wednesday gulsun saglamer

IAUP XIV Triennial ConferenceThe Challenge of Globalization and the

Role of Higher Education

10-15 July 2005, Bangkok

Enhancing Access of Women in Higher Education

Prof. Dr. Gülsün Sağlamer

Introduction

World-Wide Aquisition of Women’s Rights Women Access to Higher Education

From “Women as a problem” to “ Academia as problematic” and some Methaphors

Women Access to Science Engineering and Technology

Women Academics in Turkey A Case Study: Istanbul Technical University Discussion

ContentContent

Gender equality has always been on the agenda of women in different forms and at different levels throughout centuries. Women have always tried to understand

” Why ” and “How” these assymetric unfortunate circumstances emerged

“ What ”are the reasons for these inequal rights and opportunities between women and men?

“ Who ” are responsible?

“ Which “ actions do we need to take towards improving conditions for women

“ From Where” we should start?

Gender EqualityGender Equality


Gender problems that the society have been facing are complex, multi-faceted problems

many constraints still exist

many patterns dominate the environment

many works have been done

many legal steps have been realized towards achieving

better future for women contributing to every segment of life

but still the assymetry in gender equality in terms of rights

and opportunities make us to focus on the issue


There are differences between human beings depending on :

gender,

culture,

education,

economy,

environment,

ethnicity, etc.


Provision of equal rigths and opportunities to all human beings for education has a vital role on the development of high quality human resources all over the world.

Gender related discrimination is a violation of the human rights of women.

The distribution of economic resources, political power and social privileges and opportunities should not be tied to gender in a democratic society.

Human ResourcesHuman Resources

EU

The efficient development and use of human resources has been identified by the European Commission(EC) as crucial to the economic competitiveness and growth of the European Union (EU) and to the achievements of a key policy priority, the creation of jobs to combat high level of unemployement (CEC,1994).

In addition to these economic concerns, there is a commitment at EU level to promoting gender equality on social justice grounds and mainstreaming gender equity into all policies (EC,1996).

UNESCOUNESCO

On the other hand at a larger scale, UNESCO’s “Millennium Development Goals” are targeting to improve the living conditions all over the world and it addresses to 7 areas;

eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,

achieve universal primary education,

promote gender equality and empower women,

reduce child mortality,

improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and

other diseases

ensure environmental sustainability

UNESCOUNESCO

Asymmetry between rights and opportunities of different gender groups make UNESCO to focus on women issues, education and health for the next millennium.

World-Wide Acquisition of Women’s World-Wide Acquisition of Women’s RightsRights

The term Women’s Rights encompasses all those rights that women achieve if they are to have equal opportunities with men in all segments of society.

This concept also includes those special statutes passed to protect the woman within the family, as a mother, and in the work place.

Concepts of gender equality and universal human rights have been defined by such fundamental documents as

the United Nations Agreement of 1945,

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

the European Human Rights Agreement of 1950,

the European Social Rights Agreement of 1961


The right of women to vote in general elections was won by the women of

Australia 1902Finland 1906Norway 1913Soviet Union 1917Great Britain 1918United States 1920Turkey 1934


France joined these countries in 1944, and followed by Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia and China.

Women of Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal and most canton elections in 1971.

Women of Syria were granted the right to vote in 1973, while women living in the Gulf States and some Arab nations still have not been able to win this right.

Women Access to Higher EducationWomen Access to Higher Education

Access to education was one of the most important issues for the women’s movement during the 19th and early 20th century.

Women first began to enter colleges and universities as both students and faculty around one hundred and fifty years ago. (The Association for Women Faculty, 2005)

Women Access to Higher EducationWomen Access to Higher Education

The increase in women’s enrolment in higher education in the 20th century has been characterized as a “dramatic progress” (Stolte-Heiskanen, 1991).

On higher levels however, women are still heavily under represented and many obstacles remain for female students and researchers pursuing an academic career (Björklund,K., Olsson, A.C.,2004).

