondary schools. From the findings the recommendations made were; the government should sensitize parents on the need and importance of supporting girl education  for better performance, parents should also be sensitized by  the school on the  importance  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  the  girl  child  and  its  impact  on  their  academic performance; schools should also advise parents on how to properly use their resources on supporting their daughters academic performance.

18) Women’s Autonomy in Household Decision-Making: A Demographic Study in Nepal: Acharya, Dev R. et.al.

This research work has emphasized on autonomy and link up with autonomy and decision-making. The research shows the result that women’s autonomy in health-care decision- making is extremely important for better maternal and child health outcomes, and as an indicator of women’s empowerment. Gender-based power inequalities can restrict open communication between partners about actions across regions and socio-cultural contexts.

          19)  Causal Effects of Parents’ Education on Children’s Education: Ermisch, John

The  paper  shows  that  parents’  education  is  an  important,  but  hardly exclusive part of  the  common  family background  that generates positive correlation between  siblings’ educational attainments. Their estimates based on Norwegian twins indicate that an additional year of either mother’s or father’s education increases their children’s education by as little as one-tenth of a year. There is evidence that father’s education  has  a  larger  effect  than  that  of  mothers:  one  explanation  is  that  better educated mothers work more in paid employment and spend less time interacting with their children.

Theoretical and conceptual framework:

 Psychological and behavioral theories:

In “Children and Society” Erickson One of the famous psycho analyst has studied about the childhood and the impact of the society in it. He has applied two societies in this study those are Sioux and Yurok the two American Indian tribal. The boys are trained to be hunters (Sioux) and fisherman (Yurok), and the girls in both cases are trained to be mothers who will bring up hunters and fisherman. Cultures then elaborate upon the biologically given and strive for a division of functions between sexes which is simultaneously meaningful to the particular society, and manageable for individual ego.

In the last of the 19^th century Sigmund Freud has established the psychoanalysis regarding the child psychology. According to his opinion the behavior of human being in adulthood and mental disorder is the reason of the behavior that has influenced in the childhood of a child. Freud has also mentioned that childhood memories persisting into adulthood were screens for important events, usually sexual in nature, and that a correct interpretation of the memory (Psychoanalysis and Women question: Sigmund Freud)

Comparisons of different group of woman identified on the basis of age or education or some other variable can lead to misleading or less informative results of individual differences variables are not taken into consideration. In this research the author has indicated that the behavior of the individual or a group of women is influenced by some factors. In the book of “Psychology of Women: Behavior in the biological context” the author Juanita H. Williams has indicated some factors which affects the behavior of women and it impacts the opinion of women.

Lucy Stella Atieno Juma and two other authors have written an article on Impact of Family Socio-Economic Status on Girl Students’ Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisumu East District. His ideas have been incorporated in the following figure to show factors of achievement of higher education in the study of children.

(Source: Impact of Family Socio-Economic Status on Girl Students’ Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Case Study of Kisumu East District, Juma, Lucy Stella Atieno et.al., 2012)

Table 2.1: Concepts of several theorists

In the conference paper named “Learning Theories and Higher Education”, Frank Ashworth, Gabriel Brennan, Kathy Egan, Ron Hamilton, Olalla Saenz et al. have provided several theories regarding the higher education. Some aspects of tertiary education has provided below in a matrix table. Higher education consists of some aspects including behaviorists, cognitive, Humanist, Social learning, and constructivist.

Behaviorism:

Behaviorism originated as a social science, the goal of which was to predict and control behavior. Learning was manifested by a change in behavior, with an emphasis on a connection between a stimulus and a response. From a behaviorist perspective, the goal of education is to ‘ensure survival of human species, societies and individuals’.

Humanist:

In educational terms this would lead to the self directed learner, with the teacher as the facilitator of student learning. Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation presented a hierarchy of needs-the highest of which is higher education from humanistic point of view.

