Family Roles and Coping Strategies of Female Students in Ghanaian Public Universities

A survey was conducted to identify the family roles female students in five public universities in Ghana played and the strategies they used to manage the roles while in school, to ensure academic excellence. Questionnaire was used to collect data in order to allow for a wide coverage and generalization. Family roles performed by the students while in school were found to include: running errands; meal provision; fulfilling marital obligations; decision making; laundering; settling disputes; cleaning; supervising domestic work; shopping; helping children to do school assignments; financial support; disciplining children; fetching water; mending clothes; child, elderly and invalid care; and leading religious activities. Coping strategies adopted by the students to manage these family roles and academic work were: creation of new social boundaries; delegation of roles; acting in context; prioritizing activities; postponing responsibilities; pre-planning activities; dovetailing family and academic work. Mature and married students had more family roles to play than non-mature and single students. It is recommended that Ghanaian universities should strategies for retention and academic excellence of female students to make gender equity meaningful. Consequently, the universities have to create a continuum of services that will reduce the time female students spend on non-academic issues to enable them concentrate on their intellectual development.