MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby ...

112 Pages·2017·1.26 MB·English

MIAMI UNIVERSITY
The Graduate School

Certificate for Approving the Dissertation

We hereby approve the Dissertation

of

Tela Bayamna

Candidate for the Degree:

Doctor of Philosophy

Director
Lisa Weems

Reader
Denise Taliaferro Baszile

Reader
Thomas Poetter

Graduate School Representative
Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis
ABSTRACT

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF TOGOLESE
IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

by

Tela Bayamna

Educational researchers are beginning to investigate the lived experiences of
African immigrants in the United States. Very few studies documenting the experiences
of West African immigrant women are available. Thus, existing literature on West
African immigrants is not representative of all immigrants from this part of Africa. By
exploring Togolese immigrant women’s migration and educational experiences in the
United States, this study expands that literature. Using narrative inquiry methodology and
feminist theories of gender identity and intersectionality, I explore the experiences of five
Togolese immigrant women who recently pursued post-secondary education in colleges
and universities in the United States. The study highlights the strategies Togolese
immigrant women create and employ to navigate the patriarchal terrain in U.S. society as
African women, as well as the educational system as Black women. This project offers
insight to educators interested in improving the educational experiences for diverse
students in their colleges and universities. The findings of this study offer guidance to
African female immigrants and specifically Togolese female immigrants on how to
navigate gender expectations about education and family in the United States. Given that
Togolese immigrant women are not well represented in immigration literature, this study
gives voice and visibility to an underexplored population.

Keywords: Family, gender identity, patriarchy, gender roles, intersectionality, post-
secondary education, Togolese immigrant women, African immigrant women
POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF TOGOLESE
IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Submitted to the Faculty of
Miami University in partial
fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Educational Leadership

by

Tela Bayamna
Miami University Oxford, Ohio
2017

Dissertation Director: Lisa Weems
©

Tela Bayamna

2017
Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………… 1
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature…...……………………………………………….. 3
Chapter 3: Theoretical Frameworks.....………………………………………………… 16
Chapter 4: Methodology….………………….……………………………………….… 31
Chapter 5: Data Presentation and Analysis…..…………………………..…………….. 37
Chapter 6: Discussion..…….…………………………………………………………… 71
References……………………………………………………………………………… 82
Appendices……………………………………………………………………………... 89

iii
Dedication

To my mother, Kpagnida Bafaya, and my father, Siakou Bayamna, who guided and
supported me to achieve the best in my life. The dedication goes specifically to my late father
who did not live to see this day.

iv
Acknowledgments

I express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Lisa Weems, for her patience, her
encouragement, her flexibility, and her support. She helped me manage effectively the various
barriers I encountered during my research and during the writing of the dissertation. I thank my
dissertation committee: Dr. Denise Taliaferro Baszile, Dr. Thomas Poetter, Dr. Gwendolyn Etter-
Lewis for their insightful comments, for their time, and for refining my editing skills and
revising my work to minor details. I also want to thank Dr. Kelly Waldrop who helped editing. I
am grateful to Dr. Kathleen Knight Abowitz, the chair of the Educational Leadership
Department, who in many ways supported me and contributed to make this dream come true. I
am also grateful to Dr. Kate Rousmaniere for her helpful comments and her insightful critiques,
which guided my reflection. I thank Cindie Ulreich, the department’s administrative assistant, for
being available whenever I needed any help. I acknowledge Dr. Mary Jane Berman, who always
encouraged me with positive remarks on my work. I thank my brothers and sisters for their
prayers and support. I also want to thank my husband Georges and my sons, Bill and
Christopher, for supporting and bearing with me throughout this journey.
v
Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Study
My interest in this topic is the result of my experience with gender expectations regarding
education and family in Togo and in the United States as a graduate student and a working
mother raising a family. Education, and specifically postsecondary education, is considered an
essential component of sustainable development in Africa (Assie-Lumumba, 2007; Teferra &
Altbachl, 2004). Women are recognized as key actors in the process of human development in
Africa because of their responsibility for nurturing, upbringing, socialization, and education of
their children (Browne & Barrett, 1991). However, social norms and values regarding gender
expectations and identity impact educational outcomes. Tuwor and Sossou (2008) conducted a
study on gender discrimination and education in West Africa and argue that, “girls in Togo are
20% less likely than boys to be enrolled in primary school, 25% less likely to reach high school
and more than 50% less likely to enter University” (p. 370). Little research addresses the
underrepresentation of women in post-secondary education in Africa and particularly in my
nation of Togo.
Research on female education in Africa includes issues such as female enrollment,
retention, and participation in education and identifies socio-economic factors as the main factors
that hinder female participation in schooling (Asimeng-Boaheme, 2006; Hyde, 1997; Leaper,
Farkas, & Brown, 2012; Tuwor & Sossou, 2008). Research findings on African immigrant
women experiences and specifically Togolese immigrant women experiences in the United
States have received limited attention.
Dion and Dion (2011) suggest that, “Studying the contribution of gender to immigrants’
experiences in the receiving society offers insights about the challenges confronting immigrant
families” (p. 511). My curiosity with regards to the struggles of Togolese immigrant women in
the United States led to this study. I wonder how Togolese immigrant women challenge gender
discrimination. I ask myself what mechanisms or strategies Togolese immigrant women use to
engage in oppositional action in their families. I wonder “what secrets, what practical advice and
hard-earned wisdom, they might have shared with [me]. Wondering how like or unlike them [I
am], how much our lives differ” (Bell-Scott & Johnson-Bailey, 1998, p. xv). I wonder what
1
experiences are common to Togolese immigrant women and what unexamined barriers may be
inhibiting their participation in education in the United States and preventing them from enjoying
their immigration. The purpose of this study was to understand how Togolese immigrant women
make meaning of their experiences as gendered immigrants in the United States.
The following research question guided my study: How do Togolese immigrant women
negotiate gender expectations about education, culture, and family in the United States?