Women Women inin Higher Education Higher Education

Women underrepresentation among academics and gender inequalities in academia appear to be persistent and a global phenomena.

The global nature of women’s under-representation in academia is increasingly being recognized. Even in countries that are considered to be at the forefront of promoting gender equality, such as Finland, women still encounter subtle forms of discrimination (Husu, 2001).

Britain Britain Universities in Britain have been described as male bastions of

privilege and power, and women’s chances of entry, promotion and retention are generally lower than men’s (Hansard Society Commission Report, 1990).

On the other hand over the last three decades considerable alarm has been expressed in the UK over relative under-representation of women in science and engineering courses.

Such concerns have been manifested in a proliferation of academic and professional bodies dedicated to encouraging more students, and particularly women, into such courses (Siann,G., Callaghan,M.,2001).

USAUSA

According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Since 1974 there have been significant demographic and legal changes affecting the academic profession.

Notably, the percentage of women faculty has increased: in 1975 women made up 22.5 percent of full-time faculty, while in 2000, women constituted 36 percent of full-time faculty, according to the AAUP’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession (AAUP Home Page, 2005 ).

In 1998, among full professors at doctoral institutions, the proportion of faculty members who are women is only 19 percent. ( AAUP, 2005 ).

JapanJapan

Masako Amano stated that women in higher education tend to focus on specific areas that were essentially extension of the role of mother and wife or are inherently perceived as women friendly areas, such as Home Sciences, Humanities, Education etc.

Although the postwar educational reform opened all forms of higher education to women in 1949, in Japan it took more than three decades to attract almost equal number of women and men to higher education (Amano,M., 1997).

AustraliaAustralia

Kate White focused on women and leadership in Higher Education in Australia. She stated that looking at the female academic staff participation rates in Australia there is a clear indicator for vertical segregation.

“ Women academics’ participation rates in higher education in Australia explain in part why women are less research active. Given their high participation rates at below lecturer level, many have greater teaching and administrative loads and fewer opportunities to conduct research.” (White,K., 2003)

She also pointed out that “While 16 % of the Australian professors are female, it has been estimated that only 11% of full professors are women”.

Women in Higher Education in TurkeyWomen in Higher Education in Turkey

Approximately 38 % of all professionals, working in the higher education are women. 27% of full professors are female. This fact has generated a great deal of research relating to professional stratification and gender distribution in the educational sphere.

There has been very long-standing and deeply rooted participation of women in this area. One of the very definite characteristics of this field is the hierarchy that extends from primary school education on one end to university professorship on the other end.

Women in Higher EducationWomen in Higher Education

Data for academic staff disaggregation by gender show patterns of both vertical and horizontal segregation.

The pattern of attrition (the further one goes up the hierarchy, the fewer the women) persist in all disciplines including business, social studies and language-based studies.

There are nevertheless disciplinary differences, with women best represented in language based studies at almost every grade and worst represented in engineering and technology.

Following diagrams show the distribution of women academics in different countries and in different disciplines.

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Male Female

Average Years of Schooling in OECD Average Years of Schooling in OECD Countries (2004) Countries (2004)

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Undergrad. Graduate Ph. D.

University Degrees Awarded to Females in all University Degrees Awarded to Females in all Fields Fields ((20022002))

Female Students Female Students RRatio in atio in DDifferent ifferent FFields in Higher ields in Higher Education Education - - OECD 2002OECD 2002

Female Students Female Students RRatio in Higher Education atio in Higher Education (Eng(Engineeringineering)) - - OECD 2002 OECD 2002

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Female Students Ratio in Higher Education Female Students Ratio in Higher Education (Life Sci. Phy.Sci.) - OECD 2002(Life Sci. Phy.Sci.) - OECD 2002

Female Students Ratio in Higher Education Female Students Ratio in Higher Education (Math, Comp Sci) - OECD 2002(Math, Comp Sci) - OECD 2002

