Female Enrollment Research Articles

PARENTAL PREDISPOSITION TO EDUCATION INFLUENCING FEMALE ENROLMENT IN ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN ANGLO-SAXON STATE UNIVERSITIES IN CAMEROON

Parental predisposition to education extends beyond the engagement with schools to the home life, and the expectations of values for education that are communicated directly or indirectly to children. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of parental predispositions to education on female enrolment in Engineering and Technology programmes in the Anglo-Saxon state universities of Cameroon. The study used an explanatory sequential mixed method research design, and a multi-stage sampling technique was used to randomly select 276 respondents from the universities of Bamenda and Buea. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using structured questionnaires and interview schedules with 10 parents whose children are admitted to engineering and technology programs in these English-speaking state universities. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics, point biserial and binary logit regression analysis were used to analyse the quantitative data and to test the hypothesis at p<.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that parental predisposition to education correlates significantly to students’ enrolment in engineering and technology. The null hypothesis was rejected and it was recommended that parents should engage prominently in children’s education through the provision of support both at home and in school.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0919/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on Female Students’ Enrollments in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Workplace Challenges in Bangladesh

There is nearly equal number of male and female student enrollments in primary and secondary level of education in Bangladesh, but at the tertiary level and at the job sector, a sharp drop in the number of women is observed. This paper explores the current status of female students’ enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the tertiary education system in Bangladesh. It is followed by explorations of challenges women face in technical workplace. Quantitative data for the paper come from more than 1.18 million students at tertiary level from eight public and private universities for three academic years from 2018 to 2020. In addition, a qualitative study was conducted with 48 participants in pre- and during COVID-19 eras to understand barriers hampering women in STEM-related education and jobs. The paper provides a guideline for future policies to ensure inclusive space for growth and retention for women in STEM.

Arrhythmias in Female Patients: Incidence, Presentation and Management.

There is a growing appreciation for differences in epidemiology, treatment, and outcomes of cardiovascular conditions by sex. Historically, cardiovascular clinical trials have under-represented females, but findings have nonetheless been applied to clinical care in a sex-agnostic manner. Thus, much of the collective knowledge about sex-specific cardiovascular outcomes result from post hoc and secondary analyses. In some cases, these investigations have revealed important sex-based differences with implications for optimizing care for female patients with arrhythmias. This review explores the available evidence related to cardiac arrhythmia care among females, with emphasis on areas in which important sex differences are known or suggested. Considerations related to improving female enrollment in clinical trials as a way to establish more robust clinical evidence for the treatment of females are discussed. Areas of remaining evidence gaps are provided, and recommendations for areas of future research and specific action items are suggested. The overarching goal is to improve appreciation for sex-based differences in cardiac arrhythmia care as 1 component of a comprehensive plan to optimize arrhythmia care for all patients.

The Other "A" Word: Assessing the Accessibility of Abortion in Academia.

Objective: To assess the accessibility of abortion providers across collegiate campuses in the State of Colorado.Participants: Analysis was on secondary data from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System and the U.S. Census Bureau.Methods: We utilized a framework of Reproductive Justice to assess and interpret the accessibility of abortion providers to college students by mapping reproductive health centers and nonprofit institutions of higher education, then using these data to statistically compare racial demographics, female employment, and insurance coverage between institutions with and without access.Results: Of nonprofit postsecondary institutions in Colorado, 11 institutions lack access, serving ∼38,900 students. Of these students, 88.7% attend a Minority Serving Institution (MSI). MSIs lacking abortion access had 8% more female enrollment [t(18.32) = −2.04, p = 0.027]. Campuses possessing student health centers are less likely to have an MSI designation (50% with vs. 82% without), have greater female Hispanic enrollment by 10% [t(23.72) = 3.11, p = 0.005] and lower female multiracial enrollment by 2% [t(37.00) = 2.20, p = 0.034]. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results indicated significant differences in percent composition of Asian, black or African American, Two or More, and Nonresident demographics between collegiate campuses with 30-, 45-, and 60-minute drive-time access. ANOVA results indicated separate patterns of differences for Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) demographics for Asian, black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Other Race, and Nonresident populations. Planned contrasts demonstrated that this difference was greatest at the 30-minute drive-time access, supporting the use of 30-minute drive time as an important indicator of access.Conclusions: The colleges lacking access to a provider are predominantly MSIs in lower income communities. The patterns in campus and ZCTA demographics indicate that collegiate populations are affected by rurality differently than the general population. We recommend that future qualitative research to assess rural students' perceptions on access, campus health center practices, and practices on campuses without dedicated health facilities.

