Investigating female learners’ attitude and challenges towards mathematics at the department of mathematics, Injibara college of teachers’ education, Injibara, Ethiopia

Abstract The main purpose of this research was to investigate the current status of female students’ attitude and challenges towards mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, Injibara College of Teachers’ Education (henceforth, Injibara CTE). The mixed methods approach with concurrent embedded strategy and descriptive survey design were used. A questionnaire survey was administered to 85 female mathematics department students using a comprehensive sampling technique. Moreover, face-to-face interviews were administered to the mathematics department head and the college deans purposively to gather pertinent data about the challenges female students face when learning mathematics. Both quantitative (mean, standard deviation, t-test, and post hoc test) and qualitative (thematic analysis and narration) data analysis techniques were employed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for internal consistency reliability were calculated and reported to ensure the instrument validity. The main findings of this study were that female students in the department of mathematics had positive attitude toward mathematics on an overall and component-by-component basis (affective, cognitive, and behavioral). Moreover, they had shown a positive attitude across pre-service and in-service training programs. There was a statistically significant difference in attitude between the two programs in favor of the pre-service program. The challenges female students faced with learning mathematics were student-related, teacher-related, peer-related, material resource-related, and administrative-related. Recommendations include: mathematics teachers should encourage female students and use appropriate teaching methods, instructional media, and assessment techniques; college administration should provide material resources needed for mathematics learning; and additional research shall be conducted in this area to ensure validity and reliability.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
A favorable attitude is the fundamental factor which positively influences students' learning of and achievement in mathematics.As a result, educators are now focusing on assessing students' attitude towards mathematics.This study mainly attempted to investigate the female students' attitude toward mathematics at Injibara CTE, Ethiopia, and it revealed that they have an overall positive attitude towards mathematics.This research result, therefore, has a great breakthrough for the thinking mathematics is male domain public had in the past, which now has been affirmed that female students can learn and succeed better in the same way male students do.Thus, it is strongly suggested that female students must be encouraged to learn; mathematics teachers' should be equipped with sufficient pedagogical and content knowledge of mathematics and utilize material resources properly.It is through these and other means that female students can perform better and serve themselves and their public.

