In the Birdcage of Gender Discrimination: A Grounded Theory Study of STEM Women's Experiences in Ghana

Women's roles in development are vital but they are marginalized in all spheres of society's development including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas. There are myriads of gender research studies about Ghana's education sector in general. However gender in STEM areas are scantily discussed. This paper explores the experiences of women in STEM domains in Ghana's tertiary education and research institutions. The experiences of 30 participants were elicited and analyzed through semi-structured interviews and grounded theory respectively. The Ghanaian society is still deeply patriarchal. On the STEM trajectory of the participants, gender was the denominator of the comments, structures, and practices. The magnitude of gender discrimination however varied depending on the level of support they had.