UNEVEN INROADS: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S STATUS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Growth in female tertiary enrollment has been accompanied by persistent gender differentiation within systems of higher education worldwide. We identify three dimensions of female “status” in higher education – overall female enrollments, sex segregation across tertiary levels, and sex segregation across fields of study – and we offer a conceptual framework for understanding cross-national similarity and variability on these dimensions. Commonalities across countries reflect the interaction of global pressures for expansion and democratization of education with persistent cultural representations of “gender difference.” Variability can be attributed, in part, to the different ways in which global cultural and structural pressures have been manifested within particular socio-historical settings.

Citation

Bradley, K. and Charles, M. (2003), "UNEVEN INROADS: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S STATUS IN HIGHER EDUCATION", Baker, D., Fuller, B., Hannum, E. and Werum, R. (Ed.) Inequality Across Societies: Familes, Schools and Persisting Stratification (Research in the Sociology of Education, Vol. 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 247-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3539(03)14011-6