Are recreational cannabis laws associated with declining medical cannabis program enrollment in the U.S.? An analysis of cardholder enrollment and demographic characteristics from 2013 to 2020.

There is speculation that enrollment in U.S. state medical cannabis programs differs depending on whether adult recreational cannabis use is legal. If true, this could have implications for public health and policy. Using medical cannabis registry data from U.S. states with a mandatory registry between 2013 and 2020 (N=23 states), this study examined time-trends in medical cannabis cardholder enrollment and tested whether enrollment trends differed depending on adult recreational cannabis legalization. Multilevel models showed that time-trends for registered active medical cardholders differed during years when adult recreational cannabis use was legal versus not legal (time*recreational cannabis law interaction: b = -0.004, p < 0.01, 95% CI = -0.005, -0.003). The population prevalence of registered active medical cardholders increased over time in years when recreational cannabis was not legal (i.e., medical-only years; b=0.004, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.003, 0.004, corresponding to an increase of 380 cardholders per 100,000 people per year), and decreased in years when recreational cannabis was legal (i.e., recreational years; b = -0.001, p < 0.001, 95% CI = -0.002, -0.001, corresponding to a decrease of 100 cardholders per 100,000 people per year). Time-trends were similar for each sex (male, female) and age group (18-30/35, 30/35+), with each cardholder group showing increases in medical-only years and decreases in recreational years. In medical-only years, there were no differences in enrollment time-trends across sex, but older cardholder (30/35+) enrollment increased at a faster rate than younger cardholder enrollment (18-30/35) (F=16.199, p < 0.001). In recreational years, male cardholder enrollment decreased at a faster rate than female cardholder enrollment (F=7.347, p < 0.01), but there was no difference in trends across age. Three states, all with medical-only years, provided data on ethnicity/race. Results showed significant increases from 2016 to 2020 in enrollment of White, African-American, and Hispanic individuals. Findings suggest that recreational cannabis legalization is associated with decreasing enrollment in medical cannabis programs, particularly for males.

Consistencies and contradictions: Revisiting the relationship between women's education and infant mortality from a distributional perspective

The connection between women's education and infant mortality is one of the most consistent and powerful relationships established in public health. A large body of cross-national research highlights the benefits of women's access to education, especially for improving population health in developing countries. However, most of this literature assumes the relationship is uniform across cases. In this study, we revisit the education-health link using a distributional approach. To do so, we conduct a series of unconditional quantile regression analyses that estimate the impact of female secondary school enrollment on infant mortality rates across 153 countries from 1970 to 2016. This technique allows for the possibility that the relationship between education and health may vary across the distribution of mortality. Indeed, results show that the education advantage is distribution-specific. We find that the expected benefits of women's education are limited to the middle of the distribution where infant mortality rates range from about 11 to 55 deaths per 1000 live births. However, we find no significant effect where mortality is comparatively low or high. Both consistent with and contradictory to prior research, these findings provide a more nuanced picture of how women's access to education relates to global health inequalities.

Two Decades of Computing at the University of Belize

Computer science became a distinct academic discipline in the early 1950s. The first computer science degree program was founded in Belize around 45 years later, under the auspices of the nascent University College of Belize, which would subsequently become the University of Belize. We present a twenty-year synopsis of a degree program created in 1998 to build an undergraduate curriculum using the surge of computing in the country of Belize as a catalyst coupled with the recognition of the importance of computing for national development. The four-year undergraduate degree program has resulted in steady student enrolment over the past two decades featuring a female student population consistent with female enrolment in similar computer science programs globally. The study details the origins, development efforts, successes, challenges, and recommendations for the program's future development.

