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Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students
Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2022
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| _version_ | 1867613964924354560 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Saloojee, Melanie Fiona |
| author2 | Daniels, Doria |
| author_browse | Daniels, Doria Saloojee, Melanie Fiona |
| author_facet | Daniels, Doria Saloojee, Melanie Fiona |
| author_sort | Saloojee, Melanie Fiona |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2022. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/126102 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:30.757Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/126102 Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students Saloojee, Melanie Fiona Daniels, Doria Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology. Family life education Postsecondary education Tertiary education Muslim women Education (Higher) Muslim students UCTD Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2022. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globally there have been notable increases in the number of non-traditional mature married women students returning to higher education studies. This study explores the educational experiences of four non-traditional women students of the Islamic faith who are navigating family life and graduate studies. They are older than 35 years, married, in full-time employment, and have dependent children. These part-time graduate students are enrolled at prestigious South African Universities. The primary research question that guided the study, was: What are the educational experiences of married Muslim women graduate students? Secondary questions that I derived from the primary question were the following: • What are the societal expectations of Muslim women? • What challenges do culture and religion pose to their navigation of education? • What support structures do the participants use to navigate higher education? An interpretive, qualitative research, multi-case study design combined with narrative inquiry was chosen to capture the lived stories of these participants. This design highlighted similarities as well as unique differences in their stories, attesting to the multiple realities that exist when knowledge is gathered. Social constructivism and an additional lens of third-wave feminism (intersectionality) was also utilised in the interpretation. Data were collected by conducting individual in-depth interviews, a focus group discussion (where artefacts in the form of visuals were presented by the participants), and documents (reflective journal entries). The rich data highlighted that the participants’ return to graduate studies was fraught with challenges. They navigated their studies alongside competing roles of family caregiver and career woman, amidst enmeshed cultural and religious gender role expectations. These expectations were taken on and they over-extended themselves, which resulted in limited time for their studies and extreme exhaustion. The findings suggested that cultural and religious practices deeply rooted in patriarchy were passed down through their generations, thus limiting women from defining their own gender identities. The data also showed how all these women (except one) were socialised to be the sole bearers of the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning and childcare. One of the participants demonstrated that it is possible to re-define these role prescriptions through discussion, as she negotiated role-sharing with her partner. Her navigation of family life, work and studies seemed easier. The participants expressed gratitude for the support received from extended and immediate family, their supervisors and lecturers, and they also employed their own strategies of support and self-care. Masters 2022-11-21T13:24:12Z 2023-01-16T12:50:10Z 2022-11-21T13:24:12Z 2023-01-16T12:50:10Z 2022-12 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/126102 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xii, 93 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Family life education Postsecondary education Tertiary education Muslim women Education (Higher) Muslim students UCTD Saloojee, Melanie Fiona Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title | Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title_full | Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title_fullStr | Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title_short | Managing family life and tertiary studies: exploring the educational experiences of Muslim, non-traditional women students |
| title_sort | managing family life and tertiary studies exploring the educational experiences of muslim non traditional women students |
| topic | Family life education Postsecondary education Tertiary education Muslim women Education (Higher) Muslim students UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/126102 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saloojeemelaniefiona managingfamilylifeandtertiarystudiesexploringtheeducationalexperiencesofmuslimnontraditionalwomenstudents |