Emerging Motivations of Women's Identity Transformations in Higher Education Participants: Women Who Simultaneously Play the Role of Mother, Wife, Employee and Student

Concurrent with modern transformations and modernity experiences, we are faced with various transitions in different aspects of life. Transitions that women with different gender roles experience within the society, which in turn leads to changes in their mental meanings and social roles. Changes in women’s motivations and desires which leads them to reflect on their identity and social and individual transitions in order to achieve their goals and look for new directions in line with their identity ideals. This article examines the function and motivational experience of women from their own perspective and individual mentality logic based on a grounded theory. Through conducting interviews with women who concurrently play the role of mother, wife, employee and student, the study presents an identity typology of women with an emphasis on their motivational processes for entering higher education. The results show that factors like experiencing modernity and changes in valuation systems surrounding women, women’s entrance into labor market, expansion of educational platforms and symbolic social capitals together with social and individual motivations in women’s everyday life has led to a new kind of motivation within them and through such process and in order to reduce tensions coming from their lack of achievements, women have chosen the employment and study strategy in order to reach their goals and in this study the emphasis is on the study strategy. The current analysis has reached four abstract categories in terms of the emerging motivations of women under study. It includes: 1. choosing study as a tool to compete and combat, 2. study as an ambiguous plan, 3. study and employment as self-achievements and 4. study and employment as a path toward improvement and financial independence.