Women were created to serve differently, weren’t they? The gendered identities and challenges of female students in university-community engagement

Abstract

Whilst university-community engagement has become an important aspect of modern universities, it often tends to re/produce inequalities and power imbalances, reinforcing stereotypes and negative identities. Much attention on these inequalities has focussed on the experiences of community members. Students’ identities and challenges in these programs are less explored. Drawing from qualitative data from three university-community engagement programs, and utilising Black feminist theory, this paper critically examines female students’ gendered experiences and identities in the communities. Findings showed that participants are confronted with wide-ranging inequalities including stereotypes, sexual harassment, abuse, and misrecognition. Whilst participants navigate the inequalities they face, they unconsciously and consciously exhibit gender-typical behaviors and reinforce inequalities. The paper recommends a holistic action involving institutions, students, and community members to challenge the hegemonic discourses and practices that entrench and reinforce gendered typical and contradictory behaviors. Students should be empowered cognitively and psychologically to address the issues confronting them individually and collectively.

Keywords:

• University-community engagement
• black feminist theory
• gendered experiences
• female students
• the concept of shame
• intersected challenges
• gender inequalities

Reviewing Editor:

• Arif H Kabir, Deakin University School of Education, Australia

Subjects:

• Education Policy
• Curriculum Studies
• Higher Education

Introduction

University–community engagement has become a significant aspect of contemporary universities. This emphasis is in recognition of the fact that universities should not constantly be perceived as ivory towers but must deliver a practical, positive impact on community livelihoods and enhance social justice (Jacob et al., 2015). Consequently, universities have adopted wide-ranging initiatives to engage their communities, ranging from service-learning programs to building research partnerships all aimed at enhancing the socio-economic development of their communities.

However, globally, these engagements do not always show positive results. Various research reveals many challenges with community engagements, with a key focus on power dynamics (Verjee, 2010; Wodak, 2015). As an academic space, community engagement has the potential to reproduce, reinforce, or challenge gendered inequalities (Burke et al., 2017) not only among community women but also among female students who are participating in the program.

Verjee (2010) has identified that women in community engagement are confronted with ‘micro-aggressions and trauma of being unseen, unheard, devalued, silenced, de-legitimized, disempowered, scrutinized, disciplined, and perceived as inferior’ (p. 59). They are marginalized in various activities. There is also a limited institutional commitment to address many of the challenges. These create various physical, psychological, and emotional challenges including a limited sense of belonging, a lack of confidence, and a sense of shame.

Similar to global trends, universities in Ghana have adopted various methods to engage with their communities. While some of the institutions are mandated by the Act that established them, others have self-developed institutional policies to undertake these programs. Students are often key participants in these engagements. The engagements have therefore become significant pedagogy for training students to be change agents in society (Iverson & James, 2014).

Whilst some studies have been conducted on the experiences of students and the impacts of community programs (Abonyi, 2016), there have been limited studies on female students’ gendered experiences and identities. This is in the context that endemic gender inequalities continue to play out in the Ghanaian setting, and are manifested in several contexts including the political, educational and economic spaces (Akotia & Anum, 2015; Appiah-Kubi et al., 2020). As emphasised by Appiah-Kubi et al. (2020) gender inequality has created various intersected challenges for women, which also continue to undermine their personal, social, and economic development and effective contribution to national growth.

Higher education has not escaped the tentacles of inequality including marginalization and sexual harassment. (Atuahene & Owusu-Ansah, 2013; Manu et al., 2007; Morley, 2011). Various international, national, and institutional strategies have been put in place to address gender inequalities in Ghana and educational institutions (Afoakwah et al., 2022; Burke et al., 2023; United Nations Development Programme, 2023). With community engagement emerging as a key component of policies and practices in higher educational institutions in Ghana, there is a need to critically examine and address gendered challenges confronted by students in these engagements. It will also prevent the universities from reinforcing inherent gender inequalities permeating the institutions.

This qualitative study draws from three community engagement projects in Ghana; the Third Trimester Field Program (TTFP), the Social Laboratory Program (SLP), and the Teacher Practice (TP), to critically explore female students’ gendered experiences in their communities. It is framed by the black feminist theory (Collins, 2002; Crenshaw, 1993), and guided by the following research questions: How do female students perceive community engagement? What are their gendered identities and experiences? What are the implications of their experiences?

The paper is organized into three analytical sections. The first section presents the findings, the second provides a discussion of these findings, and the third explains the implications. We then offer some recommendations and conclusions.

Literature review

This section presents a brief literature review on university-community engagement, gender inequalities, and strategies for addressing these challenges.

University–community engagement

University–community engagement has been conceptualized as sustainable networks, partnerships, and activities between HEIs and communities at local, national, regional, and international levels (Schmidt, 2020). It is a process whereby universities engage with communities to undertake shared programs and diverse activities that will be mutually beneficial (Jacob et al., 2015). These activities include forming relationships and collaborations, undertaking research, and working with communities.

However, the conceptualization, rationalization, and impact of community engagement are characterized by strong debates, contestations, and contradictions (Jacob et al., 2015). On its impact, for instance, community engagement has been argued to expose students to community-based learning and enhance their ability to develop varied knowledge, skills, and values that would enable them to become engaged citizens. It is contended to improve student retention (Hu & Wolniak, 2013) and to enhance an effective understanding and practical application of what has been taught in the lecture room (Whiteford & Strom, 2013). According to Chile and Black (2015), community engagement helps young people acquire the skills to set, monitor, and achieve goals. It also is perceived to improve their leadership and communication skills. Key goals, as emphasized by Enke and Winters (2013), is that society’s problems require people who are not only technically skilled and ‘book smart’, but also self-aware, concerned for others, and oriented toward justice (p.3). Also ‘it is imperative that students find new ways of understanding how identity, power, and particularly their own privileges impact these settings, and envision ways for changing inequality’ (Ibid).

The reciprocal and symbiotic relationship between universities and the surrounding communities arguably makes university–community engagement essential (Ibid.). These advantages however might not be the experience for all participants and tend to oversimplify community engagement. Rather, they can develop and reinforce existing inequalities and power imbalances, particularly about gender, race, and class for community members (Jacob et al., 2015) and participants who may belong to a minority or a marginalized group.

University–community engagement and gender

The gender dimension of community engagement cannot be overlooked (Levac & Denis, 2019), and considering the numerous challenges confronting women, feminists and gender scholars have shown great interest in how university–community engagements enhance social justice and address gendered issues (ibid.). One of the key focuses of university-community engagement, subsequently, is to address gender inequities (Rwirahira, 2019). Universities embark on awareness creation, education, advocacy, and policy-making to champion women’s empowerment and roles in societal development (Iverson & James, 2014).

