Rise of Women Leaders in Top Universities
“There are two powers in the world one is the pen and the other is the sword, there is a third power strong than both, that of women.”-Malala Yousafzai
Higher education and education sectors are always considered convenient careers for the majority of women. It’s good that the female education rate all over the world is 93.5%. But surprisingly the count of women-led universities has started increasing now
only. Women-led universities represent a quarter of the world’s top 200 universities and the rate is 41% higher than the past 5 years. There is a long way to go to have a parity in the ratio but the figures are giving an optimistic situation.
US, Germany, and UK countries showed a very high improvement in women’s participation and it had a breakthrough in East Asia and the Middle East. There is a remarkable jump or rise happened in this year because in Germany top 5 Universities are now led by Women leaders. East Asia has the first-ever female leader Nancy Ip at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and in the middle east, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz University saw Hana Abdullah Al-Nuaim take over as interim President.
Even though the numbers make us happy other factors make us unhappy as well. We are now in 2023 and are still struggling for more women’s participation in universities and colleges. Of the 200 universities which have representation from 27 countries, about 12 countries don’t have any female leaders at the top position which is not a good sign as far as gender neutrality is considered.
But the girl’s education rate is very high and it is still increasing and on the other hand, the rate of women entering into the higher level of position is still very low. Societal challenges, cultural challenges, and family challenges are some of the hindrance forces that prevent women from opting for higher positions. We need to ask ourselves how this kind of hindrance can be converted into opportunities and how more women leader participation can be encouraged. For that, we need to have robust mentoring teams and leadership programs need to be organized and planned from the higher education level itself.
Author Manju Malathy is a social activist who is also a passionate trainer with 12 years of experience in higher education. Additionally, she holds the position of Provisional Zone Trainer Junior Chamber International India Zone 20
