Women and Achievement
Ade Galih N, Ananda Wahidah, Anwar Soleh Purba, Siti Nurbayani K., Ade Gafar Abdullah and Ari
Arifin Danuwijaya
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi No.229, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Women, Background, Achievement, Female Student.
Abstract: There is a paradigm in our society that women are constrained with their backgrounds. It is undeniable that
their backgrounds as marriage, raising children in family, and household duties have restricted women.
However, over time a large number of women can prove that they are able to excel with those backgrounds.
The purpose of this study is to know the influence of women’s backgrounds on achievement. In this study,
the data were collected using a quantitative approach, which emphasizes a simple linear regression analysis.
The respondents were female graduate students (master and doctorate degree) in one public university in
Indonesia. The results of the research show that women’s backgrounds have influenced their achievement up
to 13.8%. The students’ achievement in this study also opposes the dominance of stereotyped masculinity,
which states that intellectual women are impossible.
1 INTRODUCTION
Women are always interpreted to the feminine who
limit it in changing the status of his life (Illich, 1982).
That is because feminine studies always consider the
dominant narratives of women within the scope of
their leadership (Notko and Sevón, 2002). Through a
case, it is possible to investigate how education for
women raised feminist awareness and encouraged the
women's movement and a series of social. In
accordance with the concept of reform that demands
high-skilled women, women are regarded as potential
scholars to be leaders in the public sectors (Tolar,
2012). The period of adolescence and early adulthood
is a critical period for every gifted young woman
about her role as a woman in education, such as a
graduate student of master and doctorate degrees
(Noble and Smyth, 1995). Thus, higher education the
women possess will equip women to lead happier life
(Hyde and Kling, 2001).
As explained by Zhu (2013), the level of
education to the graduate level will change the pattern
of awareness of the feminism that can encourage
other women to better achievement. This is because,
through higher education, women will have increased
opportunities for more success. As Wilinska (2016)
remarks, most women who have completed at the
graduate level will demonstrate an active role in
achievement. Therefore, it is certainly necessary to
encourage the next generation in continuing studies to
graduate degree and will have an impact on her
intellectual skills (Eccles, 1987).
Gender stereotypes have an influence in various
aspects of life that women are more likely to be
subordinate (Borg, 2014). The continuing inequality
is due to a vicious cycle in which the stereotypical
views of women produce little chance for progress
(Coate and Howson, 2016).
Various women's issues raised feminism. The first
wave of feminists opposed patriarchal dominance
(Jones et al., 2016). Banks says criticism of the
subordination of traditional women such as law,
customs and religion, men and women will give
women more control over their lives (Weiner, 2008),
which opposes the patriarchal mode as Walby thinks
about the household structure. The housewife is the
production class, while the husbands are the takeover
class (Jones et al., 2016). This is a new identity that
re-shows their position in society in the
transformation of social structures (Findlow, 2013).
The world of education is a concern for gender
observers. Women's enrolment rates are significantly
lower than men are, women tend to concentrate in
'feminine' disciplines and provide small rewards in
wage, authority, and social prestige (Stromquist,
2006). The dominance of stereotypical masculinity
among academics has shown that 'intellectual women'
are 'impossibilities' (Coate and Howson, 2016). As
540
N., A., Wahidah, A., Purba, A., K., S., Abdullah, A. and Danuwijaya, A.
Women and Achievement.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 2, pages 540-543
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