The Impact of the Female Population on the Economic Growth of Nigeria

This study investigates the impact of the female population on the economic growth of Nigeria from 1999 to 2020. The study employed a quantitative research method with a secondary source of data collection. A times series data covering 1999 to 2020 was obtained from the World Bank Annual report. The variables considered for analysis include Annual Gross Domestic Product growth rate, expressed in % (GDP), Female school enrolment (FSE), Female (as a % of the total labour force in Nigeria) (FTLF), Life expectancy at birth, female (years) (LIFE) and Female (as a % of the total population in Nigeria) (FTP). The study adopted the ARDL method to analyse the data obtained. The study revealed that there is still a considerable gender gap in female school enrolment in Nigeria. It was equally found that women still occupy a meager status in terms of labour force participation in Nigeria) (FTLF). It was also observed that Life expectancy at birth, female (years), is approximately 50 years. Lastly, the ARDL findings revealed that there is a long run relationship between female population and economic growth in Nigeria from the ARDL Bound Testing. Most of female variables in the country were not significant and showed negative relationship with economic growth except percentage of the female population in industry. That was positively significant in Nigeria. There is a need to reverse the negative gender segregation of women in significant sectors of the economy. The study recommends that there is a need for the government to encourage the number of women going to school by providing free education at all levels for all women. In addition, the government should give women who happen to be the vulnerable group access to free education and health care as well as encourage them in business and leadership in our society.

Gender analysis of Self-esteem and Academic Performance of College Students in Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, Lucena City

The study investigated the influence of self-esteem on academic performance of male and female college students and established relationships between self-esteem and academic performance. Specifically, it described the demographic characteristics of students and analysed the relationship between self-esteem and students’ attitude of male and female college students in the study area. Descriptive correlation type of research designed was used to sample 36 male and 66 females with the use of Krecie and Margan (1970) sample size formula. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection and the response rate was about 85.7%. Data collected were described with frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation while the t-statistic in regression was used for data analysis. Among the results, it was found that more female enrolment was recorded in the study area. Respondents were found in their adolescent ages and students with the required experience were sampled for the study. It was found that self-esteem never influenced the academic performance of the male students but it did for the female because their perception had influence on their self-esteem. Therefore, any intervention that will be geared towards improving academic performance of male and female students must be based on their self-esteem with the use of gender less. This will allow stakeholders’ interventions to produce desired effects. Parents and government should design programs that will attract and encourage more male enrolment and work on improving their self-esteem through counselling unit of the College.

Gender Issue in Tunisia: from Politics to Practice

On the problem of gender equality, Tunisia remains a model for other Arab countries. Although since 2011 the issue of women&amp;apos;s place has once again been on the agenda considering the dominance in the political scene of moderate Islamists of the Ennahda movement, heated debates between modernists and Islamists over new constitution and legislation framework brought Tunisia closer to world standards of gender equality. After the Revolution for Dignity and Freedom in Tunisia the feminist movement, which was born in the late 1930s, became more active and began declaring its activities as democratic feminism. Besides that, a new trend established itself as Islamic feminism. The analyses of statistical material revealed that most prominent achievements in concern of gender equality Tunisia gained in educational field with almost parity of male and female enrollment. On the other hand, discrimination in labour market gives cause for concern. As for political participation of women, it is still under desired level, but the dynamics is rather hopeful. The investigation of parliamentarians’ stances towards a proposed in 2017 bill requiring gender inheritance equality, shew that Tunisian society is still not ready to accept absolute gender equality because in some matters like inheritance it tends to hang upon religious norms and traditions. Thus, stereotypes and traditional perception of gender based on Islam remain a stumbling rock on the way to gender balance in society. Another corresponding problem is discrepancy in provisions of family law and undertaken international commitments dealing with narrowing gender gap. So, it’s predictable that while being in the top pf international ratings at the regional level Tunisia’s indicators measuring gender equality are rather moderate on the global scale.

Exploring the relationships between socio-economic indicators and student enrollment in higher education institutions of Pakistan.

Higher education is considered as the engine of the economic development of a country due to its role in cultivating human capital. The provision of higher education is regarded as a productive investment in human capital for improving nation’s productive capacity. However, there is a large gap in enrollment between students of different socioeconomic statuses. The ever-widening socio-economic inequalities between individuals from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds make the government’s efforts to enroll a higher number of students to pursue higher education challenging in developing countries, as the students’ socioeconomic status plays a decisive role in their priority to attain higher education. This study anticipated quantifying the impact of socio-economic indicators and underlying situations on students’ enrollment in higher education in Pakistan. A descriptive study, involving correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), clustering, and stepwise regression using 15-years data of enrollment and socio-economic indicators was conducted. The correlation between different socio-economic indicators and students’ enrollment was positive and highly significant (0.73 to 0.99), except for the unemployment rate (- 0.39 to -0.57). PCA showed that the first two components were the most influential with 93.85% of the total variation. Enrollment (total and male) showed significant relationships with general government expenditure and unemployment rate, while female enrollment showed a significant relationship with general government expenditure. Findings revealed that socio-economic factors can serve as a significant predictor of students’ enrollment in higher education. The minimum values of correlation coefficient (R) and adjusted R2 for enrollment were ranged from 0.875 to 0.748 (female enrollment), while maximum values (0.987 to 0.993 and 0.973 to 0.983), respectively were observed for total enrollment. The findings will assist educationists, social scientists, and policymakers to better understand the association between socio-economic indicators and student enrollment in higher education for formulating future education policies for enhancing enrollment in higher education.

