Report from UNESCO-IESALC and Times Higher Education examines global data on academics and students, as well as performance of 938 universities that are committed to tackling gender inequality
Research released by the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) and Times Higher Education (THE) today reveals the extent to which higher education institutions across the globe are contributing to gender equality and provides recommendations on the next steps universities can take to continue making progress in this area.
The report Gender equality: How global universities are performing – part 2, which will be presented at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference 2022 in Barcelona, includes a detailed literature review; worldwide, regional and country-level analysis on UNESCO and THE data; and 10 recommendations for universities across the world. It reflects on the unique role that universities play in helping to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 5: gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
The literature review includes data on the areas of female underrepresentation in academia, information on government interventions to promote female leadership in higher education institutions (including five country case studies), and details of gender equality practices in higher education institutions relating to teaching and learning, research, engagement and administration and management.
Despite making up more than half of higher education students, women are underrepresented as lecturers, researchers and particularly leaders. But more governments are developing policies to increase the number of women in leadership positions, in general and within higher education institutions
The report also finds that increasing numbers of universities globally are reporting data on their performance on gender equality indicators, with particular growth in Asia.
Analysis of data directly provided by 938 universities across the world on their contributions to achieve SDG 5 finds that in all regions, universities are more likely to focus on providing access and support to women than on measuring their progress and success. The report calls for universities to introduce more initiatives that track success rates and outcomes for women, compared with men.
While discussions on improving gender equality in academia often focus on increasing the number of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, the data show that not all STEM subjects suffer from female underrepresentation at the student level; there are more female than male students in life sciences, for example. However, the share of female students is increasing in all subjects, meaning that some disciplines are becoming more and more female-heavy. At the same time, there is underrepresentation of male students in many “caring” subjects, such as psychology and education.
One of the report’s recommendations is for universities to examine trends at a more granular discipline level to ensure that gender equality measures are targeted appropriately.
The report also calls for higher education institutions to devise a comprehensive approach to tackling gender inequality that involves the entire university community, go beyond national policies and laws relating to gender equality, regularly collect and analyse gender-disaggregated data, ensure that policies and services are widely communicates and implemented, and engage with gender equality experts in other sectors outside higher education.
The first report on gender equality from UNESCO-IESALC and THE was published in March on International Women’s Day and included worldwide and country-level analysis on THE data across 18 different indicators, as well as case studies from five universities that are leading on this work in their regions.