Female Students Female Students RRatio in Higher Education atio in Higher Education (Health(Health Sci. Sci.) ) - - OECD 2002 OECD 2002

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Female Students Female Students RRatio in Higher Education atio in Higher Education (Hum.Arts.Edu.) (Hum.Arts.Edu.) - - OECD 2002 OECD 2002

Women Women PProfessors in World, Different rofessors in World, Different RRanks, anks, All Disciplines All Disciplines - - OECD OECD 19981998


While there are some statistics on student population, there are no coherent, publicly available statistics on the employement of scientists. Nevertheless, such statistics as do exist show the following (Rees,T, 2001);

Women now constitute about 50% of first degree students in many countries of the world

The percentage of full professors who are women is very low worldwide, for the most part, below 15%

There are considerable variations in the proportion of women students between disciplines


There has been a slow increase in the proportion of professors who are women

Women tend to dissapear from academic life before obtaining career posts

The higher the position in the hierarcy, the lower the percentage of women

Men are appointed to academic positions in numbers disproportionate to those in the recruitment pool at each grade.

From “Women as a problem” to “ Academia From “Women as a problem” to “ Academia as problematic” and some Methaphorsas problematic” and some Methaphors

There are male networks in the academy. Men help and support each other.

A resistance towards women is seen clearly in research positions, research resources, power and influence.

The gendered structure of care work puts men at an advantage in their career.

The science culture is not women friendly

(Benchert,S., Staberg,E.M. (2001).


In recent years, researchers in the field of women studies are using different terminology in their works. Problems that women have been facing in term of gender equality are presented as

“women as a problem”.


Although, a gradual shift of focus can be observed in research from

“women as a problem”

to “academia as problematic”

“women as a problem”

to “women having problems” approach.

MethaphorsMethaphors

Some of the metaphors referring to women’s predicament in academia are discussed by Husu,L (2001). Metaphors linked to universities such as

“Ivory Tower” brought the new metaphor of “ Storming the Tower”

Metaphors related to

“Glass Ceiling” which reflects limitation on academic promotions for women or

“Chilly Climate” which depicts the fuzzy academic processes for women reflects inconveniences in the academic environment.

Women in Academia Women in Academia

There is a widely spread picture of the academy where staff positions and grants for research is distributed on no other grounds than merits and scholarly achievements.

From such a point of view, the lack of women on higher levels in the academic system might appear as the result of poorer performances or lacking ambitions. This is not the only picture of the academic system. It can also be seen within a context where personal contacts and informal networks are essential to advance. As an American professor put it: “Getting a position on the faculty of an academic institution is much like getting membership in a country club – you get in if those that already are members want you in.”

(Björklund, K, Olsson,A.C, 2004 )

Women in Academia Women in Academia

These informal networks are in reality often all-boys clubs.

The down side of the peer-review system becomes visible when men in influential positions act as gatekeepers, blocking the career paths of women and promoting the careers of other men.

This creates barriers between levels of the pyramid, commonly termed “glass ceilings”, that works as obstacles for female students to progress to and beyond postgraduate studies and into academic careers, eventually leading to positions as professors and academic leaders.

Women Access to Science Engineering Women Access to Science Engineering and Technologyand Technology

Horizontal segregation is another important problem for women in higher education. There is a widely shared image by the society that women are expected to study and work as professionals in certain areas which match with their roles in their families as mothers. This traditional pattern has a great impact on women contribution to science, engineering and technology.

Bebbington carried out a study on women in science, engineering and technology and draw the attention to different patterns of gender segregation in different disciplines.


She stated that “In considering disciplinary variations across

European member states, a report by ETAN on women and science shows a trend replicated across Europe of a generally

Higher representation of women in the social and biological sciences

A low presence in the natural sciences and engineering,

even though the percentages may vary somewhat between countries.”