Cognitive:

Cognitive theorist recognizes that much learning involves associations established through contiguity and repetition. They also acknowledge the importance of reinforcement, although they stress its role in providing feedback about the correctness of responses over its role as a motivator.

Table 2.2: The theories of learning according to several theorists

Source: “Learning Theories and Higher education” Frank Ashworth et.al. 2004

Social learning:

Merriam and Caffarella classify social learning theory as a theory on a par with constructivism, humanism, behaviorism, and cognitive. There are two oppressing perspective those are first, the person can be seen as a passive receiver of behavior, roles, attitudes, and values which are shaped and maintained by the social environment. The second approach provides for an active role for the person.

The above theories are separated from one another. But in this research these theories are all helpful. Because this study is related with the behavior of female students, development of the capacity, self actualization and autonomy that means empowerment, model new roles and behavior, and finally the construction of knowledge. In the following a diagram has been prepared for this study according the above theories.

Women Empowerment:

Empowerment of women is not a new concept in most of the developing countries. From the realization of the socio-economic backwardness of women, recently more emphasize has been given on women empowerment. The concept has originated mostly from the researches of the third world countries. (Tapash, 2002) In case of Bangladesh empowerment of women means women should be given freedom of choice for self fulfillment and self development as well equal access to domestic and community resources, opportunities and power as defined by UNDP.

Women’s empowerment as getting women into apex position that oversees decision-making affecting society and polity. On the other hand empowerment makes a woman free from religious orthodoxy, polygamy, rape, child, marriage, unequal marriage and forced pregnancy (Tapash, 2002). There are some measures of empowerment those are considered as the indicators of the empowerment those are poverty, education and training, health, violence, armed conflict, economy, power and decision making, institutional mechanism for the advancement of the women, human rights, media, environment and girl child. Women’s empowerment is an idea whose meaning is instinctively clear but which proves very difficult to translate into specific attributes of any situation and a wide range of have been used in trying to define it. Insofar the idea of empowerment contains within it the sense of control over one’s life, the ability to take decisions and to act upon those decisions; it suggests a degree of independence or autonomy. However the manner in which such autonomy might find expression can and does vary tremendously across different cultural contexts so that it is difficult to have a cultural context free definition harmonized for all groups and countries. Without trying to attempt a comprehensive definition it is in this sense of exercising control over one’s life choices.

The ability to exercise control can vary from person to person and from situation to situation. Insofar as empowerment is seen as an individual attribute, the corollary is that there are there are certain attributes that are associated with an empowered person, for example economic security and education. But empowerment can also be a function of an environment. An empowering environment is one that compliment and enhances those actions and attributes that reflects individual empowerment. For example a woman can wish to work outside the home; an environment that encourages her in this could be created by a supported family, a community that sees it is normal or acceptable; a workplace that encourages and facilitates women working. The reverse effect that an empowered individual may be able to make an environment empowering should also be true. The ideas of the two authors have showed that the empowering environment encourages woman to involve in the work outside the home or being self dependent about her. Women empowerment is broadly influenced by the environment as well as the family and the surrounding around her. The ideas in the article has represented in the following figure.

The study has been performed to show the socio-economic background of female students in J.U. and D.U. The status of higher education of female students has been increased that has shown in the above charts. The perception of female students has also changed to be self dependent and to utilize their higher education in the future. Women empowerment situation has also been analyzed in this study. The decisions of the female students in their family, the perception about their involvement with the job, Self dependency, are the indicators of the measuring the women empowerment in Bangladesh. Some barriers have been studied as the controlling variable in this study.