Introduction
Mathematics is a way of life since it enables us to organize experiences and use them in life.Furthermore, it helps to prepare the student to live a life that is beneficial to him or her and society; it is a means of communication through the use of various symbols, numbers, and operations; it shapes the mind; and it prepares the student for various fields of study.Besides, mathematics enables students to think logically, creatively, and independently.As a result, all students should be given the opportunity and necessary support to learn mathematics in depth and with understanding (Kane & Mertz, 2012).
For Lipnevich et al. (2011), mathematical ability is crucial for the economic success of societies.It is also important for the scientific and technological development of countries (Enu et al., 2015).More mathematics lessons are likely to be taught in schools and colleges throughout the world than any other subject (Orton et al., 2004).
Attitude towards mathematics plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning processes of mathematics.Teaching method, support of the school, family and students' attitude towards school affect attitudes towards mathematics.A positive attitude towards mathematics leads students towards success in the subject (Farooq & Shah, 2008).Attempt to improve attitude towards mathematics at lower level provides base for higher studies in mathematics.Positive attitude towards mathematics is necessary condition for better mathematics achievement (Anokye-Poku & Ampadu, 2020;Firew, 2014).
Students' attitude toward mathematics is a major factor that might influence their performance in mathematics.Due to this, several studies have been conducted in different countries in order to find out the students' attitude towards mathematics (Tahar et al., 2010).Students' learning of and performance in mathematics is affected by a number of factors, including their attitude towards the subject, teachers' instructional practices, and the school environment (Mazana et al., 2019).
The negative attitude towards mathematics seems to be a source of challenge.When students have a negative attitude towards mathematics, such as perceiving it as difficult and very confusing to learn, they will quickly lose interest and motivation to learn the course, and hence they don't perform well in mathematics (Rameli & Kosnin, 2016).
There has been a long-held belief about the nature and extent of gender-related differences in mathematics, with men assumed to be better at it than women (Foley, 2016).Early findings showed that girls tend to have more negative attitudes towards mathematics than boys do, and those attitudes tend to become more negative as students move from elementary to secondary school or as grade levels advance (Zan & DiMartino, 2007).
There is a stereotyped belief in mathematics that mathematics is male-dominated (Fennema & Sherman, 1977, 1978, as cited in Abaineh, 2012).According to this study, nature tends to favor male dominance over the feminine gender in mathematics.Environmental provision for male students makes them fit and able to cope with tasks requiring high intellectual challenges and computation.The phenomenon is further confounded in Africa, where sex stereotyping is so pervasive that from birth, society fixes gender roles and conditions males to play and act within the confines of intellectually and physically more challenging tasks like construction, football, agriculture, fishing, and the like.Female students in the school tend to choose subjects like biology, whereas chemistry, physics, and mathematics are male-dominated fields.
Students' attitude towards mathematics is given various definitions in the literature.And hence, Kibrislioglu (2015) defined attitude towards mathematics as liking or disliking the subject; a tendency to engage in or avoid mathematical activities; a belief that one is good at or bad at mathematics; and a belief that mathematics is useful or useless.Tahar et al. (2010) define attitude as a positive or negative emotional disposition towards mathematics.Several studies have demonstrated that attitudes toward mathematics are directly and significantly associated with students' performance.In this regard, therefore, the study conducted by Mensah et al. (2013) found a significant positive correlation between students' attitude and performance.Nicolaidou and Philippou (2003) revealed in their study that attitude and achievement in mathematics are significantly related.Similarly, there is a strong positive correlation between students' attitude towards mathematics and their mathematics achievement (Firew, 2014;Gallagher & Kaufman, 2012).
Attitude refers to the learned tendency of a person to respond positively or negatively towards an object, situation, concept, or person.It is also regarded as a belief held by individuals that reflects their opinions and feelings and can sometimes manifest in behavior (Joseph, 2013).According to Syyeda (2016), attitude is multidimensional.It takes into account three components: affect, cognition, and behavior.Affect is composed of emotions, which the feelings are of enjoyment or pleasure in learning the subject or seeing it as boring or difficult.Cognitive ability represents students' perceived usefulness of mathematics, whereas behavioral ability is associated with students' motivation to learn mathematics, as demonstrated by actions, commitment, and performance.
The ABC model is one of the most commonly used attitude models.This model suggests that attitude has three elements, such as affect, behavior, and cognition.Affect describes how a person feels about an attitude object.Behavior denotes the individual's intention towards an attitude object.Cognitive beliefs are those held by a person regarding an attitude object (Jain, 2014).
Students' attitude towards mathematics is directly and significantly influenced by factors such as parental influences, teacher affective support, and classroom instruction (Davadas & Lay, 2017).Davadas and Lay, in their studies, added that moderately predicting multifaceted factors influencing students' attitude towards mathematics include students' socio-economic status, gender, and past achievements.The research study conducted by Abaineh (2012) revealed the factors that significantly influence students' learning of mathematics, which comprised of teacher competency in mathematics education, school contexts and facilities, and students' self-directed learning and motivation.
Factors that can influence mathematics performance are demonstrated by Kupari and Nissinen (2013), who argue that poor performance in mathematics is due to factors related to students, teachers, and schools.Among the students' factors, attitude is regarded by many researchers as a key contributor to higher or lower performance in mathematics (Mohamed & Waheed, 2011;Ngussa & Mbuti, 2017).A negative attitude hinders effective learning and consequently affects the learning outcome or performance (Joseph, 2013).Awol (2020) described that students' attitude towards mathematics has determined their achievement directly, and the perspectives of students and their achievements are interdependent.These studies indicated that attitude is a fundamental factor which cannot be ignored.
Factors influencing students' attitude towards mathematics and their mathematics performance are teacher-student interaction in the classroom, teacher qualification and his/her teaching, teacher's and student's attitude towards mathematics, students' previous knowledge and experience, family background, and teaching-learning resources (Mulala, 2015).Moreover, the research conducted by Enu et al. (2015) revealed the factors contributing to students' performance in mathematics to be the socioeconomic status of the parents, teacher quality and performance, availability of teaching resources, motivation on the part of both teacher and student, and the student's attitude towards mathematics.Factors contributing to poor performance in mathematics include lack of practice, deficiency in the language of instruction, societal influence, comprehensive content of the subject, lack of background on the course, development of the examination in mathematics, absence of a tutorial, the need for more recreation, and lack of confidence (Awol, 2020).
The processes of learning mathematics are immensely complex, and we know very little about them.This is particularly problematic in tertiary mathematics education, which has received far less research than primary and secondary mathematics education (Lithner, 2011).
The true nature of the relationship between gender and mathematics is far more complicated than most people realize.As several authors have noted, differences in mathematics performance are found in relatively few aspects, and when they are found, the causes are varied and frequently elusive.This common perception is a poor reflection of reality, and it is likely to discourage girls from studying mathematics, limiting women's opportunities in mathematics and related fields (Gallagher & Kaufman, 2012).
The basic questions that guided this study were: 1) What is the current status of female students' attitude towards mathematics at the department of mathematics, Injibara CTE? 2) Does female students' attitude towards mathematics differ significantly with regard to types of training programs (pre-service and in-service) and age?, and 3) What challenges do female students of the department of mathematics at Injibara CTE face in learning mathematics?

