| dc.description.abstract | Men in South Africa are enrolling in and graduating from university at progressively lower
rates than women, resulting in a widening gender gap in tertiary education. This is concerning considering South Africa already has one of the world’s lowest tertiary education attainment rates, and extremely high unemployment rates. South Africa’s unemployment rates are significantly lower, however, amongst tertiary graduates. It is, therefore, necessary to explore why men are less likely than women to graduate from university, and to understand what factors contribute to the fact that, in South Africa, “females are always and everywhere 20% less likely to drop out of university” (Van Broekhuizen & Spaull, 2017, p. 28).
I am, therefore, conducting a qualitative study based in South Africa to gain insight into the
reasoning behind men’s greater likelihood of withdrawing from university compared to
women. The primary research question of this study is thus: “What is contributing towards
the widening gender gap in tertiary education in South Africa?”. The two sub-questions
therein, are: 1) “What motivates women to graduate from university in South Africa?”; and
2) “What motivates men to withdraw from university in South Africa?”.
Tinto’s (1975) Student Integration Theory serves as my theoretical framework, and I utilise
thematic analysis for the methodology and semi-structured, one-on-one, Zoom interviews as the chosen data collection method. Purposeful sampling was utilised to recruit a diverse
group of six interviewees working within, or in connection with, universities in South Africa.
In the findings of this study, women’s motivation to graduate is explained by women’s need
to overcome gender discrimination in the workplace, women’s desire for financial
independence from men, and women being socialised to be organised. Men’s motivation to
withdraw is explained by men’s poor help-seeking behaviour, and men’s pressure to quickly
become financial providers.
To potentially increase men’s university graduation rates, to reduce the gender gap in tertiary education and improve South Africa’s overall tertiary education attainment rates, it is recommended that boys be socialised to be organised and to ask for help, similar to girls. It is also recommended that universities establish male mentorship programmes and hire more male counsellors, to provide male students with male figures who can encourage help
seeking behaviour to hopefully improve men’s poor mental health and their likelihood of
graduating. | |
