The Socioeconomic Status of Women and Academic Attainment of Their Children: A Study of the New Juaben Municipality in Ghana

Abstract

The past four decades have witnessed a significant rise in women’s social and economic well-being, particularly among women with children in the home. This shift has sparked considerable academic debate regarding the consequences mothers’ socioeconomic background has on the development of their children, especially their academic attainment. Surprisingly, this area of study has received little attention in the Ghanaian context. Consequently, the study set out to examine the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) of women (occupation, marital status, economic status of women and women’s education) on the academic attainments of their children. To achieve these objectives, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using structured interview guide on a probability sample of 275 respondents identified through the multi-stage sampling technique. Respondents consisted of women who were 41+ years and had a child. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a chi-square test of independence. The results of the bivariate analysis indicates that, occupation of women, education of women, marital status of women and economic status of women were all significantly related to the academic attainment of their children, at α = 0.05. Findings of the study suggest that, women SES affect the academic attainment of their children. Accordingly, the researcher recommends that, women groups in Ghana such as Ghanaian Women's Social Leadership Program (GWSLP), Ghana International Women’s Club (GIWC) should all add their voice to emphasizing women education and for that matter, female education in their programmes taking a cue from this study.

Keywords: Socio-economic status, Academic attainment, Cultural capital and Family