Conceptual framework of mathematics attitude
According to Zan and DiMartino (2007), a large portion of studies about attitude do not provide a clear definition of the construct itself, which can be suitable for all situations.The three definitions (simple definition, multidimensional definition, and bidimensional definition) given to attitude towards mathematics, as cited in Zan and DiMartino (2007), are the following: A simple definition of attitude describes it as the positive or negative degree of affect or emotional disposition toward mathematics, and according to a bi-dimensional definition, attitude toward mathematics is the pattern of beliefs and emotions associated with mathematics.
A multidimensional definition divides mathematical attitude into three components such as affective, behavioral (conative), and cognitive.This multidimensional definition is in line with the ABC (affective-behavioral-cognitive) Model, the Tripartite Model, and the 3D (Three-dimensional) Model with the PPP (positive-positive-positive) triode suggested by Jain (2014) and the CAC Model proposed by Schiffman and Kanuk (2007).And hence, all these models were employed in this research since they gauge the overall attitude in terms of three components (cognitive, affective, and behavioral).In this view, an individual's attitude toward mathematics is defined in a more complex way by the emotions that he or she associates with mathematics (a positive or negative value), by the individual's beliefs towards mathematics, and by how he or she behaves toward mathematics (Zan & DiMartino, 2007) According to Joseph (2013), attitude was defined as the learned tendency of a person to respond positively or negatively towards an object, situation, concept, or person.It is also regarded as a belief held by individuals that reflects their opinions and feelings and can sometimes manifest in behavior.Furthermore, Syyeda (2016) defined attitude as a multidimensional concept comprised of three components or aspects, namely affect, cognition, and behavior.As a result, a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree) with 26 statements classified into three components (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) was used to measure a comprehensive or overall attitude towards mathematics, and thus a very broad concept (attitude) can be assessed through its three measurable components so far mentioned.
And hence, the definition of attitude that has been employed in this research is a multidimensional one that consists of three components for its comprehensive evaluation of affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects.As a result, the ABC, CAC, and Tripartite models of mathematics attitude were used in this study to assess female students' attitudes toward mathematics at the Department of Mathematics of Injibara CTE because they use a multidimensional definition of attitude.

