Women’s Empowerment Initiatives in Brazilian Universities…
439
equality and quality education depends on the interdependent interaction of actions
based on the economic, social and environmental dimensions.
For such ideals to be attained, university extension presents itself as a satisfactory
alternative to create the interaction between higher education institutions and vulnerable communities. This connection bridge between theory and practice promotes
exchange with the environment in which both parts are inserted (Nogueira 2000).
Women represent half of the world’s population and deserve equal access to health,
education, economic participation, earning potential and political decision-making
power (WEF 2016; UN-Women 2019). However, they face obstacles to empower
themselves and reach decision-making positions due to the cultural, economic and
social issues of the society that sees them as more fragile than men. Regardless of the
historical model of the oppression towards women in society, social advancement
and women’s independence are slowly improving through education (Dalouh and
Soriano 2017).
Quality education promotes a sense of protagonism, identity, leadership power
and, consequently, better positions in the labor market for women (Shahtalebi et al.
2011; Yousefy and Baratali 2011). Higher education even has protective effects on
health due to its impacts on the psychological and social processes of individuals
(Chiu et al. 2019). And this transformative power of education, with wide-ranging
effects across society, makes it the reason why it plays a significant role in gender
equality.
3 Methodology
The nature of the research of this study is qualitative. According to Cooper and
Schindler (2011), qualitative research includes a set of interpretative techniques
that seek to understand a certain phenomenon through its description, decoding and
translation.
Regarding the research approach, the case study was applied as it is an empirical investigation that investigates the contemporary phenomenon in depth. In other
words, it investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its context, especially
when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not clearly defined.
It is a comprehensive method that comprises the logic of the paper, data collection
techniques and approaches to data analysis (Yin 2015).
Bhattacherjee (2012) defends that a case study is a method of intensive study
of a phenomenon over time within its natural configuration. It consists of several
methods of collecting secondary data and allows the researcher’s inferences about
the phenomenon, allowing a rich, contextualized and more authentic interpretation.
Also, Creswell (2007) asserts that when the researcher carries out the case study,
he explores in depth a fact, an activity collecting detailed information using a variety
of collection procedures. In this sense, this study chose three cases regarding two
university extension programs in the south of Brazil, the Girls in Science program
supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
439
equality and quality education depends on the interdependent interaction of actions
based on the economic, social and environmental dimensions.
For such ideals to be attained, university extension presents itself as a satisfactory
alternative to create the interaction between higher education institutions and vulnerable communities. This connection bridge between theory and practice promotes
exchange with the environment in which both parts are inserted (Nogueira 2000).
Women represent half of the world’s population and deserve equal access to health,
education, economic participation, earning potential and political decision-making
power (WEF 2016; UN-Women 2019). However, they face obstacles to empower
themselves and reach decision-making positions due to the cultural, economic and
social issues of the society that sees them as more fragile than men. Regardless of the
historical model of the oppression towards women in society, social advancement
and women’s independence are slowly improving through education (Dalouh and
Soriano 2017).
Quality education promotes a sense of protagonism, identity, leadership power
and, consequently, better positions in the labor market for women (Shahtalebi et al.
2011; Yousefy and Baratali 2011). Higher education even has protective effects on
health due to its impacts on the psychological and social processes of individuals
(Chiu et al. 2019). And this transformative power of education, with wide-ranging
effects across society, makes it the reason why it plays a significant role in gender
equality.
3 Methodology
The nature of the research of this study is qualitative. According to Cooper and
Schindler (2011), qualitative research includes a set of interpretative techniques
that seek to understand a certain phenomenon through its description, decoding and
translation.
Regarding the research approach, the case study was applied as it is an empirical investigation that investigates the contemporary phenomenon in depth. In other
words, it investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its context, especially
when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not clearly defined.
It is a comprehensive method that comprises the logic of the paper, data collection
techniques and approaches to data analysis (Yin 2015).
Bhattacherjee (2012) defends that a case study is a method of intensive study
of a phenomenon over time within its natural configuration. It consists of several
methods of collecting secondary data and allows the researcher’s inferences about
the phenomenon, allowing a rich, contextualized and more authentic interpretation.
Also, Creswell (2007) asserts that when the researcher carries out the case study,
he explores in depth a fact, an activity collecting detailed information using a variety
of collection procedures. In this sense, this study chose three cases regarding two
university extension programs in the south of Brazil, the Girls in Science program
supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development