Women's empowerment is an important goal of the educational processes around the world. Women in developing countries need support and motivation for attaining higher education and empowerment. This qualitative-exploratory study sought to explore the perceptions of Pakistani female university academics living inside predominantly patriarchal…

The Saudi 2030 vision states it is committed to empowering women through education and employment, but the literature scarcely addresses their everyday realities. This paper utilises a critical realist perspective to examine the mechanisms emerging from the interplay of structural and cultural factors that impact women's empowerment concerning…

Nearly four decades of instability and fragility have led to many changes in the status of women and girls in Afghanistan. Yet, little research focuses on these changes within the education system. To understand the country's stance toward gender issues in formal practice, we examine gender representations in Afghan primary-level Dari language…

This paper attempts to explore the connections between expanding female education and the participation of women in paid employment in Japan, China and India, three of Asia's largest economies. Analysis based on existing data and literature shows that despite the large expansion in educational access in these countries in the last half century,…

Gendered educational and occupational pathways are entrenched in many countries. The underrepresentation of women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has ramifications for individuals and for workforces. Girls' declining interest in STEM coincides with an increasing demand for STEM-skilled professionals across the…

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have played a significant role in development and have contributed to radical changes in some parts of the world in the past three decades or longer. At the same time, there are parts of the world where ICTs have not reached and there has been little or no development arising from the applications of…

A long-standing debate questions whether homemakers or working wives are happier. Drawing on cross-national data for 28 countries, this research uses multi-level models to provide fresh evidence on this controversy. All things considered, homemakers are slightly happier than wives who work fulltime, but they have no advantage over part-time…

This study examines women's choice of surname upon marriage, using a nationally representative Norwegian sample (N = 1,276). Regression analyses revealed that age at marriage, own and mother's education, urban residence, importance of paid labor, liberal family values, and egalitarian work-family roles positively influence marital name keeping.…

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyse play through a contemporary historical perspective, based upon pre-school teachers', students majoring in education, and teacher education students' descriptions of memories from their childhood regarding play and toys. The overall method is retrospective. The data consists of 111 interviews…

In most countries, girls perform better than boys in reading but worse in mathematics. However, there is much variation between countries. Explanations for the gender gaps include the organisation of the school system, students' expectations and macro-societal factors. The purpose of this paper is to account for gender differences in both reading…

This paper reports the results of a small-scale narrative study of men and women who grew up in mid-twentieth-century rural Wales, and their reminiscences regarding women and education. Although the dominant image of Wales during that era is that of a male-dominated society, all of our participants remembered influential independent women and…

In trying to understand some of the gendered discourses that shape the management of schools as organisations in South Africa, I analyse woman principals' experiences as they try to navigate a balance between their home and work responsibilities. After their appointment as principals, some South African women face difficulties in striking the…

Experiences of cohorts of Swedish females born between 1885-1889 and 1940-1944 are examined, and found to agree with theoretical arguments that increases in female labor-force participation improve feasibility of marriage, while reducing the desirability relative to available alternatives. Increased female labor-force participation also increases…

Discusses and reviews the role and status of women, using detailed information drawn from eight Western tradition countries, including Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Also looks at what forces have shaped women's legislation in these countries. (LAS)

Discusses social and economic inequality of Israeli women, despite a political ethic which holds that the sexes are equal. Describes the current women's movement. Explores religious and historical phenomena, including the influx of oriental Jews and ongoing warfare, as factors in perpetuating traditional ideologies of masculinity and femininity.…