Research approach
The main purpose of this research was to examine the current status or state of the female students' attitude towards mathematics and the challenges they face to learn mathematics at the mathematics department in Injibara CTE, Amhara Region, Injibara, Ethiopia.In realizing its objectives, therefore, the study used an appropriate research paradigm, research methods approach, and research design.

Research paradigm
The research paradigm or worldview considered in this research was pragmatism.According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), pragmatism as a philosophical worldview is problem-centered, pluralistic, and practice-oriented in the actual world.It also emerges from the effects of actions.Pluralistic refers to pragmatism using a variety of data gathering and analysis techniques; the pragmatism paradigm makes use of a mixed methods approach to gain a deeper understanding of a research subject.Additionally, according to Creswell and Creswell (2018), the pragmatic philosophical lens starts with a thorough survey in order to extrapolate the sample's findings to the entire community.

Research method
To serve the prime purpose of this research, a mixed-methods approach (combined use of quantitative and qualitative data) was applied.By Creswell and Creswell (2018), mixed methods approach is an approach which involves the collection and mixing or integration of both quantitative and qualitative data in a research study.Combining two methods together, according to Creswell and Creswell (2018) and Poth and Munce (2020), provides rich insights into the research phenomena that cannot be fully understood by using either method alone.And hence, mixed methods approach integrates and synergizes multiple data which can help to study complex problems.
The strategy of the mixed methods approach employed in this research was concurrent embedded (nested).According to Terrell (2012), and Creswell and Creswell (2018), an unequal emphasis was placed during the use of the concurrent nested (embedded) strategy, and the concurrent nested (embedded) strategy helps to gain a broader perspective than could be obtained from using only the predominant data collection method.In this research, the quantitative method was emphasized (priori) and the qualitative method was supportive (nested), and hence, unequal emphasis was placed on this research method.

Research design
The research design used in this study was a descriptive survey, which consisted of both openended and closed-ended questions.According to McNeill and Chapman (2005), descriptive survey design provides a numerical description of that population's attitude, beliefs, or trends towards certain attitude object and it is a quick and efficient way to collect a lot of data usually numerical data from a lot of people.Kothari (2004) reported that descriptive survey design has the ability to describe the characteristics of a specific situation, person, or group as they naturally occur.

Population, sample and sampling techniques
The population from which this research study derived its main data was the mathematics department of the Injibara CTE, Injibara, Ethiopia.The major sources of this study were all female students of the mathematics department at Injibara CTE.Moreover, the head of the mathematics department and the deans of Injibara CTE were also informants.
All female students of the mathematics department of the Injibara CTE were taken using the comprehensive sampling technique, or total sampling frame.Shannon and Bradshaw (2002) described that if the entire population were taken, the findings would be representative of the population.For Shannon and Bradshaw, taking the entire population (comprehensive sampling) as a sample provides everyone with an opportunity to participate, accuracy concerns are reduced, and it becomes easier to administer since everyone receives a survey.Besides, the mathematics department head and the deans of Injibara CTE were taken purposefully for a face-to-face interview to get pertinent data about the challenges female students in the department of mathematics at Injibara CTE face in learning mathematics.

Data collection instruments
The data collection instruments employed to obtain suitable information about female students' attitude towards mathematics in the department of mathematics at Injibara CTE were survey questionnaires with both closed-ended (to measure attitude) and open-ended questions (to identify challenges female students face to learning mathematics).Moreover, a face-to-face interview was administered to the mathematics department head and the dean administration of the college about female students' challenges with regard to learning mathematics.
Attitude measurement items for this study were adapted from a modified Fennema-Sherman mathematics scale by Garriott et al. (2014) and the Dartmouth Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in STEM Education at the University of Massachusetts (2011).The total number of attitude items used was 26, of which 17 and 9 were positively and negatively worded, respectively, and the scoring for each negative item was reversed.By identifying the respondents who don't reply significantly, the use of a combination of positively and negatively phrased items in research aids in the control of acquiescence bias at the level of research design (Barnette, 2000).A fivepoint Likert scale, a type of psychometric response scale in which the respondents specify their level of agreement to a given attitude measurement item, was employed with five alternative points with their respective numerical values in brackets, such as strongly agree (5), agree (4), neither agree nor disagree (3), disagree (2), and strongly disagree (1).The Likert Scale is useful in social science and attitude research (Croasmun & Ostrom, 2011), and it is by far the most popular attitude measurement scale due to its simplicity and use of fewer statistical assumptions (Balasubramanian, 2012).