1.2 Significance of the Study
Docquier, Lowell, and Marfouk (2009) suggest that women are poorly represented in
immigration scholarship, and their invisibility is due to the fact that they “have long been viewed
as dependents, moving as wives, mothers, or daughters of male migrants” (p. 297). Arthur (2009)
also suggests another reason that explains the invisibility of women in immigration scholarship.
In the view of Arthur (2009), African women are often invisible due to “being overshadowed by
their male counterparts and immigrants from Latin America and Asia” (p. 2).
This study is significant for a number of reasons. First, the experiences of Togolese
immigrant women in the United States have not been studied. Thus, my research gives voice and
visibility to an underexplored population. Second, it is important to explore the experiences of
Togolese immigrant women to understand how they experience gender expectations about
education, culture, and family and how those expectations affect them individually, their
education, and, implicitly, their place in society. Third, no attention has been paid to whether
Togolese women’s educations “remain secondary to their primary roles as wives, and under what
structural conditions such changes take place” (Purkayastha, 2005, p. 181). Finally, with this
study, I add to a larger body of knowledge about African female immigrants in the United
States.
This dissertation is organized into six chapters. The review of the literature in Chapter
Two focuses on the background of gender politics in West Africa, education in Togo,
im/migration, and international students in higher education. Chapter Three focuses on my
theoretical framework of intersectional feminist theories. Chapter Four discusses the
methodological approach used and makes an argument for the relevance of my method of
inquiry. Chapter Five provides an interpretation of a brief life story of the participants. Chapter
Six discusses the finding of the interviews in relation to the research topic.
2
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature

2.1 Gender Politics in West Africa
The challenges that education faces in the 21st century in Africa include the low
representation of women in more advanced levels of education, such as secondary education and
higher education. For example, according to Daddieh (2007), in Ghana there is “significant
gender segregation by discipline from senior secondary schools and above” (p. 157). In higher
education, females tend to dominate in disciplines such as home economics, social science, and
business studies, all of which prepare them for traditional female professions including catering,
secretarial work, teaching, and social work, with important implications for postgraduate income
disparities and social status (Daddieh, 2007). In other words, the schools channel men toward
science and engineering fields, whereas women go to domestic fields, which are seen as female
territories.
According to Arthur (2009), historically, many women, especially those in rural Africa,
were denied access to primary and elementary education because of cultural norms, which
constrained them to “taking care of children and elderly relatives” (p. 16). Boys were given the
privilege of being educated, and this preference prevented girls from participating and being
included in education. Boys were expected “to carry the family name and legacy, inherit the
family property, and manage the family business….Girls were often cast in the role of
reproducers of future mothers and were groomed for marriage usually after the onset of puberty”
(p. 16). Girls received training that tailored them toward domestic roles, such as “tilling the land
and planting subsistence and cash crops with their mothers” (p. 16). Girls and women worked on
harvesting and preparing produce for sale on market days. On the other hand,
When boys complete elementary school, they may again be encouraged and given the
financial support to pursue secondary education….The opportunities open to males to
pursue secondary and tertiary education, unhindered by discrimination and sex
stereotypes, ultimately position them to become favorable candidates for international
migration. (Arthur, 2009, p. 16)
This politics of socialization of children ensuress that boys and girls grow up in an environment
that is not advantageous for girls.
3