However, the power inequalities of universities and their community engagements are powerfully reflected in gendered discourses and practices in the communities. There are concerns that community engagements carry the potential of ‘reinforcing the very power inequalities that feminists have worked so diligently to expose and challenge’ (Costa & Leong, 2012, p. 171). Gendered identity is ‘produced, reproduced, and contested’ through many community engagements, particularly through engagement with gendered practices’ (Wodak, 2015, 699).

Globally, women are confronted with many interlocking challenges including sexual harassment and abuse, assault, and daunting domestic chores (Frye, 1983). Whilst many factors contribute to inequality, patriarchal discourses have been identified as key factors. Patriarchy places men in a position of authority and reverence over their female counterparts in various facets of life including education (Appiah-Kubi et al., 2020). In the Ghanaian context, for example, the discourses are embodied and communicated in various ways including proverbs, which are recognised and appreciated as the hub of society’s wisdom (Ibid).

Patriarchal discourses, which are core in the socialization process right from birth, amplify the superior position of men over women and compel men to believe in themselves as the most powerful, superior, and protectors of women (Frye, 1983). Men are recognized to be stronger, more salient, more intelligent, and possess leadership traits and the competence to provide security, sustenance, and livelihood for themselves and women (Gyan, 2018). On the other hand, women are socialized to non-negotiably recognise and appreciate males irrespective of age or status as wiser and naturally endowed with the existential abilities to lead (Gyan et al., 2020).

Women are subjected to destructive gender stereotypes that often trigger but trivialize violence against them (Loughnan et al., 2013). They are repeatedly objectified and their bodies are hypersexualized. They are perceived to have an existential and fundamental role to be of service to men (Frye, 1983; Loughnan et al., 2013). As Frye describes it, the ‘Women’s sphere’ may be understood as the ‘service sector’ (1983, p. 46).

The gendered discourses and marginalization have deeply seeped into the fabric of academia. Globally the exclusionary experiences of women in academia have been well highlighted (Burke, 2020). Female academics, administrators, and students continue to witness imbalanced power relations and discrimination. Often, these are products of historical and social constructions of expectations fuelled and sustained by language and societal discourses (Burke, 2020; Levac & Denis, 2019).

Female students particularly continue to experience sexual violence in both developed and less developed countries (Burke et al., 2023; Morley, 2011). Some studies (Burke et al., 2023; Manu et al., 2007; Morley, 2011) have illuminated the prevalence of sexual harassment in higher educational institutions in Australia and Ghana. It is mostly ‘hidden, silenced and displaced’ (p. 103). Mostly victims’ prevalent conditions are worsened as management becomes complicit or dismissive even when these abuses are disclosed.

There are also micro-aggressions (Collins, 2017; Price & Skolnik, 2017), which involve ‘brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward marginalized people’ (Price & Skolnik, 2017).

Although these interlocking experiences vary due to many factors including socio-economic and cultural differences (Collins, 2002), they nonetheless create various physical, psychological, and emotional challenges including a limited sense of belonging, lack of confidence, and a sense of shame. Sexual harassment and abuse, for instance, affect the physical and emotional well-being of victims. They also impact negatively on the institutional learning environment and learner identities (Morley et al., 2010).

A key challenge is the difficulty of marginalized women in expressing their points of view. At the same time ‘that they attempt to (re)position ourselves’, they are ‘positioned by others’ (Barrett, 2005, p. 85), and are expected to act without resistance. Ahmed (2010) drawing from Marilyn Frye, argues that oppression involves the requirement that you show signs of happiness, signs of being or having been adjusted, and as you comply it ‘signifies our docility and our acquiescence in our situation’ (1983, p. 2).

These abuses, marginalizations, and subjectivities are championed by complex cultural, religious, and social discourses, which continually impact individuals’ belief systems, values, and practices (Ibid). Nonetheless, these sociocultural and structural inequalities confronting women are consistently perceived as personal problems that can be redressed through individual achievement (Burke, 2017b). Hegemonic discourses of individual choice and personal responsibility, self-empowerment, self-esteem, and sense of freedom, insidiously create various emotions and shame which is hardly discussed (Ibid). Shame involves ‘feelings of inadequacy created by internalized negative beliefs about oneself. Personal insecurities, mistakes, and perceived flaws can all trigger shame responses’ (Byars & Shafir, 2023, para 3). The responses lead to extreme self-consciousness, self-criticality, and embarrassment (Byars & Shafir, 2023). Similar to responses to other abuses and violence in Higher Education:

Shame in and through HE pedagogical relations and practices is hidden, deeply entangled with the gendered politics of maldistribution, misrecognition, misrepresentation, and embodied intersections of difference. Shame is hidden through individualizing discourses that locate the problem of pedagogical participation in the individual participant (Burke, 2017b, p. 430).

The gendered experiences of females do not occur only in the four walls of the university. As female students participate in community engagement they are exposed to many of these challenges.

Beyond experiencing these challenges, they are also expected to act as role models to inspire, particularly community women, to attain higher achievements. Role modeling is predominantly perceived as a way of motivating individuals to set and achieve ambitious goals, especially for members of stigmatized and underrepresented groups in achievement settings (Morgenroth et al., 2015, p. 1). Role models are often regarded as a cure for inequality (Burke, 2020; Dean, 2014).

In spite of these benefits, the inherently problematic nature of the role model concept has been well argued in literature (Burke, 2020; Morgenroth et al., 2015). It is perceived as fragmented with limited agreement on its definition. Subsequently, there is a limited understanding of what role models are, what they are able to do, and how they work to influence others (Morgenroth et al., 2015). There is also less clarity on how role models work to influence ambitions, motivation, choices, and achievements (Ibid).

Most significantly, role modelling constructs individuals, their families, and communities as suffering from ‘low’ aspirations’ (Burke, 2020). Burke clearly illustrates the danger of discourses on building aspirations of individuals. Structural and systemic inequalities are generally viewed as personal problems that can be resolved by the individual eschewing laziness, and becoming receptive and obedient to instructive and guiding principles handed out to them by powerful individuals (Burke, 2020).

Addressing the challenges

Women cannot be fully empowered unless intersecting oppressions themselves are eliminated (Collins, 2017). Addressing these challenges demands the issues be addressed holistically in the individual, institutional, and national contexts.

Women should be aware of their rights and authority (Burke, 2017a, Collins, 2017). They should be able to speak and act on issues that affect negatively them instead of working out to satisfy the gendered expectations and demands. Mostly, women adopt gender-typical behaviors and defense mechanism to avoid exclusion and shame (Frye, 1983; Price & Skolnik, 2017). These responses mostly worsen the negative impacts and could lead to mental issues.

