Barriers for Women
Barriers for Adult Women Returning to Higher Education
In September of 1994, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) held the Fifth World Assembly in Cairo, Egypt, with a particular address on the urgency of ensuring the global advancement for women's education. The Council decreed that promoting women's education would not just further women but would also help develop the entire globe (Cassara, 1994).
The First Lady of Egypt, Mrs. Mubarak, declared this of the assembly: “no country can obtain optimal development when women who are half the society and are responsible for the other half are deprived of the light of education" (Cassara, 1994). She added that "attempts to marginalize [woman's] role and underestimate its effectiveness are spontaneously reflected on the growth of the society and the extent of its progress" (Cassara, 1994).
A statement from the ICAE News summarizes the problems women face: "Poverty and marginalization; the traditional and cultural biases against daughters; the influence of conservative fundamentalist thought; the sexual exploitation of girls and women; the low priority given to women's economic contribution and girls' education are all examples of factors that influence the education and development of women" (Cassara, 1994). In 2021 we can look back on 1994 and see that we still have much more work ahead of us even though we have made progress. The world is still coming to terms with the need for true equality for women, greater access to higher education, financial and job security, and a greater ability to overcome the barriers women face in nearly all aspects of their lives.
As we saw in the statements from the ICAE, the barriers that women face start during childhood and continue into adulthood. Wilson (1996) writes that in liberal democracies, there is the assumption that “everyone has the opportunity to advance if they have the corresponding talent and ambition (p. 108). The problem, however, is that this has not turned out to be the case for most women. Even though women are now an important part of the Canadian labour force, a lack of child-care space and inflexibility of work structures to accommodate the needs of mothers still pose significant barriers for women (Wilson, 1996, p. 110).
Even when employed, Wilson (1996) cites occupational segregation, the “glass ceiling,” and pervasive wage gaps as ongoing, systemic barriers to women achieving significant improvements to their economic well-being (p. 135). Barriers for women are clear; they start at birth, continue through adolescence, both halt and prevent higher education, and often make difficult the eventual success for women in the workforce.
Not only are there significant barriers for women obtaining higher education but even once educated, further barriers still exist. Deutsch and Schmertz (2011) state that even though women in contemporary society now earn postsecondary degrees at the same rate as men, they still earn less money, work in lesser-status jobs, and accumulate less wealth (p. 479). Women also have unique needs when returning for higher education, and they require a very different response than either younger or male students.
While recognizing barriers exist for women at all stages of their lives, this paper will explore three of the most significant barriers that women face when pursuing postsecondary education: financial limitations, family responsibilities, and the necessary flexibility from educational administrators.
Financial constraints are certainly one of the most significant barriers that an adult woman will face in her decision to return to higher education later in life. Deutsch and Schmertz (2011) state that costs are higher for adult women attending university than they are for men, mainly due to the expenses associated with childcare, which poses a significant barrier to completing their education (p. 480). They also report that women students are more likely to be from lower-income households, work while attending school, and be single parents – all of which have proven to give women students a lower completion rate in postsecondary education (p. 482).
There is also a significant risk for women who do not achieve higher education and better employment. Wilson (1996) states that stay-at-home women are highly vulnerable: they are dependent on the ability of someone else to provide for them, their money is often “allocated” to them, and they have little control over their financial security (p. 73). Wilson (1996) believes that education is vital to both the security of women and to repair the wage gap that persists between men and women: women without a degree earn only 63% of men’s salary, but with a degree, they make as much as 84% (p. 118).
The human capital theory has attempted to explain this wage gap, stating that higher education will increase the productivity of women and, therefore, their salaries, but it has not proven to be the case (Wilson, 1996, p. 120). Governments must effect more social programs for adult women, particularly financial, that will allow for their return to higher education, bringing them security and advancement towards equality and a better life.
Adult women require flexibility and creativity from educational administrators to meet their unique needs. They are often balancing household, work, and school demands and are likely to need child-care services. Furthermore, all of this may not happen during traditional hours or days of the week. Deutsch and Schmertz (2011) found that universities that created both an academic and social community offered the most significant amount of success for their adult students (p. 494). What emerged was that adult-women students required smaller discussion-based classes, interactive classes, smaller universities, with a warmer, softer community of professors (p. 494).
This sentiment of being more like a friend with their professors than a student/teacher relationship was prevalent throughout much of the research of Deutsch and Schmertz (2011): “. . . most women seemed to value their place within the academic community and felt that it allowed for distinctive kinds of supports from faculty. The participants frequently brought up the role of faculty in making their educational experiences positive” (p. 495). Cindy, interviewed by Deutsch and Schmertz (2011), shared that one of her professors was also a single mother, working on her own second master’s degree: “She totally understands far more than anybody else what it is to be in school, have kids, trying to work, going to other classes, having to turn in this paper” (p. 495).