Data analysis techniques
In this study, mixed (both quantitative and qualitative) data analysis techniques were used.Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (one-sample t-test, independent samples t-test, and post-hoc test) were used for analyzing the quantitative data gathered through closed-ended questions of a survey questionnaire.Thematic analysis and narration were employed for analyzing the qualitative data obtained through the use of open-ended questions in a questionnaire and face-to-face interview.

Instrument validity and reliability
Internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were calculated and reported for both the pilot test and the main study and became 0.792 and 0.814, respectively, and hence they are in an acceptable range, which is above the commonly accepted threshold value of 0.70.Cronbach's alpha coefficient, according to Zakariya (2022), is a well-accepted estimate of scale reliability among researchers in various fields of study, including education.

Ethical consideration
All respondents were well informed about the purpose of the study, and their voluntary participation in both a questionnaire survey (female students) and face-to-face interview (department head and college deans) was ensured.There was no discrimination with regard to the participants' ethnic identity, disability, socioeconomic status, or other differences.Questionnaires that were not properly filled out were discarded.Strict confidentiality was maintained, and the data obtained were used only for research purposes with the consent of the respondents.

Results and interpretation
The results and interpretation of both quantitative and qualitative data were presented under this section.
A one-sample t-test result of female students' attitude across its three components, shown in Table 1, revealed that all components have positive values and there is a statistically significant difference between the expected mean (3.00) and the calculated mean, t (84) = 25.86,p < .001for cognitive, t (84) = 15.31,p < .001for affective and t (84) = 17.87, p < .001for behavioral showing that the female students have favorable attitude towards mathematics for all three components.This result implies that female students had a favorable attitude in each of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitude.The observed standardized effect sizes of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitude are 2.8, 1.66, and 1.94, respectively, which clearly indicates that the magnitude of the difference between expected and calculated mean attitude for each component is large enough since each value is greater than 0.8 by the new effect size rule of thumb given by Sawilowsky (2009).
The calculated mean (4.0783) and the expected mean (3.00), as the one-sample t-test in Table 2 showed, were found to have a statistically significant difference, t (84) = 23.97,p < .001.And hence, female students had shown a positive overall attitude towards mathematics with an observed standardized effect size of 2.60 which is large.Moreover, the overall attitude of female students (4.0783) towards mathematics was high since the value lies in the category of 3.67 to 5.00 set based on the range of scores that is designated as high (Mohamed & Waheed, 2011).As independent samples t-test results depicted in Table 3, the female students' cognitive component of attitude didn't reveal a statistically significant difference between the pre-service and in-service (summer) programs, t (83) = 0.91, p > .05.However, for the affective and behavioral components of attitude, female students' perceptions at the pre-service and in-service training programs were found to have a statistically significant difference, t (83) = 3.36, and p = .001and t (83) = 2.40, p = .018respectively.The effect size had become 0.8 (large) for affective component and 0.57 (medium) for the behavioral component.
The average age of female pre-service (prospective mathematics teachers) was 21, while that of in-service or summer program trainees was 29, as indicated in Table 4.The female students' attitude towards mathematicsregarding the training program (pre-service and in-service) had shown a statistically significant difference in terms of the type of training, t (83) = 3.04, p = .003in favor of pre-service students with an observed standardized effect size of 0.72, which is medium.
Although the quantitative data analysis showed that female students have a positive overall attitude towards mathematics, thematic analysis of supplementary data obtained from female students of the mathematics department through open-ended questions in a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview with the department head and dean administration of the Injibara CTE revealed five problems with learning mathematics, namely student-related, teacher-related, peerrelated, material resource-related, and college administration-related problems, which are explained in depth under the "Discussion" section.