One of the key institutional and national strategies is coalition building or collaboration. As Batliwala (2007) indicates, there will be limited sustainable changes if restricted to a few individual women. Oppressed groups should form collaborations and dialogues with groups engaged in similar social justice projects (Collins, 2017; Iverson & James, 2014).

The cognitive and psychological empowerment of women should also be emphasized. As indicated, mostly traditional power structures will seek to isolate and ostracise them. These create issues of doubt and limited self-esteem. Self-esteem is a person’s belief in their worthiness to be rejoicing and able to cope with and handle everyday life issues. There is a need to ensure decreased conditions or situations that cause shame and increase those that enhance self-esteem. Low self-esteem leads to negative emotions such as shame (Byars & Shafir, 2023). Low or negative self-esteem is also linked to various mental health issues. Connected with shame, it creates depression, anxiety, anger, and trauma. Significantly, high levels of shame could also increase the risk for a range of high-risk behaviors including drug abuse, self-harm, and suicide (Ibid).

HEIS needs to address the challenging issues of power, voice, privilege, and difference whether it involves students or community members. As universities engage with communities, they need to ask the following questions: Whose voices are heard and whose voices are silenced (Iverson & James, 2014)? How does community engagement help to construct students’ notions of themselves and others? Recognizing the challenges will help to address them fully. Institutions will be challenged to think critically about the challenges, including sources of oppression, and prioritize them in policies (Almeida et al., 2019).

Material and method

Qualitative methodology framed this study to enable an in-depth understanding of participants’ thoughts and feelings and the meanings they ascribed to their experiences in the communities (Silverman, 2013). It involved three programs from three institutions. These are the Third Trimester Field Program (TTFP), the Social Laboratory Field Work (SLFW), and the Student Teaching Practice. The programs were purposively selected because, unlike other community engagements where students do not stay in the communities (Agyeman et al., 2020), students in these programs have the opportunity to stay in the communities between 14 and 90 days.

The TTFP

The TTFP of the University of Development Studies (UDS) adopts an iterative and integrated process offering students from different faculties, schools, and departments of the university the opportunity to live and work together in selected communities. The program aims to enable participants to develop positive attitudes towards working in rural and deprived communities, and to expose them to the practical development problems faced by these communities (Kuu-Ire, 2005). It also aims to provide mutually beneficial services to rural communities through the exchange of knowledge and its application. The program involves two phases. The first phase occurs in the third trimester of level 100. During this period, students compile a community profile of the community, including the ethnic groupings, natural resources, occupations of locals, and the potentials and challenges facing the community (Kuu-Ire, 2005). They analyse the information and write a comprehensive report about the communities. In their second year, which involves the program’s second phase, students go to the same communities again for another six weeks, where they build on the work of the preceding year. After validation from community members, final copies of their reports are submitted to appropriate stakeholders, including the UDS, local government service, and other governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The SLFW

The Social Laboratory Field Work (SLFW) is organized by the Centre for African and international studies as an ethnographic fieldwork for level 300 students as part of their Research Methods course. It is a fourteen-day residential fieldwork aimed at encouraging students to exhibit the practical aspects of their studies. It is also underpinned by the Centrés goal to undertake research into Ghanaian indigenous culture and knowledge systems, including festivals, funerals, and enstoolment/enskinment. In addition, students are put into groups and given micro research topics where they solicit for information from key people in the community to come up with their final research write-ups. This provides the students the opportunity to identify research problems from the community of study and attempt to provide solutions to them through their research.

To this end and similar to the TTFP, students are exposed to the political structure, music and dance, gender issues, festivals, etc. of the people as well as learning to live with the indigenous people in the communities.

The TP

Student teaching practice is mandatory in all Ghanaian colleges of education (Haruna et al., 2020). It is perceived as a preparatory stage during which students are sent out to schools in selected communities to engage in microteaching. This is mainly to gain practical and professional experience. They are expected to translate all the educational theories they acquired during training into practice. The program involves two phases. The first phase is commonly known as the on-campus teaching practice, which requires prospective teachers to engage in peer teaching on their campuses for a semester.

The second phase, which is the main focus of this paper is the ‘off-campus’ teaching practice or field experience that students engage in at level 400. During the first semester, students are sent to selected communities and schools for three months to undertake microteaching in real classrooms. Students provide a write-up of their observations and they are graded.

Demographics of student participants

Table

Institution	Number of participants	Age range
TTFP	15	20-28
SLP	10	20-25
TP	15	20-25

We adopted group interviews to gain participants’ emic or insider perspectives. Such interviews also encouraged participants to become reflective and more aware of the pertinent, but usually taken-for-granted, issues, including discrimination and exclusions (Ennis & Chen, 2012). The group interviews brought together participants in a supportive environment to draw out common group understandings, and we were able to observe the group dynamics (ibid.). The data was gathered between June 2021 and August 2022.

We used a semi-structured interview format, which allowed enough flexibility to probe further into the topics discussed. The major questions centered on students’ experiences and identities in the communities and the extent to which their gender encouraged them to serve differently. The paper particularly draws upon the works of Collins (2002, 2016), Frye (1983), and Burke (2020) to illuminate how wider societal inequalities with particular emphasis on gender present challenges to the university-community project. Content and discourse analyses are the main procedures we adopted for analysing the data.

Data analyses

Content and discourse analyses were the main procedures adopted for the study. The content analyses enhanced an exploration of the transcribed data to identify keywords, phrases, ideas, and themes which were grouped using a coding system (Saldana, 2018). We also looked at how these words, phrases, and themes are presented and the frequency of occurrence. This approach helped to generate a relatively systematic and comprehensive summary of the data (Saldana, 2018). In analysing the data, we also emphasized how language is used by participants, for instance, to construct identities and reveal their emotions and understandings. Discourse analyses also focussed on issues of ‘power, domination and the constructions and reproduction of power in texts and conversations’, which are some of the main concepts of my research (Cohen et al., 2011).

We analysed inductively, from the bottom up using ‘categorical indexing’ and ‘cross-sectional analyses (Ibid). Following the cross-sectional analyses, we compared and contrasted data derived from the individual and group participants to discover explanatory patterns among the individuals and groups. The procedure revealed key issues in the data. It also helped to re-examine the text to ‘discover intentions, functions, and consequences of the discourse’. A very important aspect of the analyses was what Mills (1940 in May, 2002, p. 140) identified as a ‘vocabulary of motives’. This involves reasons people give for performing certain actions in certain situations. It helped to look at why various strategies are adopted and the emerging identities among women in community engagements.

