Yamun Nahar

Perspectives of Bangladeshi Women About Post-secondary Education: Women's Post-secondary Education in Bangladesh: a New Conceptual Framework Developed for Identifying and Overcoming the Barriers Yamun Nahar

A large number of studies both qualitative and quantitative tried to explore barriers to women's education in developing countries. Very few studies explored the reasons for women's low participation particularly in post-secondary education. No research has been conducted exploring women's perceptions about the reasons for women's law participation in post-secondary education in Bangladesh. Using a qualitative methodology and the conceptual framework of 'open-system' theory this study explored women's own perspectives about how multifaceted social subsystems in Bangladesh function to support and to inhibit women's participation in post-secondary education. Study revealed that the barriers women encounter in perusing post-secondary education are vast and complex. Women face barriers from multi-level social systems such as family, financial, educational, socio-cultural, political, and governmental subsystems. Within these subsystems various factors exists that hamper women's post- secondary education in Bangladesh. The result showed that since the barriers are multifaceted, positive collaboration of social subsystems in Bangladesh can reduce the difficulties.