It is essential that women feel valued as students, supported by their family, friends, and faculty, and respected and welcomed on campus by faculty and administrators. When a woman’s particular and unique needs are met, her chances of both deciding to enter postsecondary education and completing her education are significantly enhanced. There must be a clear recognition that adult women are not “traditional” students and therefore require a distinctly “non-traditional” response to their return to education.
Family responsibility is also a barrier for adult women returning to school for higher education. Deutsch and Schmertz (2011) tell Susan’s story as a common theme in their extensive research into women’s higher education (p. 492). Susan states this about her experience as an adult student: [A] lot of things have not changed in the last 30 years about who’s the bottom line caretaker. . . It seemed very rare or on a small scale where men would say, “Okay, you’re free. I’ll take care of everything.” (Deutsch & Schmertz, 2011, p. 492).
Susan also deals with the guilt of returning to school because the very act of not being home all the time freed her up from some of her household duties and forced her husband and children to pick up the slack (Deutsch & Schmertz, 2011, p. 492). Colleen, another student researched, a single mother, expresses guilt about not having as much time with her child; she describes her struggle with gaining the education she needs to give her son a good life, even while making difficult sacrifices (Deutsch & Schmertz, 2011, p. 492).
Overwhelmingly, all of the students that were researched had the same complaint: “they felt pressure to continue taking care of the household and children even while pursuing their degrees. Thus, traditional gender roles still loomed large in their lives” (Deutsch & Schmertz, 2011, p. 493). Wilson (1996) found that these gender role disparities were heightened the more significant the difference between the man and the woman’s income; for example, the more a man earned, the less he helped out in the house (p. 78). This idea of women needing to perform a “double day” is a problem that continues to exist in contemporary society and significantly impacts a woman’s success in higher education. Wilson (1996) states that:
Unless we challenge this aspect of the structure of work so that men are free to father, mothers will never be free of their double day. The segregated labour force, the wage gap, and workplace policies that make mothering but not fathering easier create a gendered division of labour at home and reinforce women’s economic dependence in the long run. (p. 83)
More people must start to question the social norms that exist in contemporary society regarding the roles of men and women in both family and work units. When women have the time to pursue their dreams, goals, and ambitions, knowing that their husbands, co-workers, and bosses “have their back” and that they are fully supported on all levels, women will have a real shot at obtaining equality.
Adult women are facing an increasing need to return to higher education. This need may include the desire to better oneself, earn more money, complete an education that having a family had earlier stalled, or climb higher up the corporate ladder in their field. Either way, women face significant barriers to completing this education. They are still mostly responsible for home and child-care. They are often juggling jobs at the same time. They have to uncover resources to pay for child-care, and they must find institutions that can support their unique needs as adult-woman students.
Furthermore, after decades of women fighting for their equality, “white men still hold the majority of prestigious high-paying jobs in Canada” (Wilson, 1996, p. 132). What is required, most immediately, as women move forward in their quest to remove their barriers to equality, is a fundamental shift in the prevailing attitudes toward women in all areas of their lives, including education, training, career, and family. Child and home care must not be assumed to be a woman’s responsibility, prevailing work attitudes must account for the needs of the whole family, and policies must be implemented that focus on working parents and not just on working mothers.. Greater flexibility for women in all areas of their life would work to level the playing field between men and women (Wilson, 1996, p. 133).
Lastly, one of the most critical ways to allow women to move forward is to continue addressing the need for change in the attitudes of men. As men educate themselves on equality, and as their biases shift, alliances form between men and women that have the power to shift perceptions and assumptions about the roles that women play in our contemporary society (Wilson, 1996, p. 154). Men are starting to take up women's issues, such as pay equity and childcare; questions are beginning to be asked about the inherent assumptions regarding workplace norms and structures; flexible scheduling is becoming more commonplace (Wilson, 1996, p. 154). Men must be a part of the conversation in order to effect real change and equality for women, including their ability to obtain higher education and better jobs with greater financial stability and security.
References
Cassara, B. (1994). “Women, Literacy, and Development: Challenges for the 21st Century.” A Report on the World Assembly of the International Council for Adult Education. Institute of Education Sciences. (5th, Cairo, Egypt, September 15-23, 1994).
Deutsch, N.L., & Schmertz, B. (2011). "Starting from Ground Zero:" Constraints and Experiences of Adult Women Returning to College. The Review of Higher Education 34(3), 477-504. doi:10.1353/rhe.2011.0002.
Wilson, S. J. (1996). Women, families and work (4th ed.). Toronto: McGraw–Hill Ryerson.