Constraints and obstacles to women’s participation in Education:

According to various studies there are three groups of interrelated and interacting factors that impede Women’s equal participation in education. These are:

1. Socio-cultural constraints, arising from gender discriminatory Patriarchal Attitudes;
2.  Poverty;
3. Systematic inadequacy;

By and large women have been accorded an unequal and inferior social status. Discrimination at birth, lack of equal participation in all spheres of life, such as equal access to education, employment opportunities, coupled with retrograde social practices like child marriage, victims of dowry, women experience deprivation and disadvantages throughout their lives. They face not only gender discrimination of varying degrees and types at all levels, but also suffer from different types of violence, ranging from sexual harassment to murder. All these factors coupled with the very low female literacy rate, make the role of education very important and challenging. At present there is an increasing awareness, at all levels and all sectors, of the need to empower women in order to raise their status. It is strongly asserted that providing education to women who have been denied opportunities in this area would bring positive and desired changes in the lives of these women. Intense efforts are being made to enhance the enrolment of women at all levels of education, including higher education (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012).

There are some strategies regarding overcoming the barriers and improving female education. Some of them have given below:

• Measures to reduce the cost of girl’s education
• Increased access to close safe schools equipped with basic infrastructure
• Educating parents and communities on the value of educating girls etc. (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012)

Professor Nazmunnessa Mahtab has indicated the social, poverty and the systematic constraint as the barriers in the female education. In this path an author Bee Lan Chan Wang has incorporated a new idea that is female higher education face barriers because higher education enhances men’s abilities to fulfill their future roles as breadwinners.

Relation between education and empowerment:

From the above discussion present researcher has shown several theories regarding psychology of women including the theory of differentiating between the groups of female students having same academic background. In the second segment it has shown the theories regarding the higher education of human being as well as female education. Among the theorists of higher education Plato has emphasized on the boys and girls education. Rousseau has indicated the female education as the pleasure of men. On the other hand Paulo Freire has emphasized on the education of impoverished group that they can participate in the national aspects. As a feminist Marry Wollstonecraft has said in her book A Vindication of Rights of Women that women should get the opportunity to participate in the formal institutions and also rational education. In this portion the relation between higher education and empowerment will be shown as identified in the book of Nazmunnessa Mahtab, ‘Women, Gender, and Development contemporary issues’.

There is a growing consensus now that education irrespective of who receives it, contributes to development. It raises income, promotes health and increases productivity. There is also a consensus that when women are the recipients, the benefits are even more apparent. Increasing education of women and girls contribute to their greater empowerment.

After accumulating the above theories the conceptual framework of this study has shown below with a diagram:

  Conceptualizing the study:

In the above figure, the author has conceptualize the main concept of the research that the socio economic background influence the higher education of female students and it creates the self actualization and autonomy among them as well as the higher education of female students influence the empowerment of them. The socio-economic background of the study is divided in two ways those are the information of the family members including the number of the family, the education of the family members, the occupation of the family members etc. In this study I have conceptualize that the barriers of higher education including gender discrimination, the obstacles in the higher education level etc.

Variable specification:

There are two types of variables in this study those are independent variable and dependent variable. In the following two types of variables have provided.

Operationalization of the variables:

To make the research findings and analysis clear these some indicators have been presented in the following with definition.

• Socio-economic background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person’s work experience and of an individual’s or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation (compiled from Wikipedia). In this study the information about the family members including the income, education, age, marital status, and occupation are considered as socio-economic background.

• Education: Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people sustain from one generation to the next (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education). Education of mother and father are independent variable for the present study.  To measure influence of educated mother and father in the education of female students this variable has been selected.

• Higher education: Higher education in this study is the University education includes honors and Masters level. Generally there are three stages of education those are primary, secondary and tertiary. In this study the tertiary education is major concentration. Higher education is the institutional and formal education for female students to make them self dependent, empowered.

• Faculty: A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faculty_(division).

• Occupation: Occupation refers to a regular activity performed for payment that occupies one’s time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation). Higher occupation of parents will influence higher education of female respondents.

• Residence: A residence is an establishment where it was originally or currently being used by a host as their main place of dwelling or home (http://en.wikipedia.org). In this study there are two types of residence those are Hall in the campus of Jahangirnagar and D.U. There are also respondents in this study who live in Dhaka city in their home not in the campus.

• Family size: In this study family size refers to the total number of family members. To measure family size numerically several ranges have been added in the study.