The theoretical framework informing the study is the Black feminist theory. The theory reaffirms the intersecting forms of discrimination against African-American woman/women. Although it originated in the US, it embraces broad principles of social justice that transcend beyond African-American women’s needs (Collins, 2002). Globally, women encounter chronic social concerns encompassing marginalization, violence, and poverty (Ibid). Black feminist thought enables these challenges to be contextualized and addressed. It encourages women to resist oppression, both its practices and the ideas that justify it and to empower them individually and collectively.

Ethical considerations were prioritized because two of the authors are practitioners in higher education with one of them teaching in one of the institutions, while all the participants were students. We therefore paid attention to power relations with participants, and we respected their autonomy (British Educational Research Association, 2018). We emphasized confidentiality and informed consent. We also recognized that, although anonymity is an ethical norm in qualitative research, some conditions render anonymity difficult (Tilley & Woodthorpe, 2011). The distinct and unique features of the community engagements in the institution make it difficult to anonymize the institutions. It was therefore appropriate to anonymize participants instead of the institution.

Results and discussions

This section presents the results and discussions of the data. The intersected identities and roles, as well as the implications, are discussed in this section.

Perceptions of the community engagement

Literature abounds on the benefits of community engagements (Chile & Black, 2015; Hu & Wolniak, 2013). It enhances practical understanding and application of theoretical ideas and conceptions. Students acquire practical abilities and skills to adapt to different socio-cultural contexts and to identify problems and address them. It also enables students to develop pro-social values, such as empathy, recognition, appreciation of diversity, and critical thinking.

In this study, the majority of participants had positive perceptions of their community engagement:

It is fantastic, it is great because as students, we are only exposed to theory, reading books…But going to the field to research…I think it is amazing. The trip we embarked on was wonderful (Akua, SLP)

Staying in the community helped us. When we are done with school and we are posted to wherever we will go. We have been equipped with certain things. I mean we are familiar with the communities so after if we go and stay in a community, it won’t be something new to us (Millicent, CoE).

The laudable and multifaceted benefits of community engagements in the Ghanaian context have been the focus of a previous paper. It is however important that the wide-ranging challenges confronting female students are equally given the needed attention.

The intersected identities and challenges of female students

The study illuminates the intersectional identities and challenges of female students during the institutions’ community engagement program (Costa & Leong, 2012; Wodak, 2015). Whilst all students are required to participate in all activities expected by their respective programs, female students assume or are thrust into diverse gendered roles and identities based mainly on their gender. These identities and challenges point to the imbalance power relations and the endemicity of patriarchal beliefs and practices which subjugate women at various levels (Rawat, 2014, p. 41) including higher education (Burke, 2017a, 2017b).

The identities and subsequent challenges also demonstrate that Patriarchy does not operate as a singular or mono-dimensional political force. It works within a complex dynamic of entwined forces and relations, which play out at the macro-level of institutions and affect the micro-level of lived experiences (Burke et al., 2023, p. 268). It also reveals that ‘different, heterogeneous and intersecting forces are at play across a range of social and personal timescapes that impact women’s higher education experiences, often in unpredictable and contradictory ways’ (Ibid, 274).

Identity and role of female students as domestic support

A key challenge is the participants’ expected roles and services as domestic supports. This is particularly true with the TTFP. Colleagues constructed their female colleagues as mothers, wives, girlfriends or even ‘house helps’ who accompanied them to the communities to cook and perform other nurturing roles.

We were eleven in the group and the women were only three…most of the work, they thought belonged to them…most of the academic work, they were doing it. The only thing we were doing was just cooking for them. If we wanted to take part in the work, they would say, ‘Oh no, you have to do this and this, and we’ll do that’, and so we had a lot of issues dealing with that. (Obaayaa, TTFP)

Okay, let me say when we went for the community service, mostly, the guys portrayed to the girls that ‘Oh, you’re coming to cook for us whilst we do the work’. Though there comes a time when you have to participate… but mainly they want you to make time and be cooking for them and all that. (Mary, TTFP)

The expected mandate of the female students to be cooks among the groups clearly demonstrates the power inequalities and how women are perceived as a ‘service providers’ to men (Frye, 1983; Loughnan et al., 2013). Patriarchal values, which is at the heart of black feminist theory (Collins, 2002, 2017; Frye, 1983) place men in a position of authority and reverence over their female counterparts in various facets of life including the context of higher education (Appiah-Kubi et al., 2020). The revered position occupied by men in traditional Ghanaian society means they decide what happens in the home, workplace, and other places (Appiah-Kubi et al., 2020, p. 77). In the communities, male students automatically perceived themselves as superior and assigned the ‘right roles’ to their female colleagues. Mainly, the women were expected both by their male colleagues and community members to participate less in the required academic work but to fulfil expected traditional roles; in particular, by cooking for the men.

Historically, the social status of the woman has been the home. Women are perceived as homemakers (Ritchie, 2001). Consequently, the domestic and reproductive roles of women like bringing up children, caring for family members, and performing other household activities are non-negotiable in most African countries including Ghana (Mbiti, 1988; Ritchie, 2001). Mostly, these expectations have been produced by historical and social constructions driven and sustained by language and societal discourses (Burke, 2020: Levac & Denis, 2019). In Ghana, the man’s position to decide for the woman is undergirded and fuelled by many proverbs. For instance, ‘ɔbaa tɔ tuo a ɛtwere ɔbarima dan mu’ to wit, ‘If a woman purchases a firearm, it is kept in a man’s room’ illustrates the entrenched societal belief that irrespective of the financial or social position of a woman, she is dependent on a man (Gyan et al., 2020). Others including ‘ɔbaa da ɔbarima akyi’ (a woman lies behind a man); ‘ɔbaa ho yɛ fɛ a, na ɛfiri ɔbarima’ (a woman’s beauty is dependant on a man) and, ɔbaa tɔn nyaadewa na ɔntɔn atuduro (a woman sell garden eggs, not gun powder), all depict the leadership and subservient position of the woman (Ibid.).

Owusu-Gyamfi has argued, even the early years of colonial education for women was to encourage domestic roles. Although he argues that this perception of women has changed ‘drastically as a result of modernization in Africa’, we argue that this is not very much the case. Women are expected to perform their traditional roles in any context where men are present, even if they are not married or are not in any intimate relationship the men. The inability of women to accept the societal demands and perform the expected roles brings many tensions and micro aggressions which may escalate into violence against them. However, the violence and micro aggressions are often played down or totally disregarded (Loughnan et al., 2013).

