Female Mathematics Role Models and Girls Performance in Mathematics in the South West Region of Cameroon: A Gender Issue

In Cameroon just like other countries in the world, Mathematics is an important subject with its skills very much needed in applying science and technology for development. There is growing demand for professionals in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM) to meet up with significant labor shortage in the market. Women are often underrepresented in STEM and it has been noticed generally that females mathematics role models are lacking in the society. The low presence of female mathematicians/Teachers professionals and others who stand for role models are lacking in the schools and society as a whole. This tendency seem to have combined with other environmental and other socioeconomic factors to give the girls a negative attitudes towards mathematics, visible in their lack of interest and low participation in its lessons. This attitude affects their ability to engage with Math-related content, leads to poor performance and consequently fewer females pursuing degrees in fields that require a strong mathematics background. This paper seeks to determine how lack of female role models in mathematics negatively affect female student's participation and general performance in mathematics and also to show how female mathematics role models in the schools and society as a whole can be used to improve on the participation and performance of girls in mathematics. Research questions were constructed; feminist theories and other theories in education were employed to guide the study. The study is descriptive and utilized 450 form four students and 44mathematics teachers from 158 public secondary schools in the South West Region of Cameroon. Statistical Package for social science (SPSS) version 12 was used to analyze data collected by research instruments. The findings shows that when girls are exposed to a female mathematics role models including the female mathematics teachers in schools, there is a positive impact that shows up in their motivation to study mathematics. To improve on the participation and performance of girls, the Researcher recommends that while school administration and other stakeholders in education work hard on making the pedagogy for secondary school mathematics gender sensitive, there should be heavy emphasis to expose students in secondary schools to female mathematics role models who will motivate their participation in mathematics and consequently improve their performance in the subject. Bisong Clara Bate AshuMbuoben (Ph.D)"Female Mathematics Role Models and Girls Performance in Mathematics in the South West Region of Cameroon: A Gender Issue" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-4 , June 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd15621.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/education/15621/female-mathematics-role-models-and-girls-performance-in-mathematics-in-the-south-west-region-of-cameroon-a-gender-issue/bisong-clara-bate-ashumbuoben-phd