| Abstract: | Women in the world have a huge contribution for the economic,
political and social development of nations. In Ethiopian context, the
participation of women in teaching, especially in higher education has been
growing from time to time. However, information about their working
condition is not well studied. Cognizant of this gap, this study attempted to
explore the working conditions of new graduates of female instructors by
taking Bahir Dar University as a case in point. To meet the objective of the
study, qualitative method with the case study design was used. All of the
participants were selected purposively. The data sources were primary data.
Semi-structured interview, key informant interview and FGDs were also used
as tool for collecting primary data. The data collected were analyzed using
thematic analysis methods. The findings from the study revealed that new
graduate female instructors face challenges. The challenges include: lack of
facilities, sexual harassment, and negative attitudes of academic staffs, lack
of mentoring and lack of orientation. On the contrary, new graduate female
instructors enjoy many opportunities such as, further education, short term
training, and affirmative action. Furthermore, the study found that new
graduate female Instructors use different strategies to deal with their
problems. Keeping silent, student and peer evaluation, share office,
withholding information about their profession. The study has concluded
that new graduate female Instructors at the University have faced several
challenges and with many opportunities. Based on the conclusion,
recommendations were forwarded in line with the major finding of the study |
