CHAPTER ONE:

 INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study 

Educationof women has been recognized as a crucial panacea for development of any  nation. In virtually all public interactions, which have been convened to fashion out ways and  means of optimizing the country's educational development, the need to provide women with  equal opportunities of acquiring education including tertiary education has been emphasized.  The continued emphasis of the need for quality, sound education of women is rooted in the  saying that if you educate one woman, you have educated a nation. Government's effort at  ensuring sound, quality education of women is reflected partly by its provision of post-  primary female institutions of learning and its award of special scholarships to female  students of various institutions of learning in the country. This intervention has spurred the  women to pursue education to its zenith stage, the tertiary level. In the tertiary institutions  established across the country, women have been enrolled in different courses of study.  While some of these women are single, others are married. Married women have been  acquiring tertiary education in the country with a plethora of challenges, which significantly  affect theiracademic performance. It has been observed that most of the challenges affecting  the performance of married female students of tertiary institutions have their roots in their  marriage. 

Marriage has been considered as a must-do thing by people in most societies of the  world. This explains why in virtually all societies of the globe, unions called marriage exist  between people of opposite sex. Marriage, which is embedded in the general culture of the  society, involves a rigid, hierarchical structure that centres on the marital roles of the  partners. Generally, while the male marriage partner acts as father, husband, breadwinner, provider, protector, guard, and head, the female marriage partner serves as wife, mother, housekeeper, and child caretaker. However, in modern times, the marital roles of the  marriage partners have undergone changes. It is possible now to for instance find the male  marriage partner acting as house keeper and the female marriage partner acting as  breadwinner.