• Religion: A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons (dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion). Education of different female students varies according to different religion.

• Family income: Family is the basic institution in the society is the most patriarchal in nature (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012). Family income is the total income of family members of respondents.

• Empowerment: Rao and Kelleher (1995) define women’s empowerment as the capacity of women to be economically self-sufficient and self-reliant with control over decisions affecting their life options and freedom from violence. In this study the empowerment of the women defined through the level of influence in the family, choice of the profession, etc.

• Involvement with Organization: There are several organizations in campus of the University. There are social, voluntary, political organizations in campus. Involvement with organization creates opportunities to set goals, initiate goals, making decisions etc.

• Involvement with profession: Professions tend to be autonomous, which means they have a high degree of control of their own affair (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profession). Though respondents may not in full employment but they may involve with part time job, tuitions etc. Involvement with profession by respondents’ show that they are empowered then those who have no profession.

• Influence in decisions of family: Influence of respondents in family decisions like education and marriage of siblings, selection of design of house etc. They can influence in the family because of self confidence and their education.

Chapter Three: Development of Higher education of Women in Bangladesh:

This chapter will describe about the history of higher education and education of women, steps of the Bangladesh government to enhance higher education as well education of women in Bangladesh. This chapter will describe the description of emergence of female education and gap of education between male and female.

Women’s Higher Education in Bangladesh:

“The objective is to create a class of people Indian in blood and color but English in taste, in opinions, in mind and in intellect.”(Islam, 2011)

The above quotation is from the research paper of Yousuf Islam but this was used by Sharfuddin (1996), in 1985, the then chairman of the Education Committee of the East India Company, Thomas Robington. This essentially meant that the British developed a system of higher education in colonial India that basically created only ‘munshis’ (i.e. clerks) as they were commonly known. Their skill revolved around record and accounts keeping and drafting of documents. This followed the declared education policy of the East India Company which was to create a class of loyal servants to work in offices of the British rulers. Creativity and independent thinking were not required of a loyal servant! Since that time, the region where Bangladesh (earlier known as East Bengal) is situated has faced two wars of independence, one in 1947 when Pakistan (consisting of what is today known as Pakistan together with what is known today as Bangladesh) broke away from India and in 1971 when Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan. The second war is popularly known as ‘War of Independence’. Independence has had little or no positive effect on changing the basic education delivery methodology (Islam, 2011)

Development of female students’ education in Bangladesh:

In the 19^th century the employers of the Missionary companies, the British citizens live in this country. Colonial government, the educated persons in the urban area of Bangladesh has influenced highly in the female education. From Raja Rammohan Roy, Darkanath Thakur, A.K. Datta, Viddyasagar have provided the idea that the female education is necessary for the country as well as the male partners. In the primary stages women also thought that the main objective to gain education is to get a good husband. In the last 19^th century and in the beginning of 20^th century the British colonial emperors have started the English education that was only based on the male persons.

The patriarchal society provides education to the female for only their own interest and they say that the females are not so appropriate to get all kind of education because of their biological condition. Women on that time also agree with this opinion. This was proved in the opinion of Indira, Debi Chowdhuraani. She think that homemaking is the summary of the life of women, and she has suggested to the authority of the University that “Taking exams are not the only objective of female life” she has also added that the body and mind structure are not appropriate and by keeping these in mind women should not get the opportunity to join in University education. They recommended further that the God has made male and female in the two frames that they should not provide same education. In this period the institutional education was only limited with the house of women. From the writings of Begum Rokeya it has found that the female students are not allowed to provide formal learning rather than religious learning (Amina Akhter, 2001).

 Status of Female Education in Bangladesh:

Enrollments of male female respondents have given below from the table of number of Institution, Enrolment and Teacher in Post-Primary and Primary by management and sex, 2010 of Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS).

