Anexo III: Taxonomía Específica
5. Injection (Inyección)
cannot afford to pay for the cost of higher education. For the fortunate ones, they will be at home for some years and then go to the university later. But for the unfortunate qualified students, going to the university will never be a reality. According to Marcucci, Johnstone and Ngolovi (2006), this problem is also seen in Tanzania. This is in violation with Article 26.1 of the universal declaration of Human Rights (see section 3.5.1) which gives everybody the right to higher education if the person is qualified. In addition ones economic background should not be used to discriminate a person against access to higher education.
5.7.4 Do the costs of university studies affect female students more than male
students
As many as 113 respondents answered the question whether male students find it easier to finance their education than female students. In relation to this question there were split views (see table 12). 36 (32%) of the participants disagreed while 25 (22%) of them strongly disagreed. There wasn’t any difference between the percentages of male (19.9%) and female (19%) respondents who agree that male students find it easier to finance their education than female students. But there was quite a difference between the percentage of male (58.4%) and female (49%) respondents who disagree that male students find it easier to finance their education than female student (see table 13). In total 54% of these respondents do not see male students having it easier in financing their education than females.
To some of the students interviewed, gender plays a role in the difficulties students are faced with when it comes to the cost of financing higher education. Two of the male interviewees and one of the female respondents (see section 5.6.12) said that the difficulties related to the cost of financing their education affected them more because of their gender. According to the female respondent, females need more things on campus than males. Therefore it really
hurts if one cannot get money to buy the entire things one needs. On the other hand, a male and a female respondent stated that the difficulties related to the cost of financing their education affected them less because of their gender.
Three of the male respondents were of the view that, in general; it is easier for female students to finance their education than male students. According to these respondents, female students find it easier to get financial assistance from other people than male students. Female students are more likely to get financial help from family members or from men who have the intention of making them their future wives. According to one respondent I have quoted in section 5.6.12, female students have a better chance of getting financial support from the NGO called Plan Ghana than male students.
Two of the female respondents were of the opinion that it is easier for male students to finance their education than female students. To these respondents male students have more opportunities of getting extra money through part-time jobs than female students. In addition males are less shy in doing minor jobs than females. The issue of peer pressure on female students was mentioned when their friends see them doing minor jobs.
When respondents were asked if it was easier for male students to find guarantors for their student loan than female students, 35 (33%) disagreed while 26 (25%) strongly disagreed. In total, 58% of the respondents do not see male students having it easier in finding guarantors than female students. In fact, 33 % of the respondents are of the view that the difficulty in finding guarantors is the same for both male and female students (see table 14). More males (65%) than females (49%) disagree that it is easier for male students to find guarantors for their student loan than female students. On the other hand, there were more females (40%) than males (27%) who view the difficulty or easiness of finding a guarantor to be the same for both males and females (see table 15). According to six of the respondents that I interviewed gender does not play a role in the difficulty or easiness of getting a guarantor. According to one participant it is a misconception for people to think that female students have it easier to find guarantors than male students. In one of the quotes presented in section 5.6.13, the respondents said that what the guarantors are interested in is the student paying back the loan after the completion of his or her program at the university. In this case, the issue of trust in paying back the student loan is more important than gender when one is looking for a guarantor.
Two of the male interviewees were however of the view that gender plays a role in finding a guarantor. From their perspective, it is much easier for female students to find guarantors than males students. According to them, female students are likely to get both men and women to guarantee for them, while male students are less likely to get help from men but only from women.