As Ogunromi, argues ‘female emancipation in Africa continues to be problematic. This is mainly because, ‘of the deeply ingrained patriarchal attitudes of African societies’ (2015, 23).

According to Ogunromi:

Although African women are uneasy at conforming to prejudicial standards set for them by men, most have too large a stake in the prevalent status quo to challenge in angry protest or open rebellion. Sometimes, albeit the financially independent woman may enjoy an occasional binge, may even enjoy what she imagined to be the manumission of the individualised woman, but she ultimately shrinks from the non-conformist label, fearful of loss of respectability even more than rue the loss of individuality (2015, 23)

These expected roles reflect the argument of Frye (1983) that irrespective of class, education, or work status, a woman’s duty is to serve men;

Women’s service work always includes personal service (the work of maids, butlers, cooks, personal secretaries), sexual service (including provision for his genital sexual needs …, but also including ‘being nice’, ‘being attractive for him’, etc.), and ego service (p. 44).

Attempts to reduce the female students’ participation or exclude them from participating in mandated community activities on the TTFP, for instance, is interesting but further illustrate the subservient roles and communal behavior women are expected to exhibit (Price & Skolnik, 2017). Varied aspects of the engagement are assessed by the university, and students are scored based on many criteria, including the level of individual participation and presentations. Any student who scores zero in any of the defined areas of assessment ultimately scores zero for the total assessment. Consequently, if female students are excluded from some of the key activities, they will generally score low in these areas, which then confirms the idea of women’s lower achievement compared to men. The woman becomes subjective or dependent which can lead to tyrannical manipulations from the man (Burke, 2017a). It could also lead to internalized oppression which involves ‘a set of self-defeating cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors that were developed as one consistently experiences an oppressive environment’ (David, 2014, p. 14). Self-internalisation do not only negatively affects the abilities and potentials of individuals but those of others they relate to.

Sexualized identity and expectations to perform sexual roles

Collins and Bilge (2016) suggest that violence is a significant aspect of intersecting power relations confronting women. Different systems of power are identified but each rely on distinctive forms of violence’ including sexual and physical violence (Collins, 2017). Women are derogatorily stereotyped (Collins, 2017) as sexual vessels and are expected to fulfil that role (Frye, 1983). This perceived imperativeness for women to be sexually satisfying and attractive to men is portrayed in the study;

Sometimes some community leaders or their sons try to have unhealthy relationships with the women and when they refuse it becomes a bitter experience for the women. (Dilex, faculty member, TTFP)

At times, it’s their male colleagues who want to take advantage of them. (Jouce, faculty member. TTFP)

Some of the Junior High School (JHS) students proposed to me. (Eunice, CoE)

We were three ladies there and the students were like if we had given them the chance to be free with us, they would have proposed to us, I mean the primary school children (Araba, CoE)

The excerpts show that males, irrespective of age or status feel, a sort of entitlement to the body of a woman. These attitudes and demands further point to the patriarchal values which ‘impose masculinity and femininity character stereotypes in society, and which strengthen the iniquitous power relations between men and women’ (Rawat, 2014, p. 43). Women are often sexualized, objectified, and perceived in ways that highlight their body parts and sexual readiness (Frye, 1983; Loughnan et al., 2013). Again, many of these expectations are internalized by women which result in increased sexual risk, body surveillance, body shame, and depression (Burke et al., 2023; Morley, 2011).

Gender-based violence has been considered one of the most predominant human rights violations globally. Many women, irrespective of social and economic status or national contest are affected. An estimated one in three women experiences physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime (United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA], 2022; World Bank [WB], 2022). Women in higher education continue to experience sexual abuse in all of its varied forms (Burke et al., 2023; Morley, 2011). While its prevalence has been difficult to establish, a study by Burke et al. (2023) provides an insight into the extent of physical and sexual abuse confronting women. Although this was a small-scale study, the findings indicated that all participants had experienced sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional violence from a partner or another person. Sexual violence undermines the health, self-respect, security, and sense of independence of its victims (Ibid). Victims continue to experience physical, mental, social, emotional, and psychological trauma which impacts severely their academics (Morley, 2011). It is however shrouded in a culture a culture of secrecy and silence (UNFPA, 2022). Disclosures attract negative constructions, victim blaming and outright hostility leading to re-traumatization and shame (Burke et al., 2023).

The fear of sexual and physical abuse also created some forms of physical confinement and social alienation. Mainly, students from the CoE explained that sometimes they were prevented from using certain routes or leaving their residences at certain hours for fear of being attacked. Many were also cautioned against having conversations with males in the community because their wives or partners might misconstrue any form of friendship as amorous and physically attack them. These restrictions confronting participants reflect the gendered binary categories characterized by different expectations and roles for men and women. It also reflects the ‘old habituated practices’, where women, irrespective of education, age, or education, are confronted with similar challenges (Davies & Gannon, 2005).

The whole group of women is identified homogenously as inherently feminine; weak, vulnerable, and susceptible to manipulation (Frye, 1983; Gyan, 2018). This is differentiated to the whole group of men, who on the other hand are perceived homogenously, irrespective of age or size as inherently masculine; courageous, and difficult to manipulate (Wodak, 2015). Male students had fewer challenges. They were perceived as strong, energetic, and able to rise above the challenges in the communities, whilst the women were viewed as weak and vulnerable. Though this needs to ensure protection has its benefits, it instils fear in women and reinforces their vulnerability in the communities. Their perceived physical and emotional weaknesses are highlighted. As Frye (1983) has also indicated, although physical confinement is less common, it is nonetheless one of the ways individuals are oppressed.

The idea of protecting women reflects the patriarchal and paternalization of women which continue to entrench and reproduce inequalities. According to Zembylas (2014, p. 2), the feelings of ‘disgust’ towards the ‘other’ are mostly ‘concealed under false claims of empathy and caring’. As she points out the superficial ‘claims of empathy and caring in fact, perpetuate privileged irresponsibility and social inequalities’ which affects the general well being of students.

Stigmatized identity as arrogant and indecent

Female students also face other micro aggressions including mistrust, suspicions, and misrecognition from the communities. As university students, some local community members, both young and old, men and women, stigmatized them as arrogant, promiscuous, and indecent.

They did not like us…because you greet and they don’t respond because… they saw us to be arrogant. But we kept on greeting till the end.