She also stated that

The pattern of steep attrition is replicated in the USA;

evidences show that high level of “getting in” (quantitative feminisation) may not lead to women scientists “ getting on” (vertical feminisation). She also pointed out that “The question of how and why different patterns of gender segragation exist among the sciences and how these link epistomologically to scientific endeavour requires deeper, more thoroughgoing exploration”(Bebbington,D., 2002).

ETAN Report ETAN Report

European Technology Assessment Network (ETAN) has formed a group named “The ETAN Group on Women and Science”. The ETAN report focused on three areas (Rees,T. 2001);

The underrepresentation of women in science, engineering and technology

The lack of attention paid to the gender dimension in science

The lack of gender balance in decision-making about scientific policy


For gender equality report proposed three models:

Equal Treatment; The 1957 Treaty of Rome that set up the forerunner to the EU included an Article committing

signatory countries to equal treatment for women and men in pay. Equal treatment as an approach to gender equality is clearly rooted in the liberal feminist tradition. However, equal treatment does not lead to equal outcome.


Positive Action; The shortcomings of the law on equal treatment in combating sex discrimination and ensuring equal pay were recognised in the EC in the 1980s. Hence, a series of positive action measures were co-funded to address the disadvantages experienced by

women.

These, measures principally training projects designed to improve women’s skills and enhance their employibility (Brine, 1999).


Mainstreaming; is a process of conducting a gender-impact assessment of all proposed legislation and policies.

It means a wholesale redesign of systems and structures.

It means analysing the ways in which current systems in effect advantage men, and recasting them to open them up to men and women.

Gender mainstreaming can be regarded as a systematic integration of equal opportunities for women and men into the organization and its culture, into policies, programmes and projects, into ways of seeing and doing (Rees,1998)

Women in SWomen in Science cience EEngineering and ngineering and TTechnology (SET) echnology (SET) in EU in EU

At European level the starting point was a common preoccupation about the fact that the number of women involved in Engineering in Europe is increasing very slow-too slow!

In general, context where there are less and less students-men and women-attracted by Engineering. From the point of view of social justice and efficiency such a situation appears unacceptable.

The intention was to understand why it is so, and to try to identify and analyse efficient solutions (Beraud, A.,2003).

Women in SET in EU Women in SET in EU

Some of most interesting theories argue that:

Interdisciplinary degrees appear to be more attractive to female students than single/traditional/classical engineering degrees

Mono-educational training instead of co-educational is central point for women to be more successful and attracted to the engineering studies

Project based learning, small teaching groups, teaching of non-traditional topics by specialist, have been recommended, among others, as factors creating more effective learning environment for female students.

Women in SETWomen in SETThis project was initialised in 2001. Since interdisciplinarydegrees appear to be more attractive to female students thansingle and or traditional and or classical degrees, somerecommendations have been made (Beraud, A.,2003):

Set up interdisciplinary degrees to increase the proportion of

women taking up engineering

Include at least 25% of socio-economic contents

Interdisciplinary subjects should be introduced in the

curriculum as early as possible.

Ensure that information of interdisciplinary degrees and career

opportunities reached school pupils at key stages

Women Academics in TurkeyWomen Academics in Turkey

Although, Women in Higher Education has no more than 100 years history in Turkey, at the moment 41% of students in higher education are female and 38% of all academic personnel in the universities are women.

This is an impressive figure with respect to developed countries but it is even more impressive if we go into the details of the figures.

27% of Full Professors, 32% of Associate Professors, 31%of Assistant Professors are female in Turkey.

Turkey is setting a unique example with a patriarchal Islamic cultural heritage and conspicuously high differences in literacy rates between men and women.


Since 1990’s, there has been significant increase in the number of female students in higher education and in academia in Turkey.

The number of women academics vary in different disciplines such as in medical sciences and literature women have a share over 40% while it is 30% in engineering and architecture.

We may talk about vertical or horizontal segregation in Turkey. On the hand when we compare the ratio of the female students in science, engineering and technology we observe that Turkish universities have higher ratios of female students in SET programs compared to many developed countries.


The most important finding of this pilot study is that the proportion of women academics at upper levels are very close.

Women doing Master or Ph.D as research assistant in the universities have 44% of the total research staff. Not all of them stay in universities for further positions but still 31% of assistant professors and 32% associate professors, 27% full professors are female.

It is clear that vertical segregation does not exist in Turkish universities when women with Ph.D decide to continue their research work in universities. This is an interesting fact that needs further research to find out the factors and mechanisms which creates these results in Turkish Academia.

Women Academics in Women Academics in TurkeyTurkey

The conventional interpretation of the rise in women's education and professionalisation in Turkey often attributes it to secular ideology and Westernizing reforms of Kemal Atatürk.

A series of reforms enacted by the state of the Turkish Republic following its founding by Atatürk in 1923, were aimed at giving women equal status with men.

As a consequence of this policy, the state ideology and the elite subculture, strongly encouraged women's higher education and career-orientedness as part of their modernization mission (Kağıtcıbaşı, 1989).


Raising and having a daughter or marrying a woman with a professional career has been a valuable asset in the subculture. However, once the demands of the professional career became disruptive, many of these professional women found their families support ending.

The Turkish women viewed their education as investments and thought they would feel guilty were they to waste those investments by withdrawing from the academic world, even to pursue an alternate career.

Variation of Women Teaching Staff by Variation of Women Teaching Staff by Years in Turkey Years in Turkey

Numbers of Teaching Staff in Turkey 2004-2005

Title Female Male Total Female %

Professor 3020 8361 11381 27

Assoc. Professor 1728 3728 5456 32

Asst. Professor 4504 9957 14461 31

Instructor 5262 8802 14064 37

Language Instructor 3382 2582 5964 57

Specialist 1013 1431 2444 41

Research Assistant 12512 15759 28271 44Total 31434 50662 82096 38

Distribution of Teaching Staff According to Professions in Turkey 2004-2005

Total Number of HE Students in Turkey 2004-2005

1 252 000887 000

Female 41 %Male 59 %

Undergraduate Students in Turkey 2004-2005

770 000 600 000

Female 44 %Male 56 %

Graduate and Doctorate Students in Turkey 2004-2005

Male 57 %Female 43 %

Graduate 92 800

Male 59 % Female 41 %

Doctorate 38 000

A Case Study: Istanbul Technical A Case Study: Istanbul Technical UniversityUniversity

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) is a well-respected state university having a long history and sound reputation in engineering and architecture education in Turkey.

ITU has been experiencing continuous change ever since its foundation in 1773 during the Ottoman era. This change has been multifaceted: from an imperial to a republican institution at the start of the 20th century; from an international to a global outlook; and from a deterministic to a quality-based system after 1996.


Even in periods when ITU enjoyed unequivocal successes among its peers, it has always maintained a culture of change, and that is why the university motto is phrased as “Pioneer through the Ages”.

The winds of change brought one of the major revisions in the history of ITU in the 1960’s. Previously, ITU conferred a prestigious title of a “Diplomingeniuer” (translated to our system as “High Engineer”) degree upon its graduates, which was accepted as the equivalent of a Master’s degree.

The administrators of the University understood future trends and thus they moved to a B.Sc. and M.Sc. System in 1969


The internationalization project was triggered by restating the mission statement, followed by the determination of strategic goals and the performance criteria.

The starting point of the development plan is best summarized in the revised mission statement of the University in 1996:

“to graduate engineers, scientists, architects, and artists who can compete worl-wide”

A Case Study: Istanbul Technical A Case Study: Istanbul Technical UniversityUniversity The university has been then completely restructured to meet the needs of global graduates.

Structural and functional reforms together with assessment methods have been designed and implemented.