Table 3.1: Number of male and female students in Public Universities

Source: Compiled from banbeis.gov.bd/webnew/index.php

The status of women in society is determined by many factors. The link between literacy and women’s social status is undividable. One of the indicators is the level of education in the country. One of the indicators is the level of education in the country. Education has often been one of the keys to empowerment. This also helps a country to improve effectively the human resources for national development. Education is an essential tool for development. Education is also the tool for breaking the vicious cycle of ignorance and exploitation and empowering women and girls to improve their lives.

In Bangladesh, women are lagging behind men in all stages of education. The literacy rate of Bangladesh is 55%, where male constitutes 60% and female constitutes 49%. In 2008, the total enrollment of students in the primary schools was 97.6%, whereas girls 78%. Although the enrollment rate for girls has increased significantly in recent years, both at primary and secondary levels, the dropout rate continues to be higher at the secondary levels. It is about 46%. Only 37% of the students at the secondary school levels are girls. The highest dropout rate is at the level of X (class-10). At this level the total dropout rate is 19.0%. The female dropout rate is 20.5 percent as compared to 17.6 percent in case of male. Marriages, divorce, social insecurity like sexual harassment on the way to and from school impede girl’s participation in public life. Furthermore, parents like to invest on son’s education rather than daughter education (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012).

A number of national documents of Bangladesh have formulated gender objectives and gender policies regarding education and equal access of boys and girls in educational facilities. Constitution of Bangladesh pledges for equal access of men and women in all spheres of life. This policy has manifested when women are considered as target groups in all the Five Year Plan of Bangladesh. However up to fourth five year plan of Bangladesh, women were targeted as means and not as ends. Therefore, primary objective of allocating resources for women’s education was to educate women for the interest of future generation and not for raising the life qualities of women themselves.

For accelerating female education, participation in the development of nation, there are huge initiatives of Bangladesh government. Most of the initiatives have been taken in development plans and constitution of Bangladesh. Bangladesh also participated in some foreign programs. Some programs of Bangladesh government are:

• Constitutional provisions
• Third Five Year Plan (1985-90)
• Fourth Five Year Plan (1990-95)
• Fifth Year Plan (1997-02)
• Interim-Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP)
• National Education Policy (2000)
• National Policy for the Advancement of Women
• National Action Plan (NAP)

• Platform for Action (PFA)
• Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

To analyze initiatives of government regarding female education the above policies have been discussed below sequentially.

Constitutional provisions

Article 10: Participation of women in national life 

Steps shall be taken to ensure participation of women in all spheres of national life.

Article 17: Free and compulsory education

The State shall adopt effective measures for the purpose of –

1. Establishing a uniform, mass-oriented and universal system of education and extending free and compulsory education to all children to such stage as may be determined by law;

1. Relating education to the needs of society and producing properly trained and motivated citizens to serve those needs; removing illiteracy within such time as may be determined by law.

Article 19: Equality of opportunity

1. The State shall Endeavour to ensure equality of opportunity to all citizens.

Article 27:  Equality before law

All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.

  Article 28: Discrimination on grounds of religion, etc  

1. The  State  shall  not  discriminate  against  any  citizen  on  grounds  only  of  religion,  race caste, sex or place of birth.

1. Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of the State and of public life (Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh).

Constitution of Bangladesh provides some provisions regarding education and equal participation of women in the development.

Third Five Year Plan (1985-90)

Reduction of gender based disparity as plan’s objective appeared in the Third Five Year Plan (1985-90). To achieve this objective, following women-specific development programs were undertaken in the education sector

• Providing of skill training in poultry,  dairy, livestock, food processing, garment and handicrafts;
• Strengthening of the National Women’s Academy and National Women’s Organization for skill training (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

 Fourth Five Year Plan (1990-95)

The Fourth Five Year Plan (1990-95) made a departure by making a commitment to bring women from the margin into mainstream development process. But due to lack of a clear understanding of the mainstreaming strategy, planning process remains the same as before. Thus, nature of development projects undertaken during this plan for women remains the same as before. Hence, most of the education projects undertaken for women’s development during the fourth five year plan aimed at supporting women as mother and housewives rather than empowering them to undertake gainful jobs (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

