Schooling and domestic transitions: shifting gender relations and female agency in rural Ghana and India

Abstract

Transitions to adulthood are usually defined by markers such as leaving school, starting a first job, leaving the parental home, forming a first union, marrying and having a first child. Youth policy remains strongly influenced by these linear transitions, and by the metaphor of a 'pathway' from school to work and adulthood, taking little account of poverty, and the significance of micro-social changes within personal relations, which in many rural cultures have considerable importance in transitions to adulthood. This paper utilises data on social and human outcomes of schooling, collected under the aegis of the RECOUP programme of research in the rural north of Ghana and India. Micro-reconstructions of gender roles/relations associated with communication, autonomy and decision-making are shown to have subtle implications for the transformation of young people's lives. The findings suggest that education may have unexpected and often complicating effects on 'domestic transitions', particularly on the private/intimate spheres of gender relations. Transition studies need to reconsider how independent action is framed within strong patriarchal cultures.

Enabling and constraining family: young women building their educational paths in Tanzania

“…In this study of young Tanzanian women, the strong impact of social relationships on individual goals and their realisation has become evident. Hence, our findings support the criticism of individually focused definitions of the youth task (Arnot et al 2012a;Helgesson, 2006;Tranberg Hansen, 2005) and encourage further research on the diverse meanings of attaining adulthood. As shown by Thomson et al (2003) and in this study, individual differences in response and experience can emerge from influences at family and community levels.…”

“…While families support women's education, they are also confounded by the changes posed by education within their communities. Hence, education creates new spaces and opportunities for individual and family choices (Arnot et al 2012a). The highly educated women in Kenya confirmed the importance of education as a provider of further opportunities and economic independence (Latvala 2006).…”

Navigating transitions to adulthood through secondary education: aspirations and the value of education for Tanzanian girls

“…Several studies of youth in developing countries have criticized the controversial role of secondary education in both heightening aspirations and then creating a sense of failure when the goals and aspirations are not fulfilled due to structural constraints (Morrow 2012;Crivello 2011;Ansell 2004;Stambach 2000). Based on studies in Ghana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, Arnot et al (2012), Ansell (2004) and Stambach (2000) have critically discussed the changing ideas of adulthood brought by secondary education to rural girls. Education redefines adulthood, and paid employment becomes central instead of marriage, childbearing and setting up a home.…”

“…Based on actor centred research on Indian youth, Morrow (2012) argues that many of the assumptions underpinning the international transition discourse fail to match the realities of young people's everyday lives. The multiple facets of transitions to adulthood in developing countries have been explored through studies focusing on transition through education and migration (Crivello 2011), transition through achieving economic independence (Morrow 2012), schooling and domestic transitions (Arnot et al 2012), and transition through migration (Azaola 2012). All these recent studies (see table 1) provide valuable perspectives on the global discourses around transitions and analyse the value of schooling by highlighting the contextual, socio-cultural particularities that influence youth realities.…”

Gendered constructions of citizenship: young Kenyans' negotiations of rights discourses

“…There are different economic, family and domestic transitions into adult citizenship Arnot et al 2012) and gendered or racialised/ethnic experiences which shape such transitions. 2 These transition experiences influence the symbolic ways in which particular groups of young people, especially those at the margins of society, struggle for recognition and status.…”