At my place,,the other female teachers thought we were in a relationship with the male teachers even in the community we used to hear that the female mentees were in relationships with the male teachers. We heard comments like for ‘these university girls, once you give them little money, you would get one to ’chop’ [have sex with] (Ama, SLF)

Microaggressions normally result from stereotypes and misconceptions people have about others. Ironically, often the individual engaging in the microaggression may not realize that he or she is offending the receiver. Microaggressions may equally be subtle to the receiver but they may often leave the receiver feeling uncomfortable without a precise reason to pinpoint. Whatever forms they take, microaggresisions affect the receiver’s sense of identity causing insecurity, lack of confidence and a sense of shame (Collins, 2017; Price & Skolnik, 2017).

There were also issues of appearance. Female students were expected to dress decently’ and to conform to the expectations of the community.

Female experience during the TTFP was different from that of the males because, being a female, first, your appearance counts. (Felicia, TTFP)

You see…community members are always concerned about you, and your appearance…they had to talk to the women because they were having challenges with us…So that was a major thing that we encountered, the appearance. (Mary, TTFP)

The expected appearance of the women reflects Frye’s argument that women are fundamentally saddled with patriarchal double binds. Whilst they were expected to dress well to look feminine, beautiful and classy, if they did, others labelled them as prostitutes, not respecting tradition and creating traps for men to sexually fall prey to them. In fact, not dressing ‘decently’ could be used as a significant reason to justify the sexual and physical abuse on them. On the other hand, they would be described as not dressing appropriately or not caring about themselves should they wear baggy clothes covering themselves from head to toe. These experiences and other forms of micro-aggressions affect their mental health and general well-being of participants. In this paper, we perceive general well-being as a ‘state which allows individuals to realize their abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and make a contribution to their community (Rawat, 2014, p. 43).

Women ‘feel powerless when they believe they are unable to cope with the physical and social demands of the environment’.

Negotiating the challenges

A key theme of the Black feminist theory, however, is the recognition of differential treatment and reactions. It rejects homogenization and lumping together of women’s experiences (Iverson & James, 2014). Different individuals and groupings are exposed to different treatments (Collins, 2002). There are equally diverse responses and interpretations of experiences. Whilst some may ignore the prevalence of inequalities, others may fight it and yet many will internalize (Rawat, 2014) the negative images and discourses and believe that they are insignificant and powerless. They could even be interpreted as the norm (Rawat, 2014). Gannon and Davies (2005) have, however, argued that subjects continue to question, negotiate, or reject their positioning. Whilst female students are subjected to these varied forms of challenges and abuse, the majority try to challenge the injustices. They refused to accept the grand narratives about themselves and their subsequent positioning. They also used alternative strategies to assert themselves. For instance, some participants on the TTFP subtly resisted their positioning by devising ways to fully participate no matter how they were pushed away.

I perceive myself to be a great leader because in the group I took the burden of being a secretary. Anything they do, I just write it down, and jot it down. I just wanted to take part, get involved in whatever, they did so they were even calling me secretary because anything I write it down (Mary, TTFP).

I think in the first place we women, we were created to serve. We were created to be in a man’s world Women serve men, we all know that? We serve men and children so this one it’s a question… (Agnes, CoE)

These unequal experiences and their acceptance or rejection may breed fatal consequences and such feelings as shame, self-doubt, anger, or loneliness (Burke, 2020). Unfortunately, the resultant effects of these experiences on the women are shrouded in silence and secrecy.

The significant connectivity of gender inequalities to shame and shaming has been largely ignored. These are crucial in gendered, embodied, and everyday experiences of inequality and exclusion (Burke, 2017a). Shame is ‘most importantly a felt sense of unworthiness to be in connection (…) with the ongoing awareness of how very much one wants to connect with others’ (Erskine, 1995, p.3). It portrays a ‘signal of disconnect, alienation’ (Scheff, 2014, p. 132). As a form of profound misrecognition, shame is internalized as a feeling of lack of self-worth or sense of failure’ (Raphael Reed et al., 2007, p. 19).

To avoid shame, it is incumbent to conform and not only conform but show a sense of happiness and satisfaction. Often, participants were obliged to conform to gender-typical demands and expectations to avoid stigma, discrimination, and sometimes abuse as non-conformists. Not conforming to this expectation as participants explained could lead and some cases led to hostility, insults, and sometimes outright physical abuse. Gender-conforming identities and expressions result in social acceptance by communities and colleagues (Price & Skolnik, 2017).

The discourse of ‘inclusion’ coerces those seen as ‘excluded’ to conform to the conventions, expectations, and values of hegemonic discourses…This includes, for example, becoming ‘flexible’ and ‘adaptable’ (Burke, 2017b, p. 433).

You must not only become flexible and adaptable, but you must demonstrate happiness and contentment with your situation (Frye, 1983). As Frye argues, ‘It is often a requirement upon oppressed people that we smile and be cheerful…Without ‘the sunniest countenance’ you are ‘perceived as mean, bitter, angry or dangerous’ (1983, p. 42).

Conforming to gender typical expectations demands micro decisions including clothing, hairdo, makeup, and ways of speaking (Sage, 2017) and these were experiences of some of the participants. In some of the communities, participants were compelled to dress in ways that ‘befitted’ a woman. Their male counterparts were ‘cool’ to wear or dress anyhow without constraints.

Participants, particularly on the TTFP reported their experiences to the university and sought redress for this marginalization, discrimination, and positioning they are confronted with. A key question, however, is whether their voices are heard and whether efforts are made to address these challenges. As participants indicated, the institutions do little to address many of these challenges:

But the issue has to do with the extent to which the university acts on the reports, and how many times reports of female harassment in the community have been acted upon… on the whole, the university has done very little about that (Appiah, TTFP)

It boils down to the report. Why do they pile up the reports? We have to get a whole centre that looks into the reports of whatever happens to the students, or what they recommend, so they can also be addressed, but they don’t do that. We don’t have a TTFP Centre. So we always face the same problems. (Appiah, TTFP).

The little attention paid to the gendered challenges showed the structural limitations. It also potrays power and power interrelations which are key aspect of the black feminist theory (Collins, 2002).

As Collins (2002) argues, when an oppressed group’s experiences have put its members in a position to see things differently, their lack of control over national institutional and ideological apparatuses makes expressing views and feelings more difficult. Oppressed groups are frequently placed in the situation of being listened to ‘only if they express their ideas in the language that is familiar to and comfortable for a dominant group’ (2002, p. vii). This requirement often changes the meaning of the ideas of the excluded to elevate those of dominant groups (Collins, 2002).

Whilst the communities and colleagues compelled them to conform to gender-typical identities in the communities, participants’ sometimes exhibited contradictory behavior by self-engaging or encouraging and reinforcing these gender-typical identities and roles. Thus, participants also drew on the multiple discourses to negotiate their positions in the communities (Davies, 2000) and these reflect dominant discourses that are constitutive of the majority of women. Historically, women have been positioned to provide care and show empathy. Participants therefore perceived it as a duty to assist the local women who they considered as weak and suppressed (Rawat 2014).

