Gender Issues In The Learning Of Architecture In Private Universities In Ogun State, Nigeria

 ABSTRACT

Prompted by previous findings of research on gender issues in different schools of architecture and based on the indicated lack of knowledge of the lives of women in developing nations, this thesis investigated gender issues in learning architecture. The in-depth study required for such a study prompted a study of students in Private universities in Ogun State, Nigeria. In this study, gender characteristics of the students, their learning patterns, experiences, performance and aspirations were investigated in relation to gender differences and inequalities. Employing a critical method of inquiry common to feminist works, quantitative and qualitative data were both collected from second to sixth year students in all the three private universities. Relevant data gathered through in-depth interviews, written perceptions of students and ethnographic observations carried out over a period of three academic sessions (2013/2014-2015/2016) were analysed using parametric and non-parametric tests and content analysis. Findings show that the student population structure in the departments sampled was skewed or tilted in favour of the males and androgynous. Also, there were gender and gender identity differences as well as inequalities in the learning patterns and schema of some schools indicating that most male and masculine students did not need to exert as much effort as the females or feminine while carrying out different types of learning tasks. Overall, the female students were generally found to attain significantly higher academic achievements except in the design studio. Finally, it was found that for most females, irrespective of their academic achievement, their career aspirations were greatly restricted by their gender and their more challenging learning experience. The main implication of the findings is that in Nigeria, despite social changes, gender still significantly influences the learning of architecture. Recommendations were that stakeholders in architectural education should take deliberate restructuring steps to ensure that the skewed gender composition in the higher ranks of mainstream architecture either in education or practice will not remain skewed in favour of the males with only the lower ranks at best attaining a tilted composition.