A Psychological Study of Mathematics Attitudes and Achievement among Female Ivorian Students

Researchers from diverse fields continue to search for clues underlying the disparity between interest and achievement of men and women in mathematics. In Western countries, psychologists have focused on such factors as attitudes and motives when studying women’s mathematics achievement. Relatively little attention has been placed on women in sub-Saharan countries. For this study, one hundred and forty female students in Cote d’Ivoire have completed an inventory of mathematics attitudes (the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scale, 1976), and a background questionnaire. High-achieving female students report less anxious attitudes, more positive attitudes towards problem solving (effectance motivation), and more positive attitudes towards the usefulness of mathematics than do low-achieving students. In conclusion, this study discusses future research and intervention strategies to positively affect mathematics attitudes and achievement for female Ivorian students. About the Author: Susan Frazier-Kouassi, PhD, is a Research Investigator for the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan). She serves as the Executive Secretary of the Institute for Education of Women in Africa, a non-governmental organization based in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Her current research interests focus on the education of girls and women in Africa and the African Diaspora. Copyright © 1999 MSU Board of Trustees A Psychological Study of Mathematics Attitudes and Achievement among Female Ivorian Students The reality of the gross under-representation of sub-Saharan African girls and women in science, mathematics, and technology (STM) fields is unsettling. The problem for Ivorian girls and women mirrors the situation found in other sub-Saharan African countries. According to educational statistics, in 1986 women represented fewer than 5% of Ivorian students at the third level enrolled in the fields of natural or computer sciences, medical sciences, mathematics, and engineering. For African women, overall, the enrollment figures are somewhat better: 21% of students in mathematics and computer science and 6% of students in engineering were women (Schmittroth 1991). Nonetheless, the fact remains – women still have not attained educational equity in many African countries, and they are systematically under-represented in scientific and technical disciplines at universities (Adams and Kruppenbach 1986). In a number of African countries, women’s enrollment in sciencebased training and their involvement in science-based professions are among the lowest in the world. In the non-compulsory school system of sub-Saharan Africa, a variety of factors are believed to deter female access and achievement, specifically in STM fields (Johnston 1992). Studies from more than a decade ago suggested that one or more of the following factors served as obstacles to girls’ education: parents’ negative attitude towards the education of their daughters, a shortage of female teachers to serve as role models, an early marriage age for females, the demand for girls’ household labor, and national educational policies that differentially affect the sexes (United States Agency for International Development 1982). It is unclear whether these variables continue to restrict females’ access to, and achievement in, education today. Several explanations might account for our failure to more confidently articulate the role these factors play. The most compelling of these is insubstantial documentation of educational studies conducted with African samples. Methodological, substantive, and statistical problems plague many such studies. At the workshop on “Science, Technology and Mathematics Education,” organized by the Women Education -2Unit of the Ministry of Education in Nigeria (November 20 December 2, 1987), a good number of papers focused on the problem of females’ under-representation in the abovenamed fields. Common to most papers at the workshop was a dearth of discussion about methodological and statistical tools that authors used. Instead, audience members were presented with general or global descriptions of the possible factors affecting science, technology, and mathematics education of Nigerian girls and women. This deficit of empirical data makes it difficult to arrive at confident conclusions concerning factors affecting women’s education. In addition, there is insubstantial documentation regarding the impact that psychological and familial variables have on access and achievement for African girls and women in STM education. Adams and Kruppenbach state, “Unfortunately, in the UNESCO reports and the sector studies of the World Bank and US-AID there is insufficient information about the factors that might be thought to influence the in-school attainment of students... At the same time, the inadequate treatment of inschool factors that influence equity is a conceptual weak spot reflecting the fact that sector assessment methodology is still in an early stage of development” (1986:11). With the exception of the Ghana Commonwealth Africa Regional Workshop held in Accra (January 1987), and the National Workshop on Promoting Science, Technology, and Mathematics among Girls and Women held in Lagos, Nigeria (November 1987), there have been no recent systematic attempts to explore these issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Study Objective The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the impact that several components of mathematics attitudes have on mathematics achievement in Ivorian female middle and secondary school students. As a result of the limited data available in this research area, this analysis had a twofold objective: first, it pilot tested a psychological tool, the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes