Gender gap and women's participation in higher education: Views from Japan, Mongolia, and India

Abstract

One of the most significant worldwide transformations in education over the past several decades has been the drastic increase in women's access to colleges and universities. Research suggests that the trend of the narrowing gender gap in higher education is remarkable (particularly, among the industrialized nations), and sometimes it involves an interesting phenomenon – women outnumbering men, in what some scholars refer to as a “reverse gender gap” (Goldin, Katz, & Kuziemko, 2006; Woodfield & Earl-Novell, 2006; King, 2006; Mortenson, 1999). This higher education gender gap trend is consistent with a general global trend of narrowing gender gaps in education in recent decades. The data – at least, analysis of statistical data from countries around the world – support the contention that the disparity between men and women, at all levels of education and in terms of both academic achievement and enrollment rates, is not as dramatic as it once was (Arnot, David, & Weiner, 1999; United Nations Children's Fund, 2005).

Citation

Nozaki, Y., Aranha, R., Fix Dominguez, R. and Nakajima, Y. (2009), "Gender gap and women's participation in higher education: Views from Japan, Mongolia, and India", Baker, D.P. and Wiseman, A.W. (Ed.) Gender, Equality and Education from International and Comparative Perspectives (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3679(2009)0000010010