Gender equality in higher education in our country has been one of the important issues dear to my heart. My reflection on this complex issue cannot help but throw my mind back to the giant strides we have made over the years, and at the same time, the challenges that remain. That is a journey far from being over but having significant milestones along the way.
Education in India has long been only a facility for men since ancient times. In the educational framework, discrimination against women seems to be an age-old challenge that people and feminists keep fighting because women’s whole potential gauge and neglect by society have been overlooked continuously. Throwing my mind back into the historical facts, it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that Indian social reformers like Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule stood up that doors of education began to open for women. Savitribai Phule, the first female teacher of India, did not teach girls but kindled a flame that has slowly grown into one through the years – a flame of empowerment. This humble beginning, in fact, laid the foundation for the gradual inclusion of females in higher education, although it was not smooth.
More and more initiatives were kicked off with time to uplift women’s education. The institutions that came up, such as the Bethune College in 1879, were also peripheral institutions, catering to the neglected rather than the mainstream groups. Reformers such as Pandita Ramabai worked indefatigably for women’s rights in education, but deep-seated social and cultural barriers acted as a Limitation on access. It wasn’t until the 20th century that coeducational (or coed) institutions finally became more accepted and suddenly allowed women to study with men.
Fast forwarding to the present now, and the scene for higher education in India has, of course, improved. Women now comprise a lion’s share of university students – whichever progress that portends. But it is not precisely a rosy picture. More specifically, fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics still show huge gender imbalances. A 2020 study described how the participation rate of women in these fields disagrees with the setting trend set by their male counterparts, stating that women only make up a minute fraction of the total students. Besides minimal opportunities for leadership roles for women in academia, less than 20% of academic leadership is occupied by women.
It doesn’t end there. The challenges in women’s own rights were also compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, clearly revealing how fragile those gains truly are. We heard about it all – The lockdowns increased existing inequalities, and made it easier for new challenges in many spheres of life to enter, such as health, education, labour, and safety. Many women were forced to remain at home under lockdown and restrictions with their abusive partners or family members. Reports of domestic violence surged during the pandemic when women became vulnerable due to a lack of access to systems and support networks. Women in India, specifically those working in informal sectors like domestic work, small businesses, and agriculture, were the worst hit by job losses. Many suffered wage reductions, or were not paid at all as economic stress mounted. Economic opportunities for these women were further limited by their roles of taking up more unpaid care responsibilities at home, which include childcare, eldercare, and tending to other household chores, as schools closed down and health concerns rose.
In the educational sector, the shift to online learning affected girls more than others, particularly those from rural areas where digital devices and access to the internet is most limited. This resulted in the dropout of girls who found it very difficult to continue their education. In some cases all across India, economic miseries combined with closures of schools accelerated child marriages, as families looked at marriage as a way to reduce the economic burdens or to give daughters a better future. In the academic year 2020 – 2021, enrollments into many bachelor’s colleges decreased for females, forget master’s. This just showed how fragile the gains that were attained could be if the crises were not supported with a robust system to help women sail through such crises.
Through all this, there were rays of hope somewhere. Government schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan contributed vitally to enhancing gender equity. Other interventions like Mahila Samakhya effectively took care of the socio-cultural inhibitions vis-à-vis higher education amongst women. These included mentoring programs, scholarships, and specific activities to foster a leadership development environment translating into an enabling environment for females within this educational setup.
Yet so much remains to be done. Indian universities should take a lead in gender equality on campus, from developing gender-sensitive curricula and promoting equal representation to redressal mechanisms for issues like campus safety and gender bias. However, it is not a question of merely enrolling more girls. Their entire educational experience must be free of discrimination and provided with all opportunities necessary for daily succeeding at chosen fields. To finally sum up, I believe that bridging the gender gap in higher education is not just an educational imperative; it is a societal one. By investing in the education of women, we are also investing in the future of society as a whole. This should be a collective obligation to build an atmosphere where every student, irrespective of one’s gender, has the potential to succeed and blossom into their full potential. In the end, it’s not about the numbers; rather, it is to develop the sector of education that’s genuinely inclusive and fair for all.