Fifth Year Plan (1997-02)

The main thrust of the Fifth Year Plan (1997-02) is also mainstreaming of women in development policies. Gender objective in this plan has been described as ”to integrate women’s development into the macro-framework and to reduce gender disparity in all sectors through the integration of women in mainstream development efforts” Reduction of gender gap in literacy rate in both rural and urban areas is highly emphasized in the Fifth Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh. Women specific policies, objectives and strategies set in this Plan for education sector are as follows:

• To enhance participation of women  in every sphere of education as well as to reduce the gap between facilities provided for male and female education;
• In view of co-education existing  at the primary level, and widespread at the secondary level, sporadic program for setting up gender specific higher educational institute will be reviewed;
• At least 70 per cent of the primary level teachers will be female and recruited locally;
• Free tuition and stipend will be provided to unmarried girl students especially in rural areas.

The main objective of the Fifth Five-year Plan in the education sector is to make the Compulsory Primary Education Program effective through the local government, community and NGO support (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

Interim-Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP)

Interim-Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) of Bangladesh also keeps issue of women’s education aside from mainstream education system. Main actions recommended to be undertaken in this area are as follows:

• Action towards changing current education curriculum to eliminate biases against women, and include    legal, human and women right issues at all levels of education starting from very early stage;
• Increase women’s access to education at secondary and higher levels.
• To facilitate women’s access to education at secondary and higher levels, provide school bus, toilet and hostel facilities for girls in addition to monetary facilities such as free education and scholarship for girls (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)

Full PRSP has been completed recently and the government has already published final report of this document. In this document, women’s issue has been considered as crosscutting issue and integrated in each and every aspect of poverty alleviation.  But it is yet to be implemented. Allocation in the forthcoming national budget (budget of FY 2005-06) will reveal whether budgetary allocation adheres to the strategies adopted in the PRSP (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

National Education Policy (2000)

Realizing the importance of women’s education, the latest National Education Policy (2000) incorporates a separate section on women’s education. One of the aims of this policy is to develop self-confidence, human dignity, knowledge and skill among women through providing education and skill training. This policy is undertaken in the right direction of empowering women through education since self-confidence, human dignity, knowledge etc. lie at the root of empowerment of any person. Some of the important strategies to achieve these objectives are as follows:

• Special fund should be created and non-government initiatives should be encouraged for increasing the literacy rate of women.
• Measures should be taken for decreasing the number of dropouts from school. The dropout girls should be brought under various vocational programmes.
• In order to bring a large number of women under the umbrella  of formal education and inspire them to pursue education from primary to higher and professional levels, necessary facilities for women education must be provided in educational institutions at all levels.
• Through proper changes in the syllabus of primary education, positive and progressive images of women and the issue of their equal rights should be highlighted so that the existing social attitude towards women changes.
• As the number of secondary schools in the country is not sufficient, transport and hostel facilities have to be arranged for girls.
• Girls should be encouraged in science and other professional education (like, engineering, medical, law and business, etc). Necessary budget allocation should be made for professional education of girls.
• Women must be involved in all policy formulation and decision making on education at all levels – the Ministry, higher education, secondary education and primary education.

These strategies are also very appropriate in achieving the objective of women’s education. But, in this document also, there is conspicuous absence of specific guidelines needed to mainstream women into the general development process of education.

NEP 2000 devoted a special section on women’s education for removal of social and economic barriers to their right to education; to make them aware of their social, political, civic and economic rights; and to make them skilled to achieve equal participation in work place. The strategies for achieving these goals included (a) special allocations and other measures for inclusion of women in the education system (b) special efforts for their retention including making curriculum girl-friendly and cognizant of women’s needs, and (c) expansion of opportunities for girls in skill training (Bangladesh  Education Sector Overview,2002).

