The Bangladeshi Perspective: The Case of Married Academic Women Pursuing Foreign Degrees

Since there is a dearth of research on Bangladeshi married academic women's participation in higher studies abroad, this study endeavours to explore their motives and experiences in pursuing foreign degrees, the barriers encountered, and their strategies for overcoming them. This case study (Yin, 1994) investigates the phenomenon of study abroad through the narrative accounts of five married academic women from Bangladesh at different stages of study abroad (pre-departure and planning; in progress; and completed). Within the framework of the discursive construction of identity (e.g., Ivanic, 1998; Lakoff, 1973; Tannen 1994), accounts of four participants were elicited through semi-structured interviews. The study suggests that academic women's participation in a foreign degree program depends to a great extent on how they construct the meaning of identity-shaping discourses in their "private" and "public" lives.