the times progressed, the United States experienced a
dramatic increase in the number of female students,
and women then showed the greatest progress in the
American 'caste' (Horton and Hunt, 1984). Education
has long been a key to the equitable feminist goals of
citizenship in terms of economic, legal, political and
cultural participation (Findlow, 2013).
The view of women continues to grow, such as the
post-structural feminism in which the re-examination
of women's categories in feminist analysis (Jones et
al., 2016, p.31). Judith Butler asserts that feminism
will degenerate into a narrow perspective if it denies
the important difference of women (Jones et al., 2016,
p.318). The notion of meaning demands discontinuity
attention to plurality, diversity and difference, not on
equality (Kenway et al., 1994). Just as in the concept
of a career. Re-conceptualizing the concept of career
does not always help us to understand the complexity
of women's lives (Deem, 1996). They make choices
based on situations in which they are in themselves,
such as women, wives, mothers and workers (Raggl
and Troman, 2008). Feminist perspectives consider
women as the ultimate reference, yet vary greatly in
the roles they provide to State, family, and school
systems in the process of change to achieve women's
equality (Stromquist, 2006).
Students who continue their education to the
graduate level will change the pattern of awareness of
her feminism that can encourage herself and others to
better achievement (Zhu, 2013). It is seen because
married women who continue their studies in master
and doctorate graduate level expressed greater
achievement in motivation (Glowacki-Dudka et al.,
2016). Thus, it relates to this research which discusses
how the influence of student background in
continuing education level to their achievement. In
addition, this study will also elevate the status of
female students who influence their achievement in
the field of graduate level academy. So the
researchers will limit the problem on the student's
background to her achievements.
2 METHODS
This research used a quantitative research involving
female graduate students in one public university in
Indonesia. The population of this study were master
and doctorate (postgraduate) students who are
married with the number of 250 female students. The
sample of the study were 34 female students, which
were selected using a purposive sampling technique.
The reason for using purposive sampling because this
study has the criteria of students with a married
background, housewives, although they have jobs but
not included into the formal work.
Figure 1: The model of educational level, student’s
backgrounds, and achievement.
The data in this study were collected using a
closed questionnaire. The questionnaire in this study
consisted of 26 questions with two variables, namely
the independent variables concerning the educational
background the female students in continuing
education, and the dependent variable on the female
student's achievement postgraduate studies. The
responses in the questionnaire were submitted using
Likert scale then the values of ordinal were changed
to interval by using MSI which aims to determine
whether there is an influence from the background of
postgraduate students continuing education to the
achievements obtained.
Data analysis conducted in this research was a
simple linear regression analysis. There were two
stages: simple linear regression to know whether
there is influence of the female student background
variable to their achievement variable, and analysis of
coefficient of determination (R square) to know how
big contribution influence of background variable of
the female student of graduate with variable of
student achievement. The hypothesis proposed in this
study consists of two hypotheses namely:
H0 = there was no significant effect of the female
graduate student's background on achievement.
H1 = There is a significant effect of female graduate
student's influence on achievement.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Results
The results of data analysis in this study show that Y
= 34.735 + 0.089X which implies that the constant
34.735 states that if there is no value of the variable x
(student background) then the value of variable y
(achievement) of 34.735. If the coefficient of
regression x amounted to 0.089, it states that each
addition 1 value on the variable x (student
background), then the value of variable y
Women and Achievement
541

(achievement) will increase 0.089. The calculation of
this research can be seen in Table 1 below.
Table 1: SPSS Calculation Results.
Variables R Square Significance
Background of
Graduate the female
students and
Achievement
.138 .001
b
Based on the calculation, it is shown that the
contribution of influence from the background of
graduate student on achievement was 13.8%. Thus,
H1 hypothesis is accepted. While the remaining
86.2% is the result of other variables that are not
researched and included in this study. The 13.8% gain
can also be seen from one of the cumulative
achievement index factors that female graduate
student’s have achieved. The result of percentage of
cumulative achievement index of female graduate
student’s can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 2: Students’ grade point of average.
It can be seen that student achievement is seen
from the GPA using a scale of 4. It is found that
students obtaining 3.50 in GPA was almost 30%
female students from 34 respondents that we studied,
then with a GPA score between 3.01 to 3.49 scored
48% of female students. No female student earned
GPA below 3.00. However, 22% of female students
had not obtained the results of GPA. The
achievements by the students were due to their having
free time to do the task. This is supported by 64.8%
of respondents who stated that their spare time is
consumed to do the task, then 5.8% of respondents
chose to be neutral, and the remaining 29.4% stated
that their time is not at all consumed by the task.
3.2 Discussion
This study shows that family, free time, and self-
motivated are supportive factors for women to get
good achievement (Khattab and Modood, 2018). The
background of female students who have the status as
housewives, such as supporting husband and children
and having more free time to study is an important
aspect in supporting the achievement of academic
achievement. Studies have also repeatedly found that
performance in terms of women's academic
achievement has begun to surge more than men
(Khattab and Modood, 2018). Achievement in the
GPA above 3.00 - 4.00 on the female students in this
study also opposes the dominance of stereotypical
masculinity which states that the intellectual woman
is an impossibility (Coate and Howson, 2016).
Previous studies also suggest that women tend to
concentrate in feminine disciplines and women are
more likely to earn achievement (Stromquist, 2006).
The results also show the reasons for the female
students to continue their education and achieve a
good achievement in order to be future models for her
children and grandchildren. The achievement as
shown in GPA obtained by this study has also
provided a new identity for female students who can
strengthen evidence of women's position in society
(Findlow, 2013). High achievements they obtain now
also become role models for families, especially their
children to follow in the footsteps of the mother.
Apart from the GPA itself, the female student
respondents also felt that the pre-requisites, such as
obtaining good results in English test and scientific
work were also showing their achievements.
However, some female college students say that in
achieving high GPA in particular makes them
sometimes feel overwhelmed and they realize there is
a reduction in their role as a mother because of the
free time they have is used to study to get higher GPA.
However, these students still insist that it is important
to be able to manage the time between task and
family. It is women's background that can influence
their achievements, it affects the achievement at
13.8%.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the above results, it can be concluded that
there is a background influence of female
postgraduate students on their achievements.
Although the backgrounds of the female students with
the criteria of being a housewife has an influence on
the achievement, it should be taken into consideration
that the achievement of female students, especially
the women, must not be influenced by their
backgrounds. Many factors out there can also
influence the female students especially with the
criteria of housewife status. However, it is necessary
to understand the background of female students is
also seen from the amount of time used to complete
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
542

the task. Having enough free time to make women
students can freely do the task to get better
performance and satisfactory results.
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