UNESCO IESALC. (2021) Women in higher education: has the female advantage put an end to gender inequalities?  UNESCO. Paris, France.

In this report, UNESCO IESALC reviews some available global data on the topic of women in higher education, taking into account developments in women’s participation in HE, and in this way contributes its expertise to this important debate. If women constitute the majority of undergraduates, then why are they still a diminishing minority among lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors? Why are there few women researchers and published authors? If women and men receive the same type of university education necessary to attain professorship, and are expected to perform the same tasks, then why are they receiving different wages? With more women than men studying and graduating, what is preventing highly capable women from occupying half the seats at the head table?

This document therefore is an attempt to address some these most pressing issues, to inform policy and to support the implementation of the SDG 5 (Gender Equality) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Such research provides important and timely evidence from which to develop targeted policies and programs to address the needs of women in higher education – and to implement reforms that are genuinely inclusive and gender responsive.

Link to the report