My gender encouraged me to serve differently. During our stay in the community, we realized some of the community ladies saw us as great because we were able to reach that level [attain higher education]. (Akosua, TTFP).

So, we the ladies took it upon ourselves to go to the individual houses, talking to them about the importance of educating their female children. We organized a forum for only girls, we talked to them about sanitation, how a lady keeps herself neat and all those things… (Akosua, TTFP).

They undertook these roles with excitement and a sense of satisfaction, whilst they unconsciously reinforced gendered behaviors and stereotypes and exerted inequalities on themselves and the community women.

Mostly, the community members have been constructed historically and in dominant national discourses as poor, illiterate, and abused (Ghana Statistical Service, 2017). There is a narrative of lack of self-confidence and they are positioned as weak, deprived, and inert at the centre of discourses of poverty alleviation, access to education, and ending abuse in these communities. As students from higher education institutions, participants automatically assume a higher position over the community members to serve as their role models to raise the aspirations of these individuals who are perceived as poor and marginalized but probably uninspired. Whilst there are some benefits of individuals recognizing and deriving abilities to negotiate their present circumstances, role modelling:

Reinforces deficit misframings of the problem and leads to reductionist, remedial, and instrumentalist views of the ways that aspirations are formed. The idea is to change individual attitudes with minimal attention to the historical, intergenerational, and deeply entrenched social and cultural inequalities in which children and young people (and adult learners) (Burke, 2020, p. 3).

As Burke emphasizes, there is often a slippage into medical discourse, which sets out to provide ‘treatment’ for those with perceived impoverished aspirations, with deep classed and radicalized implications for who is seen to ‘know’ and who is seen to ‘lack’ (Burke, 2020). Structural and systemic inequalities are ignored.

Interestingly many of these participants are from urban areas. Their social and cultural conditions, positioning, and experiences, and those in the communities are conspicuously different. The three Northern regions, where the TTFP mostly occurs, for instance, have suffered continual social, political, and economic marginalization due to discriminatory colonial and postcolonial policies. In the late 1940s, the British Colonial Government introduced a policy of isolation and other series of indiscriminate policies targeted at addressing the developmental needs of the region but these failed woefully (Kuu-Ire, 2009). There was also ‘a deliberate attempt to isolate the Northern Territories from the rest of the country’ (Bening, 1990) for other purposes which ultimately was to serve the interest of the colonial masters. As Kuu-Ire (2009) argues regarding education, while Christian missions had unrestrained opportunities to build schools in the South, formal education was firmly restricted in the North with a rationale of ensuring ‘respect for native rulers and institutions’, and to prevent ‘denationalization’ and producing ‘a half-baked European’ (Benneh, 1973). In encouraging women to aspire, such historical occurrences and injustice are ignored.

While the efforts of students to advise community members to address the challenges faced by community women are laudable, it is equally important to question many of the underpinning assumptions and to illuminate how power imbalances and inequalities were reinforced. As students act within an existing dominant and constitutive discourse, they may reproduce and reinscribe those discourses and their reparations.

This role adopted by the female students also illustrates a key aspect of the black feminist theory. It brings to the fore, ‘individual’s multiple positionalities across various axes of disadvantage and advantaged reveals the complicity of privilege in experiences of oppression (Atewologun, 2018, p. 13). Whilst female students are oppressed by their colleagues and community members, in another dimension they fluidly change positions (Atewologun, 2018). They now assume control over another marginalised group in the communities. This confirms the ‘fluidity and social construction of social identities’ as emphasised by the feminist theories (Collins, 2002).

Implications

We have argued in this paper that female students encounter gendered issues that affect their physical, emotional, psychological, and academic well-being. Universities should develop a critical and comprehensive framework to specifically address the gendered issues confronting female students in the communities. For instance, regarding sexual harassment and abuse, there should be a comprehensive policy, that will also firmly establish effective systems of disclosure and appropriate sanctions (Burke et al., 2023; Manu et al., 2007; Morley, 2011). The framework should be based on critical identification, understanding, and commitment to addressing inequalities (Ibid).

Institutions should not only focus on creating a safe and non-discriminatory environment on campuses but there should be equal emphasis on students’ experiences in the communities (Collins, 2017; Iverson & James, 2014). Prevalent conditions should eliminate shame and sense of incompetence and a lack of confidence and rather ensure participants’ sense of belonging and connection to the communities. The feeling of ‘shame exacerbates feelings of not belonging and disconnection as well as sensibilities of unworthiness (Burke, 2017b, p. 431).

Personal safety and particularly, sexual harassment and abuse should be addressed with a high sense of urgency. Universities should have a directed focus on addressing GBV by embarking on educational programs to create or raise awareness, create secure and confidential avenues for disclosures, and have a firm sense of commitment to address the issues. Whilst, there should be strong collaborations between the universities and communities in tackling GBV, the institutions should reassert their leadership in addressing the challenges (Burke et al., 2023). Sexual violence should not be trivialized (Loughnan et al., 2013). The idea of ensuring gender equality and equity should not be on paper or re-echo what appears to be a global cliché. As emphasized by Burke (2017a), another pattern of oppression lies in paying lip service to enhance equity but changing little about one’s practices.

Efforts should be made to address shame. Shame and mental health are interrelated and each can activate and intensify the other. Persistent shame closely corresponds with poor self-esteem and an overall negative self-concept and vice versa.

The universities should raise the awareness of female students through workshops, seminars, and orientations to awaken the consciousness of participants to recognize, name, and resist inequalities and abuse. They should be aware of the ‘patriarchal control, exploitation, and oppression at the material and ideological levels of women’s labour, fertility and sexuality, in the family, at the place of work, and in the society in general, and conscious action by women and men to transform the present situation’ (Rawat, 2014, p. 43).

It is significant to note that ‘when a woman’s consciousness concerning how she understands her everyday life changes, she can become empowered’ (Collins, 2008, p. x). Such ‘consciousness may stimulate her to embark on a path of personal freedom, even if it exists initially primarily in her mind. If she is lucky enough to meet others who are undergoing similar journeys, they can combine to change the world around them (Ibid.). With each utterance or action, we take up particular subject positions within or about discourses that are available.

Such awareness creation could also be through dialogical interactions both at the individual and group levels (Iverson & James, 2014). Awareness may alter thinking which may be accompanied by changed actions, which may stimulate a changed consciousness. Such awareness creation and resistance should also be extended to community members. As community members are engaged, all traces of subjectivities and inequalities.