Quantitative data
The prime purpose of this research was to investigate the current status of the female students' attitude towards mathematics and the challenges they face in learning it.To this end, one-sample t-test results for female students' attitude with regard to attitude components (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) in Table 1 and the overall female students' attitude towards mathematics in Table 2 revealed that female students of the mathematics department of Injibara CTE were found to have a positive or favorable attitude towards mathematics.The overall attitude as well as the attitude by components of female students towards mathematics, according to the category set based on the range of scores given by Jamil ( 2001), cited in Mohamed and Waheed (2011), were designated as high for the 3.67-5.00value measure.This result is in agreement with the findings of Kosgey et al. (2015) and Anokye-Poku and Ampadu (2020), which state that girls have a positive attitude towards mathematics and the learning of mathematics.
The result in Table 1 agreed with the ABC (affective-behavioral-cognitive) model, the CAC (cognitive-affective-conative) model, and the tripartite model of attitude suggested by Jain (2014) in that in each model the overall attitude was measured in terms of these three components, and all of them were pointing in the same direction.Moreover, the result was in accordance with the PPP (Positive-Positive-Positive) triode presented by Jain (2014) in that the combination occurs when all three components (affective, cognitive, and behavioral) were positive, signifying that the female students of the mathematics department at Injibara CTE have an overall positive attitude towards an attitude object, which is mathematics in this particular case.The effect sizes for the cognitive (d = 2.8), affective (d = 1.66), and behavioral (d = 1.94) components of attitude are huge, very large, and very large, respectively, by the new effect size rule of thumb given by  Sawilowsky (2009).The revised rule of thumb for effect size (d) is d (0.1) = very small, d (0.2) = small, d (0.5) = medium, d (0.8) = large, d (1.2) = very large, and d (2.0) = huge.And also, these values should be expanded to include minimum and maximum effect sizes as well as appropriate values between the two end points (Sawilowsky, 2009).
According to Anjum (2015), the findings of this study on female students' attitudes toward mathematics looked to be consistent with the idea that female students were found to be strongly opposed to the stereotype that mathematics is not their subject.This finding agreed with Mahanta (2012) and Mahapatra and Sahoo (2022), who reported that most of the girls have a positive overall attitude towards mathematics.In his study, Awol (2020) discovered that students, regardless of gender differences, have an almost positive attitude toward mathematics.
Pre-service and in-service program female trainees have favorable component wise and overall attitude towards mathematics, and there was statistically significant difference between pre-service and in-service program trainees (Table 3) for both the affective and behavioral components of attitude in favor of pre-service program.However, a statistically significant difference was not observed between these two programs (pre-service and in-service) for cognitive component may be due to planned tutorial support given to pre-service program trainees which might have positively affected their cognition, affect and behavior towards mathematics.Absence of scheduled tutorial support to inservice program trainees might have negatively influenced their affect and behavior but their teaching experience might have positive impact for their better knowledge, understanding and perceived importance in mathematics in favor of pre-service trainees.This might be due to the time duration factor for training in that one semester for pre-service training currently is four months whereas it is less than two months for the in-service (summer) training program.Besides, pre-service trainees had a scheduled tutorial and scheduled support of two hours per week, whereas there was no such support given to in-service program trainees.Such support might have possibly affected female students' perceived importance of mathematics.This result matches with the findings of Reynolds and Walberg (1992), which described that [sufficient time allotment] and appropriate use of the instructional time have an effect on students' attitude and their mathematics achievement.
As depicted in Table 4, female students of both pre-service (prospective math teachers who are not currently teachers) and in-service or summer (currently engaged in teaching) training programs, with an average age of 21 and 29 years, respectively, were found to have a positive attitude towards mathematics.The difference in attitudes of female students in pre-service and in-service training programs, on the other hand, was found to be statistically significant using an independent samples t-test measure with a medium post hoc test value for the observed standardized effect size.This result was supported by the research findings of Dowker et al. (2012), which claimed that students show a relatively positive attitude towards mathematics, but their attitude tends to be negative or less positive as they grow older; and also agreed with the research findings by Yildiz et al. (2020) emphasized the pre-service training program apart from others, describing that female pre-service mathematics students were found to have a positive attitude towards mathematics.
Moreover, the findings of this study were in agreement with the results of the study by Kunwar (2020) revealed that the students' attitude towards mathematics is positive.However, the effects of students' attitudes towards mathematics in terms of demographic variables such as age, gender, and others were found to be low.Additionally, the attitude of students at different age level showed a greater decline in attitude as the students' grade level increased, which consequently results in an increase in age, making the results of this research worth coinciding with these research findings.The research finding by Syyeda (2016), in line with this research result, disclosed that age, socio-economic status, and language can influence attitude towards mathematics.Besides, a study by Mahapatra and Sahoo (2022) also showed that girls' attitude towards mathematics declines with age.The results of this study showed that girls initially have more positive attitudes towards mathematics, but as they progress through school they become more negative.

