Exploring International Female Doctoral

International female doctoral students face multiple complexitics in their academic learning events arising from language barriers, cultural differences and personal matters while negotiating everyday life in a foreign country. Nested within. the epistemological positioning of feminist standpoint theory and intersectionality, this research explores the socio-cultural and academic experiences of thirteen international female doctoral students in the Australian tertiary education system. Using a narrative inquiry approach, the analysis and discussion in this thesis draw on personal stories to open up a space to understand the complexity of participants' lives during their studies in Australia.
The research objective is to present an exploration of the complexity of participants' experiences in Australia. It does through narratives providing a critical perspective to understand how multiple identities through social categories such as race, class, gender, nationality and ethnicity are interlaced to shape participants' learning and living experiences in Australia. This research enhances our critical understanding regarding the influences of participants' intersecting identities on their perceptions, thus defining their standpoint during and before their PhD. Moreover, the study points out how each participants circumstances, including socio-cultural. political and academic conditions, encouraged them to aspire to PhD studies.