Women making choices: an empirical study leading towards a feminist and grounded theoretical understanding of the achievement of women undertaking a personal development course

This is a study of women attending a personal development course entitled Women Making Choices held at an Adult Education Department of a Higher Education Institute. This study is located within a feminist and grounded theoretical framework (Glaser and Strauss, 1976). The study argues that a complexity exists in Women Making Choices because whilst some women were making choices others were constrained in their capacity to make choices. Women Making Choices is therefore a complex paradox because barriers and tensions associated with women's choices inhibit women's actions. The study includes a background literature search which sets a social, political, demographic and educational context. The empirical work is based on a quantitative survey of fifty-eight women including qualitative analysis of interviews of thirty-two of the women. [Continues.]