It should be recognized that the complexity and interlocking experiences of women’s lives cannot be addressed by just one strategy. In developing any framework, the diversity of women’s experiences should be acknowledged (Norris, 2012). This demands a bottom-up approach to strategies that engage the voices of women.

Although the communities are perceived as deprived, and students are not supposed to live significantly differently from the communities they visit, efforts should be made to provide decent accommodation and living conditions for the students. Strenuous or risky situations should be avoided. Reports of abuse and marginalization should be investigated and addressed properly.

Conclusions

The findings and discussions reveal how gendered inequalities, misrecognitions and marginalization have become endemic in the academia in its different contexts (Burke, 2017a, 2017b). Similar to global happenings, university-community engagement has emerged as an essential component of many higher educational institutions in Ghana aimed at enhancing student learning, knowledge sharing, and the general socio-economic development of the communities. However, in line with the wider literature, they are prone to reinforce power imbalances for marginalized groups in terms of both community members and students (Costa & Leong, 2012; Wodak, 2015). In subtle and explosive ways gendered identity is re/produced (Wodak, 2015, p. 699).

Female students are confronted with layered and complex intersectional challenges of power, misrecognition, and stereotypes. Some gendered identities are thrust upon them whilst they are compelled also to assume some of these identities on their own as a way of conforming to societal expectations. These identities and experiences are shaped by the social and cultural practices, embodied subjectivities, and inequalities that generate assumptions about the being and act of women (Burke, 2017a, 2017b). Non-conformity normally results in tensions and other micro aggressions including discriminations, hostile, negative, and insulting messages and insinuations. These and other inequalities they experience generate shame, insecurity, and a lack of confidence (Burke, 2017). As emphasised by Feigt et al. (2021), ‘covert forms of discrimination’ for instance, ‘can be corrosive in that they may leave the recipient feeling put down but unable to clearly articulate the reason’. Accepting the gender typical behaviors and its associate micro aggressions breeds mental health challenges (Feigt et al., 2021).

As indicated earlier, there were nuances in participants’ responses to these experiences. Whilst some resisted, others responded positively by exhibiting the expected gendered typical behaviors. Many women respond positively to gender-typical behaviors because they are socialized to internalize stereotypes of masculinity and femininity as an ideology. The stereotypes are reinforced through societal norms, customs, rituals and discourses (Ibid.).

However, women should be able to break the silence and address issues that negatively affect them (Burke et al., 2017, Collins, 2017; Frye, 1983; Price & Skolnik, 2017). Striving to conform to expected gender-typical behaviors could lead to mental health issues including anxiety, shame and depression.

However, women cannot deal with the complexity of the intersected challenges confronting them individually (Batliwala, 2007; Collins, 2017; Iverson & James, 2014). There is the need for collaboration to actively confront suppression. They could also form partnership with groups from different sectors of the society including community leaders, non-governmental organisations, local government and relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Gender, Civil society and the media to embark on sensitization, education and awareness on Gender Based Violence and inequalities.

The findings also indicated that the university should not only focus should not only be on enhancing a mutual and synergetic relationship between universities and their local communities (Enke & Winters, 2013), equal efforts should be on enhancing equality and equity among different groups of students as they engage with the communities. The universities need to act and transform community engagement and approach to gender if they are to achieve a positive impact through their engagements.

Comprehensive efforts including orientation should be embarked upon to psychologically and physically empower the women, strengthen their emotional and mental health (Byars & Shafir, 2023) and general well-being.

The taken-for-granted and trivializing issues should be avoided. Discriminatory processes are not necessarily explicit and intentional; they are often subtle, subjective, and almost invisible (Burke, 2018). Without the effort to address this, community engagements will become critical spaces perpetuating inequalities and power imbalances.

The institutions and participants of the program should reframe their thinking on binary divisions, roles, and expectations of gender and begin to look more carefully at the discursive barriers that may be limiting attempts to do counter-hegemonic discourses. Those who challenge the structures and expectations should not be considered illegitimate but should be applauded and their concerns addressed (Collins, 2002).

Indeed, community engagement necessitates critical and deep discussion about its process and impacts, including attention to diverse and contested perspectives and questions of power (Costa & Leong, 2012).

Limitations of the study

The study utilized black feminist theory to offer theoretical explanations of female students’ experiences in university-community programs. It offerred the terminology and insights needed to promote social justice and to advance strategies to address gender equality in university-community programs in Ghana. As a theoretical framework and a practical tool, it made a unique contribution to advancing understanding and empowering female students as marginalized groups in the communities and universities.

There were however some limitations of the study which should inform future research:

Theoretically, the study considered a single axis of inequality, focussing on gender. It did not explore differentiated experiences of participants based on their ethnic, socio-economic and religious background. By utilising only one social category, we were also unable to examine the interconnections and interdependencies between various social categories and systems.

We recommend a study to consider multiple axis including ethnicity, religion and socio-economic background simultaneously to provide a holistic and comprehensive view and strategies to combat social injustice.

Methodologically, as a qualitative research, the study drew on only three university-community engagements in three institutions. We recommend a quantitative study that will enable more institutions and programs to be included in the study. This approach will also allow generalizations that will enhance a national framework and approach to addressing gendered experiences in the communities, which will also impact general university experiences.

Further research in quantitative methods is equally important to generate innovative modelling methods to advance quantitative black feminist theory-informed analysis.

It will also be expedient to explore the experiences of community members as they relate to students in the communities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gifty Oforiwaa Gyamera

Dr Gifty Oforiwaa Gyamera is currently an official partner to the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education, Professor Penny Jane Burke, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is also a Senior Lecturer in the Dept of Public Policy at the School of Public Adminsitration and Governance, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. She has extensive research experience in various areas including Gender studies, Policy studies, University-Community Engagement, and Comparative and International Education. She has also published in prestigious international journals. She teaches various courses including Gender studies, Policy studies, and Ethics and social responsibility at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Beyond her extensive teaching and research experience she has engaged in various national and international activities and programmes.

Afia Animwaa Mireku

Dr Dora Animwaa Mireku holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instructional Studies from the University of South Africa. She is currently a lecturer at the Accra College of Education, Ghana. She is the Head of Department of Visual Arts. She is also a School Improvement Advisor with the Ghana Education Service. She had served as the Head of National Teaching Council, Accra and as the Ag Director Teacher Professional License and Registration. She has special interest in STEM.

Vanessa Tsetse

Vanessa Tsetse holds a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. She served as a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Institute. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her current role. Presently she works at the Insurance Sector.