National Policy for the Advancement of Women, National Action Plan (NAP), Platform for Action (PFA) and Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

National Policy for the Advancement of Women and National Action Plan (NAP) are two women specific national document, which outlines various objectives and strategies to develop women’s education. Bangladesh is also committed to the world to implement pro-women education priorities, since she is the signatory of several international treaties including the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Platform for Action (PFA). Bangladesh is further obligated to the world in terms of international human rights treaties and commitments made in international forums such as the World conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990) and World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000). Bangladesh is also committed to the world to attain the targets embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015 (National Plan of Action II 2003 – 2015).

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce gender gap in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015. Another goal is to empower women. Thus there is no dearth of national policy and strategies and international commitment for developing women’s education and skill base (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

 World Conferences

For every individual, the right to education is one of the first provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, education is often neglected in societies struggling to meet the many demands of their people. Only recently, education has received greater priority as planners finally recognized it as a factor in determining the pace of development. Creating educational opportunities for girls and women is strongly emphasized in a majority of UN documents. Supplementing the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination, Article 10 of the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in 1979, outlined a comprehensive agenda for promoting gender equality in education. The World Conference on Education for All, sponsored by UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the UNDP and held at Jomtein, Thailand, in 1990 took stock of the presence and dimensions of the gender gap in education. Looking to the year 2000, its final declaration stated “The most urgent priority” is guaranteeing access to, the improving the quality of education for girls and Women, and removing obstacles to their active participation. All gender stereotyping in education should be eliminated.

The World Educational Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000, renewed the commitment in achieving Education for All by 2015. The Dakar Framework for Action placed particular emphasize on the reaching of gender equality in education and focused on ensuring girls’ and Women’s full and equal access to and the achievement in basic and continuing higher education. The special attention rendered to the education of Women and girls and development and advancement in the quality of people’s lives, as well as the means of empowering women themselves (Majumder, Dr. Pratima Paul 2005).

Respondents Perception about Women’s Higher Education and Some Suggestions

In this chapter opinion of respondents regarding the higher education of women has been incorporated, suggestions and reasons for poor profession, This portion has not included in the findings and data analysis part because this is not included to the specific objectives of the study.

Participation of women in higher education:

Respondents of this study have provided several opinions regarding participation of female students in the higher education. Here author is going to present the participation of women in higher education. In the following table opinions regarding participation of women in higher education have shown with aggregate data:

Table 5.1.:  Participation of women in higher education

The table incorporates two variables regarding the participation of women in higher education. The dominating opinion is participation of women in higher education is good. And percentage of total respondents opined regarding this matter are 55.93%. On the other hand 10.17% respondents of D.U said that participation of women in higher education is bad 5.36% respondents of J.U said that participation is bad. In the part of gender discrimination there are 39.29% respondents of J.U said that there is gender discrimination in the university. The main reason they have informed is female quota system. In this perspective respondents have said that:

• Participation is increasing gradually
• Quota should not exist in education while there are huge opportunities to get proper education.

13.79% respondents have said that present participation is very good. When the interviewer have asked them to explain then they said that in their departments female students are almost equal to male students and the academic results of them are very good then male students.

 Reasons of bad or very bad participation:

Regarding low participation several ideas have provided by respondents. There are three groups of interrelated an interconnected factors that impede equal participation of women in education. These are:

a)      Socio-cultural constraints, arising from gender discriminatory patriarchal attitudes

b)      Poverty

c)      Systematic Inadequacy (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012)

The following table integrates some issues about reasons of bad participation of women in higher education. In the question no.7 respondents were asked regarding reasons of bad or very bad participation.

Table 5.2: Reasons of poor participation in higher education

Most significant barrier is lack of family support as respondents opined. Percentage of respondents of both University said about this is 100% of J.U and 70.59% of D.U.

• Low participation of women in job:

Sharmin Akhter, 1^st year from the department of International relations of D.U have provided her perception that for low participation of women in higher position acts like a demotivating factor in the education of the female students.

• Low education of Parents:

Respondents from D.U have said that low education of parents is an important influencing factor for higher education of women.