Exploring Female Students’ Quest for Leadership and their Experiential Realities in the University of Education, Winneba

The study explored female students’ quest for leadership and experiential leadership realities in higher educational institutions in Ghana. In Ghana, female enrolment in higher educational institutions has increased due to population increases and campaign for girl-child education. However, despite the opportunities and access to higher education, female students’ quest for leadership positions in their educational institutions is often thwarted and largely insignificant compared to their male counterparts. However, there is evidence in Ghana that national leadership, especially in politics, is usually linked to leadership at tertiary institutions, especially, in the universities. Using female students’ leadership in governance at the University of Education (UEW) as a study focus, and employing the liberal feminist theory, we hypothesised that female students’ desire for leadership positions in higher education would not differ significantly from reality due to some systemic cultural challenges. The study revealed that certain leadership positions are preserved of males, and females who vie for such positions generally encounter some cultural setbacks . The study concludes that female students are motivated to take leadership positions due to their desire to lead and serve the people, but society uses gender to set limit for women when they vie for leadership positions. The study recommends that teachers and parents should encourage both males and females to take up equal leadership roles early in life to arouse in them the drive for future leadership positions.

Abstract 10887: The Under-Representation of Blacks, Females and Elderly in Randomized Controlled Trials of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials and Observational Studies

Introduction: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is particularly prevalent in Blacks, women and elderly. Paradoxically, these patients are generally under-represented in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We aim to compare the representation of Blacks, females and elderly in RCTs and observational studies of HFpEF therapies. Our secondary objective was to evaluate the secular trends of enrollment of these populations in the RCTs of HFpEF. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive database search of PubMed and EMBASE to identify HFpEF RCTs and HFpEF observational studies. Two independent readers extracted data on the proportions of Blacks, females and the mean age of patients enrolled in these studies. We compared the weighted means of age, proportions of blacks and proportions of females in the RCTs to those of observational studies. We divided the RCTs in three groups (enrollment prior to 2010, 2010-2015 and 2015 to 2020). Finally, we ascertained the secular trend of enrollment of Blacks, females and mean age of patients in the RCTs. Results: Our search yielded 17 RCTs and 9 observational studies. The trials included a total of 19,432 patients. There were marked under-enrollment of Blacks and females in the RCTs compared to the observational studies (Table 1). Furthermore, the weighted mean age of patients with HFpEF was also lower than that in the observational studies. From 1997-2020, the enrollment of females and elderly have increased, however, the enrollment of Blacks remained low in the RCTs of HFpEF. Conclusions: Blacks, women and elderly remain underrepresented in RCTs of HFpEF. Future RCTs of HFpEF should aim to enroll more Blacks, females and elderly so that the benefits of novel therapies can be validated in these special populations with high prevalence of HFpEF.

Family-Related Determinants and Implications of Low Female Enrolment in Electrical Trade in Adamawa State

Purpose: This study examined the perceived family-related determinants and implications of the low enrolment of female students in electrical installation and maintenance works in government science technical colleges of Adamawa State. Approach/Methodology/Design: A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 13 Electrical Installation and Maintenance Work Trade (EIMWT) teachers and 129 parents of National Technical Certificate Two (NTCII) EIMWT students (either father or mother) in three Government Science Technical Colleges of Adamawa State. The sample of the study comprised of the entire population, thus no sampling was done. A 20-item questionnaire was developed by the researcher and used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three lecturers from the Department of Electrical Technology Education, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa State. A reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach Alpha. Mean was used to answer the research questions while a t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings of the study revealed low contribution from the female gender to family income in households and increased level of dependency of the female gender on the males in Adamawa State as major perceived family-related implications. Practical Implications: The study presents practical implications for concerned authorities to work on dismantling the negative perceptions about female education. The results suggest working closely with several institutions to raise awareness and enlighten parents and family members on the prospects of EIMWT, especially to the female gender. Originality/value: The study concludes that EIMWT is a way of investing in the education of females in view of breaking cycles of poverty and social vices that the females might be lured into.

