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Aiming high: how can women climb the academic and occupational ladders?

Despite improvements during the last two or three decades, access to higher education remains a problem for women in many countries and the proportion of women decreases significantly at higher levels of the academic and occupational ladder. What guidance can an inventory of successful strategies to advance the status and participation of women in this sector offer to similar programmes?

‘The Handbook on Good Practice in the Field of Women and Higher Education Management’ was commissioned by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) with the support of UNESCO. It brings together examples of international, regional, national, institutional, and classroom strategies and practices that address the inhibiting factors to women’s access and participation in higher education, including:

discriminatory salary scales and fringe benefits
biased recruitment policies
cultural and structural barriers
the ‘chilly climate’ for women in universities.

The book identifies several factors that enable the participation of women including:

legislation and infrastructure support, for example, international conventions and government legislation that set out legally binding principles and guidelines
special measures which improve the conditions of post-graduate studies, such as allocating special awards and scholarships to women
training programmes that lead to increased consciousness of the issues facing women, the formation of networks, increased motivation, increased knowledge and competencies, and better career moves
academic women’s networks, fora, and mentoring schemes that help women overcome problems of isolation and offer access to vital information and critical support
women’s universities, colleges, and women’s studies programmes as they are particularly tailored to provide high-quality professional and academic education to women
a solid structure to ensure that gender concerns are integrated into policies, programmes, and day to day operations of institutes of education as seen in the Gender Management System (GMS) introduced at Makerere Univeristy in Uganda.

Leadership programmes (offered by intergovernmental and international development agencies, university associations and networks, and individual universities) combine a variety of the above strategies to remedy the problems of women’s participation in higher positions. One programme at the University of Western Australia (UWA) offers skills development workshops, information sessions about the workings of the university and mentor networks. International development agencies are also effective in the area of advocacy, using their positions to influence the agendas of governments and other international agencies to take the issue more seriously.

The handbook suggests that for programmes to succeed will require:

commitment and support from top management
developing legislative frameworks such as international conventions and government legislation
integrating women’s programmes into strategic plans of countries and institutions, including establishing special leadership programmes and networks for women
transparency of recruitment and promotion procedures and the adoption of strategies to support women meet employment and promotion criteria
regular monitoring of the status of women in higher education
bringing in external agents to stimulate programmes and introducing other ways of making programmes highly visible
adoption of GMSs that are appropriate for the social setting in which they are introduced.

Source(s):
'Women and Management in Higher Education: A Good Practice Handbook', by J. K. S. Singh, UNESCO and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), 2002

Funded by: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

id21 Research Highlight: 27 January 2004

Further Information:
Dr Jasbir S Singh
No 3, Jalan 8/1D (Ground Floor)
46050 Petaling Jaya
Selangor DE
Malaysia

Tel: +603 77707115
Fax: +603 77707116
Contact the contributor: jasbirk@pd.jaring.my

UNESCO

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