These reforms have created flexible, adaptable educational and research environment in which the implementation of new approaches have become more efficient and effective in terms of administrative and fiscal constraints.


University senate decided to restructure the curriculum for all the programs and included 20% of social science courses into the engineering curriculum in order to open up new horizons for future engineers.

Project based learning has become an important component in the education. Continuous improvement has been achieved by international accreditation.

A Case Study: Istanbul Technical A Case Study: Istanbul Technical UniversityUniversity One of the most important development has been the establishment of new multi-discipliner under graduate and graduate programs outside the classical engineering fields.

Flexibility offer students for double major and minor degrees and professional Master Degree programs offer in multi-discipliner fashion to increase the chances of graduates in the job market.

Bilingual teaching and research environment increases the mobility in and out at horizontal level.

Another important opportunity created for the future graduates is the vertical mobility.

A Case Study: Istanbul Technical A Case Study: Istanbul Technical UniversityUniversityFor Academic staff, same type of conceptual framework has been developed.

Multi-disciplinarity has been supported in research and teaching.

Research budget has been increased enormously and mobility encouraged by providing fund outside the state budget.

Awards have been used to motivate research staff.

Nursery, primary school and high school were established for staff’s children and these schools later have attracted many students from outside of the university.

Dormitories have been constructed and housing developments realized in the campus for staff.

A Case Study: Istanbul Technical A Case Study: Istanbul Technical UniversityUniversity Reforms in education and research and facilities developed in campuses attracted more female student and staff in Istanbul Technical University after the year 2000.

Following Tables show the women academics and students according to their subject areas. We observe the similar tendencies in our country and our university, but definitely Turkey and ITU offer better opportunities for women in higher education.

ITU Students 2004

FACULTY Women/Men RatioMaritime 10,8Electrical Eng. 12,9Science and Letters 48,5Naval Architecture 9,9Civil Eng. 16,4Management 29,0Chemical Eng. 41,5Mining Eng. 15,2Mechanical Eng. 17,5Architecture 57,2Aerospace Eng. 17,8Music Conservatory 42,6Average 29,0

ITU Staff 2004

Department Women/Men RatioElectrical Eng. 29,8Science and Letters 49,8Naval Architecture 21,4Civil Eng. 28,5Management 39,2Chemical Eng. 46,5Mining Eng. 21,5Mechanical Eng. 15,4Architecture 59,0Aerospace Eng. 25,8Maritime 25,5Music Conservatory 36,1English Prep. School 82,1Average 39,8

ITU Staff 2004

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Radikal Newspaper July Radikal Newspaper July 20052005

ITU Girls Beat the Boys

This year girls get the first three graduation ranks in all departments of Chemistry and Metalurgy Faculty in ITU.

ConclusionsConclusions

Formal obstacles and legislation excluding women from higher education have now been removed for many decades and women are well represented on undergraduate and graduate levels in HE (Higher Education) system in developed and some developing countries.

Researchers or research teams who focus on EO in HE point out different types of segregation in Higher Education and Research.


Gender based segragation in higher education works in three different ways.

vertical segregation,

horizontal segregation


One of the reasons that many researchers pointed out is the family responsibilities of women. The demands of motherhood and family are defining environment and an image for women graduates especially in science, engineering and technology which limit their opportunities to find permanent, full time jobs.


On the paper, on surface everthing seems OK in developed and some developing countries as well, but this is not the case in real life.

Hidden obstacles are usually emerging whenever a female person is approaching a new achievement. If there is no move forward no obstacles observed.

These obstacles excluding women from participating in higher education as academics and students cause serious problems to develop human resources in holistic approaches.

ConclusionsConclusions Providing equal rights on the paper do not mean providing equal opportunities and social priviliges to women to access higher education.

Value system of the society and variety of cultural patterns which have been shaped throughout centuries create rigid environment for changes and new developments.

The difficulty with dealing these problems lies behind the surface of the opaque wall which hides many irrational and traditional patterns.

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