Capital humano y ciclo económico: la inscripción en educación superior en la Unión Europea en el período 2000-2018

The current study aims to analyze the cyclical behavior of enrollment in higher education of young adults. For this, a panel data is constructed for the countries of the European Union between 2000 and 2018. First, I find statistically significant effects of the business cycle on enrollment, which differ according to sociodemographic characteristics such as age and sex. In particular, for the enrollment of young people between the ages of 20 and 30, the results show both pro-cyclical effects of GDP per capita and counter-cyclical effects of the unemployment rate, although not for other age ranges. When separately analyzing enrollment in different types of programs, it is found that in short-cycle, bachelor's and master's degree programs, female enrollment is more affected than male enrollment by variations in GDP per capita. There are also differences in the behavior of enrollment according to the level of GDP per capita and financial depth of the country.

Female participation in U.S. oncology clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from 2008 to 2020.

85 Background: Females are thought to be underrepresented in clinical trials, which may lead to care disparities. We characterized female enrollment trends in U.S. oncology trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov and identified features associated with accurate representation. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional study design with descriptive, logistic regression, and cox regression analyses. We downloaded 270,172 studies registered on the Aggregate Analysis of the ClinicalTrials.gov database from October 1, 2008 to March 9, 2020, excluding non-interventional and reproductive organ specific trials. We then applied cancer/oncology specific Medical Subject Heading terms and manually reviewed the remaining 27,521 trials for true oncology content. Prevalence-corrected estimates for female participation were calculated as the percentage of females among trial participants divided by the percentage of females in the disease population per U.S. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) data (participation to prevalence ratio [PPR]), with a range between 0.8 and 1.2 reflecting accurate female representation in the trial. Results: Of 26,894 trials meeting eligibility criteria, 9,059 trials were completed in the U.S., 2,499 trials reported completed study status, and only 1,256 trials reported sex. Among 1,256 oncology trials and 229,056 participants, overall female representation was 46.9% (95% CI, 45.4-48.4%). 43% of trials were industry funded, 29% academic, and 28% U.S. government. Females were underrepresented compared to their disease burden in anal canal (PPR 0.21), thyroid (PPR 0.57), stomach (PPR 0.68), kidney (PPR 0.77), and bone (PPR 0.79) cancer trials. They were accurately represented in head and neck (PPR 0.80), lung (PPR 0.84), bladder (PPR 0.85), skin (PPR 0.88), pancreas (PPR 0.88), colon (PPR 0.90), hematologic (PPR 0.91), liver (PPR 1.01), CNS (PPR 1.03), soft tissue (PPR 1.05), and esophagus (PPR 1.05) cancer trials. Accurate representation was significantly associated with industry funding and pancreas cancer trial focus, but not associated with trial type (medical, surgical, radiation, other invasive, other) (Table). Conclusions: Females are underrepresented compared to their disease burden in many solid tumor clinical trials. Stakeholders can look to industry funded and pancreas cancer trials as models of improvement, but must increase female representation in clinical trials to improve cancer care. [Table: see text]

Trends in gender and race/ethnicity of PharmD students and faculty in US pharmacy schools

IntroductionThis study described and compared trends in the distribution of gender and race/ethnicity for doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students and faculty in schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States. MethodsInstitution-level gender (male and female) and racial/ethnic (White, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino) data for full-time faculty were obtained from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy institutional database for 2009–2019. PharmD students' demographic data during the same study period were collected separately for applications, enrollments, and degrees conferred. Generalized linear regression models were applied to examine trends in proportion of PharmD students and faculty distribution in subgroups of different gender and race/ethnicity at P < .05. All analyses were conducted using SAS, version 9.4 (SAS Institute). ResultsSignificantly increasing trends in female full-time faculty, PharmD applications, and enrollments were observed; however, the trend in female PharmD degrees conferred remained stable from 2009 to 2019. While the trends in proportion of PharmD applications, enrollments, and degrees conferred for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino students increased significantly, declines and stable trends in the proportion of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino faculty, respectively, were identified during the same time. ConclusionsUpward trends in proportions of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino PharmD applications, enrollments, and degrees conferred were not mirrored by trends in proportions of underrepresented faculty. Implementation of effective faculty diversity and inclusion strategies is warranted to better meet the educational needs of PharmD students.

Socio-economic and demographic determinants of fertility in six selected Pacific Island Countries: An empirical study.