Qualitative data
According to the quantitative data analysis, female students had an overall positive attitude toward mathematics.However, thematic analysis of supplementary data obtained from female students of mathematics department students via open-ended questions in a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview with the department head and dean administration of the Injibara CTE revealed five problems with mathematics learning.These problems are student-related (negative perception, lack of time management skill, poor mathematics background), teacher-related (perception that mathematics is a difficult subject, use of inappropriate teaching methods and assessment techniques, failure to use instructional media, poor time management), peer-related (negative perception, lack of cooperation and support), material resource-related (lack or insufficiency of learning materials necessary), and college administration-related (lack of awareness creation activities and supportive environment, large class size), and are explained and discussed in detail below.

Self-related (student-related) problems
The student-related problems that female students of the mathematics department face towards learning mathematics include: they had not studied mathematics by planning and didn't use time properly; there was no active participation; there was a lack of attention during the lesson; they lacked interest in learning mathematics and didn't have good mathematics background at lower grade levels; they thought that mathematics is a difficult subject to learn, particularly for females; there was absenteeism during mathematics class; all members were not doing the given group assignment; and unhealthy interaction between teacher and student might sometimes occur.

Teacher-related problems
The teacher-related challenges that the respondents revealed encompassed the following: Mathematics teachers don't use an appropriate teaching method.In this regard, one respondent stated: "Some, but not all, teachers must change their teaching approach and assessment technique otherwise our [students'] achievements in mathematics is at risk."Furthermore, the majority of mathematics teachers fail to use the allotted time effectively, do not ask questions during the lesson, didn't use instructional media other than the course module and general purpose media, didn't provide tutorial support to female students, lacked interest in teaching mathematics, employed poor learning assessment approaches, and some teachers believed that math is a difficult subject to learn, particularly for female students.

Peer-related problems
Friend-or peer-related challenges that female students faced towards learning mathematics, as per the views of the respondents, included a lack of support and cooperation, that is, not doing or studying mathematics with colleagues, and a negative perception of mathematics as a subject.

Material resource-related problems
Those problems related to the availability of material resources necessary to learning mathematics comprised the following: Mathematics course modules were not in sufficient numbers; there is a lack of reference materials written in the medium of instruction, particularly in Amharic and Awgni, and there was no mathematics dictionary.