Box 5.1: Case studies

The above findings show the result that main barrier in higher education is lack of family support. So, reasons of unsatisfactory participation have been identified in the following figure:

Suggestions to improve participation

Situations differ from country to country, within countries and between regions; the common phenomenon is the need for specific strategies to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of women’s access to education (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012).

Table 5.3: Suggestions to improve women participation in higher education

 Highest percentage of option is awareness of the family. In J.U the percentage is 62.50% and in D.U it is 60.17%. The research findings reveal that in the second position of the suggestion of respondents is Self confidence of female students the total percentage is 16.09%. 20.34% of D.U has said about this and J.U students said about 7.14%.

The research findings show the result that 9.77% respondents have said about the option ensuring favorable environment in University. In J.U 8.93% students have said about ensuring a favorable environment in University. In the forth position the option is fulfillment of government projects regarding female education the total percentage is 8.05%. In J.U the percentage is 10.71% and in D.U the percentage is 6.78%.

Box 5.2: Case studies

The research reveals the idea that Awareness of the family is the most important suggestion to improve the education of female students. The standard deviation of the variable suggestions to improve the participation in J.U is 1.514326. In the D.U the value of standard deviation is 1.363017.

 Female quota system in education sector:

In constitution of Bangladesh there is the provision of equal opportunity for job in Article 29 and in article there is a provision for not making any kind of gender discrimination. In education and job sector of Bangladesh, there is very little participation of women. For this reason quota system is an especial facility for them. In this part the perception of the female students regarding the quota system has been added.

Table 5.4: Female quota system in the education sector

In the above table female quota system has been shown with the faculty of the respondents of each University. In J.U 39.29% respondents have supported quota system strongly. On the other hand in D.U the percentage is 35.59%. Regarding this option of strongly support there was an option for greater participation (25%) respondents of J.U and 26.27% respondents of D.U have said about this. So, the existence of the quota system has been seems very much important among students. Behind this there are some reasons for quota system. Those are:

• There is no good facility of educational institutions in rural area.
• Low family education

30.36% respondents from J.U have supported quota system. On the other hand 33.90% respondents of D.U have supported quota system. There are 35.71% respondents in J.U and 41.53% of D.U has provided their opinion that they support quota system for female students because participation of female students are not good. They did not strongly supported quota system because of some reasons those are:

• Nowadays participation of female students in the education sector have increased gradually
• Quota system in female education should exist but it should not be permanent
• The percentage of quota system should be very few.

In the table the most important matter of concern that 30.36% (17) respondents of J.U do not agree with quota system and 30.51% (36) respondents of D.U disagree about the quota system. They have disagreed with the quota system and 32.20% respondents of D.U and 39.29% respondents of J.U have provided the opinion that quota system dominates merit. There are some reasons behind this those are:

• Quota is considered as a matter of disqualifying character of female students
• There are huge opportunity of education

The above discussion indicates that proportion of supporting quota system is larger than the percentage of disagreeing quota system. So, the decision can be in this way that, there is necessity of quota system but it should remain only for those who do not get proper facility for education.

 Female quota system in job sector:

The article 29 of Bangladesh constitution says about equality of opportunity in public employment. In Bangladesh still there is no equal participation of female in the job sector. Women make up 31% of the official labor force in developing countries and 46.7% worldwide. In most of the countries women work approximately twice the unpaid time men do. The majority of women earn on average about three fourths of the pay of males for the same work, outside the agriculture sector, in both developed and developing countries (Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 2012).

In this portion present researcher is going to show the perception of female students regarding female quota system in job sector.

The following table shows that 50% respondents from J.U and 41.53% respondents from D.U strongly supported about the female quota system in job sector.  The reason behind this opinion is for the greater participation percentages from J.U and D.U are 28% and in D.U the number of respondents are 46%. Respondents have provided several reasons. Those are:

• The participation of women in job sector is very poor
• Sometimes higher qualified women do not get an appropriate job in more competitive sector

 Table 5.5: Female quota system in job sector