In this study, we seek to perform macro analysis of fertility in a panel of 6 selected Pacific Island Countries (PICs, hereafter). The macro analysis with secondary data, mostly obtained from World Bank database, stretched over the period 1990-2019 was stacked randomly in a balanced panel set-up, within which the most preferred fixed effect model is used for multivariate analysis. Pooled OLS and Random effect estimation techniques were applied for comparing results. Categories such as women's empowerment, health, connectivity and cost of living were used to classify proxy variables as regressors for fertility determination. The results indicate variables such as contraceptive prevalence rate, female labour force participation rate and consumer price index (inflation) are negatively correlated with fertility at 1% level, while urbanisation is negatively correlated with fertility rate only at 10% significance level. Real GDP has negative relationship with fertility, however it is not statistically significant. Variables that are positively correlated with fertility but hold limited to no significance effects are female secondary enrolment, female population, mobile subscription and infant mortality rate. It is implied that those variables that are negatively associated with fertility, as well as Real GDP will be the major drivers for achieving replacement level fertility in the long run.

Stereotyping and bias towards female earth science students and faculty members in Africa

To understand the preponderance of stereotyping of Earth Sciences as a male-oriented science in Africa, we perform a robust analysis of two electronic surveys. The current perception of female students' activities and performances was evaluated through a primary survey (N = 151; 28% female), which consisted of responses from academic professionals working in Universities and other Earth Science-related organizations. The second survey (N = 795; 38% female) investigated the ratio of male to female students currently enrolled in, or those that have graduated from Earth Science programs across Africa. Our approach for analyzing the collected data was based on descriptive statistics such as skewness, kurtosis, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Importantly, our data and analyses revealed under-representation of female student respondents, perhaps due to lower female students' enrolment among the sampled respondents. The responses to the main research questions are largely normally distributed and platykurtic. Thus, there is an overall lack of preference for female over male students across different ages, years of teaching, and cognate experience brackets in most countries represented. Many female academic professionals also slightly perceive male students are not more active than their female counterparts during laboratory and field activities. Majority of these female respondents think that geosciences are meant for female students also, but do not expressively consider it as a female profession. Respondents within the age bracket of 25–35 years and with cognate experience of >10 years do not consider male students to be better than their female counterparts. Significantly, our work shows that the gender of the respondents has no positive impact on their preference for male or female students albeit there were more male than female respondents.

Variations and Determinants of Anemia among Reproductive Age Women in Five Sub-Saharan Africa Countries.

Background The Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2014 report indicates that anemia among women in their reproductive age in the country stood at 42 percent, making it a severe public health problem according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. WHO Global Observatory data indicates that some sub-Saharan African countries have been able to reduce the prevalence of anemia among women of reproductive age compared to Ghana in 2016. To inform policy decisions, data from the Demographic and Health Surveys 2014–2018 were analyzed to determine the disparities in the prevalence of anemia and related factors among women of reproductive age in Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Methods This research utilized data from the Demographic and Health Surveys 2014, 2016, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016 from Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, respectively. Respondents were women aged between 15 and 49 years. Hemoglobin levels were measured by HemoCue hemoglobin meter. 45,299 women data were extracted from the five countries with 4,644, 14,923, 6,680, 13,064, and 5,988 from Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, respectively. Association between anemia and selected predictive variables was assessed using Pearson's chi-square test statistic. Poisson regression with robust standard errors was used to estimate the prevalence rate ratios of developing anemia. The deviance goodness of fit test was employed to test the fit of the Poisson model to the data set. Results There was a statistically significant difference in prevalence of 1,962 (42.3%), 3,527 (23.6%), 1,284 (19.3%), 5,857 (44.8%), and 1,898 (31.7%) for Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, respectively, χ2 = 2,181.86 and p value < 0.001. Parity, pregnancy status, and contraceptives significantly increased the prevalence rate ratio of a woman developing anemia. Women in Ethiopia with a parity of six or more were 58% more likely to develop anemia than those with parity of zero. Tanzanian women who were pregnant had a 14% increased rate ratio of developing anemia. Factors that significantly decreased anemia in this study were wealth index, women's age, and women's highest level of education. Women who were in the higher education category in Ethiopia were 57% less likely to develop anemia. Ugandan women in the richest category of the wealth index were 28% less likely to develop anemia. Rwandan women in the middle category of the wealth index were 20% less likely to develop anemia. Women who were within the 45-49 age category in Ethiopia were 48% less likely to develop anemia. Conclusion The individual country governments should encourage the implementation of increasing female enrollment in higher education. Women in their reproductive age should be encouraged to use modern contraceptives to reduce their anemia prevalence.