College administration-related problems
The college administration-related problems, which primarily included the mathematics department head and the dean administration, pinpointed the following: There was no raising of awareness about the mathematics department in general or learning mathematics in particular; no special support was provided to female mathematics department students; and large class sizes were especially problematic for students in the extension program.
The findings of this study were consistent with the findings of Rameli and Kosnin (2016), who asserted that challenges in mathematics learning include self-factors or student-related factors (negative perception), teacher factors (behaviors, practices, and characteristics), peer factors (lack of cooperation and support), and other factors (nature of mathematics and assessment pressure).Furthermore, Michael (2015) and Mazana et al. (2019) revealed that poor teaching (teachers' instructional practices), inadequate self-practice, and student motivation and attitude towards the subject and school environment are factors affecting students' learning of and achievement in mathematics; moreover, Sakilah et al. (2018) stated that students' assumptions that mathematics is a difficult lesson, a lack of use of teaching aids in learning mathematics, and teachers' use of less varied methods of teaching were challenges to the learning of mathematics; besides, Ayebale et al. (2020) explained that teaching methods, their attitude towards mathematics, the classroom environment, and their previous mathematics performance affect their learning.Likewise, problems associated with learning mathematics, as suggested by Gafoor and Kurukkan (2015), primarily include cognitive, affective, and environmental reasons and hence all these agree with the results of this study.Tetteh and Agyei (2022) discovered that teaching-learning conditions, motivation, parents' educational background, valuing mathematics, and health and safety issues influence preservice program trainees' mathematics performance.Besides, according to Awol (2020), factors contributing to poor performance include a lack of practice, a language deficit, societal influence, comprehensive subject content, a lack of background on the course, the development of the examination in mathematics, the absence of a tutorial, the need for more recreation, and a lack of confidence.Finally, the study conducted by Ober et al. (2021) has addressed that student background characteristics, parent characteristics and teacher support to students have an effect to mathematics learning and performance to it.And, therefore, the studies by Tetteh and Agyei (2022), Awol (2020) and Ober et al. (2021) were all consistent with the findings of this research results.

Conclusion
The main purpose of this research was to investigate the current status of female students' attitude towards mathematics at the department of mathematics in the Injibara CTE.Following the analysis and interpretation of both quantitative and qualitative data, it was disclosed that female students had a positive attitude towards mathematics.Furthermore, female students in both pre-service and in-service programs were found to have a positive attitude toward mathematics, despite a statistically significant difference in favor of female students in the pre-service program.Besides, the challenges that female students faced towards learning mathematics were classified into five thematic areas, such as student, teacher, peer, material resource, and administrative-related problems.The findings of this study are expected to benefit teachers (may apply recommendations made to improve their instruction and assessment techniques), students (better achievement from improved concepts towards mathematics and improved teachers' instruction and assessment methods), the college (understands the challenges to learning mathematics and takes possible remedial actions as an institution), and the researchers (serves as a valuable source of information).In general, the investigated female students' favorable attitude towards mathematics will have profound importance for their learning of and achievement in it.This study affirms that female students can succeed better in mathematics similar to that of their counterpart males.

Limitations and recommendations for future research
The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the current status of female students' attitude towards mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at the Injibara CTE, Injibara, Ethiopia.A comprehensive sampling technique was employed to include 85 female students in the department of mathematics for the survey questionnaire.However, a disproportionately unequal number of students in pre-service (n = 60) and in-service (n = 25) training programs were compared for a mean attitude difference by using an independent samples t-test.Hence, this might affect the findings of the research.This research explored only female students' attitude toward mathematics; however, it had no objective of comparing male and female students' attitude towards mathematics and had no male students' data at all; hence, future research shall be conducted to compare male and female students' attitude by using a comparative research design to have a clear understanding of whether or not mathematics is gender stereotyped.Moreover, the challenges female students were facing in learning mathematics were investigated only qualitatively through the use of open-ended questions in a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview.However, the strength of these problems was not analyzed, making it necessary to employ a multiple linear regression model by using standardized items of a 5-point Likert scale for future research.Furthermore, the relationship between male and female students' mathematics achievement and attitude toward the subject should be investigated.