‘Next time stay in your war room and pray for your boys’ or return to your kitchen: Sexist discourses in Ghana’s 2019 National Science and Math Quiz

Abstract

This paper examines the representations of women in the discourses on the 2019 edition of Ghana’s National Science and Math Quiz. With data from online news articles and three social media outlets, the study examines stereotypical views about gender and Science/Math while exploring the relationship between language, gender, and culture. We focus on how the authors use memes, images and some linguistic strategies to instantiate certain (Ghanaian) gender norms and practices. Findings suggest that women who pursue (academic) excellence, especially in male-dominated fields like Science and Math, are usurpers who need to be kept where they ‘belong’. They are thus presented in particular stereotypical ways – homemakers, supporters, objects of sex and beauty, ‘unfit’ for science/math. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, which makes room for uncovering, contesting and reinterpreting the ‘hidden agendas’ of discourse, we also analyze nuances of the representations, some of which we (re)interpret as representations of women’s power.

Language, gender and sexuality in 2021

“…Likewise, in her explorations of the Cameroonian academic context, Atanga (2021) sheds light on how women cope with gendered practices that challenge them in higher education. Contributing to this line of argumentation, Agyepong's (2021) study on gender norms and practices in the Ghanaian National Science and Math Quiz demonstrates how women's success in male-dominated academic fields may be (re)interpreted as women's power amidst mainstream stereotypes. Foster (2021) summarises the indexicality of these pleas: she appeals to the academic community to stop ignoring and dismissing Black women's knowledge.…”