In order to adopt policies that would bridge the apparent gap between male and female's higher education in Ghana, a study was necessary to identify the causes of the inequality. This study of the factors responsible for the inequality used feminists theories of women's education as frameworks for analyzing this phenomenon.
Comprehensive biographical questionnaires, which provided socioeconomic information of respondents and other questionnaires that provide information on sociocultural factors responsible for the problems women face in education were randomly given to 60 students respondents and 20 faculty respondents. Although respondents were randomly selected, the departments from which they came were predetermined so that as many students as possible, from different academic disciplines, in the University of Ghana will be represented. Of the sixty, 54 of the questionnaires were returned and the responses analyzed. All of the 20 faculty and administrators' responses were returned.
The study found that the gender gap between male and female in the University of Ghana is closing in terms of ratios and percentages, but these have not been accompanied by increases in the absolute number of students. In general, both male and female enrollments continued to drop, a phenomenon that is helping to maintain gender imbalance. Thus, by the year 2000, the 50/50 male to female enrollment, which the Government envisaged remained an illusion. The study found that the combined effect of socioeconomic and cultural variables helped to deny girls access to the universities and other institutions of higher education.
In view of the above, recommendations that would help to arrest dropout rates at all levels of education and enable female faculty and administrators to participate fully in the universities were made.
