Marginalised Gender Conflict: The Hurdles Encountered by Novice Women Researchers in African Higher Education

This study explored the barriers encountered by novice women researchers in African higher education. The study was hinged on the critical feminist epistemology that challenges men's monopoly in the definition, production, and control of knowledge in African higher education. The study found that the situation for early career research was bad for male, inexperienced researchers and worse for their female counterparts due to ingrained gender disparities. The factors such as mentoring, networking, access, patriarchy, role conflict, experience, and funding were found to be militating against novice women researchers. The major recommendations from this study were that the already disadvantaged women novice researchers need extra support in terms of funding, mentoring, collaboration, and networking through enforcing strong gender policies and establishing a community for research for women.