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Gender equality in
higher education:
maximising impacts
Report by Helen Mott
March 2022
Part of the
Going Global
Partnerships
Programme
Contents
Foreword 5
Executive summary and recommendations 6
Higher education benefits women as individuals and in society 6
Higher education institutions are important for gender equality 6
Higher education can perpetuate gender inequalities 7
Intersectionality 7
Legal and policy frameworks 7
Approach to the evidence 7
Enrolment and progression 7
Research, innovation and women in STEM 8
Subject selection and gender as a subject 8
Curriculum content 8
Teaching and learning environments 9
Academic careers 9
Compounded disadvantage and discrimination 10
Lifestyle approach 10
Gendered violence and harm 10
Analysis of programmes and theory of change 11
Resources and examples to assist with gender mainstreaming 11
Case studies 11
Recommendations 12
Section 1 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 How to use this document 16
1.3 What is the role of higher education in transforming society in relation
to women’s equality and empowerment? 16
1.3.1 Benefits to individuals 18
1.3.2 Social benefits 19
1.4 How is gender inequality reflected, reinforced and challenged in HE worldwide? 21
1.4.1 Data and measurability 22
1.4.2 Legal and policy frameworks 24
1.4.3 Enrolment in HE 25
1.4.4 Progression to research 29
1.4.5 Research and innovation 31
1.4.6 Subject selection 36
1.4.7 Curriculum content 43
1.4.8 Teaching and learning environments 46
1.4.9 Academic research and teaching staff 53
1.4.10 Compounded disadvantage and discrimination 60
1.4.11 The importance of the lifecycle approach 62
1.4.12 Gendered violence and harm 64
Section 2 72
2.1 How does the British Council’s work in HE align with its theory of change
for women and girls’ empowerment? 73
2.1.1 Data collection 73
2.1.2 Increased awareness and agency of individual women and girls (individual power) 74
2.1.3 Fairer access to resources and opportunities 74
2.1.4 Dialogue, collaboration and collective action 75
2.1.5 Supporting legal and policy environment 76
2.1.6 Changes in attitudes, beliefs, practices and discriminatory social norms 77
2.2 Applying a gender lens to the HE and science theory of change 78
2.2.1 Policy and systems development 78
2.2.2 Institutional partnerships 78
2.2.3 Professional development 79
2.2.4 Student mobility 79
2.2.5 Insight, analysis and advocacy 79
2.2.6 Outcomes 79
2.3 Case studies 80
2.3.1 S c o p e 80
Case study 1 SPHEIR – TESCEA and gender-responsive pedagogy, a project led by
INASP (UK) within the DFID-funded SPHEIR programme managed by the British Council and partners 81
Case study 2 National policy and strategy for gender equality in HE 83
Case study 3: The London Statement: national governments, the British Council and global HE par tners 84
Case study 4: Gender sensitive pedagogy through British Council Active Citizens,
facilitated by Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) and YMCA 86
Case study 5 Violence Against Women and Girls Free Campuses – British Council and the
University of Cairo supported by the EU 87
Case study 6: Creative Spark – British Council 88
Case study 7: Athena Swan process and framework 90
Case study 8: Institutional action to address the gender pay gap in academia 92
Case study 9: Teaching a spatial vocabulary of equality to architecture students 93
Case study 10: Research study on gender parity in higher education 93
Case study 11: Scholarships for Indian women to study Masters programmes in STEM in the UK 94
Case study 12: Newton-Bhabha Women in Science Workshops 96
Case study 13: Leadership and governance for women in Pakistan universities 97
Case study 14: ACU Gender Grants 98
Case study 15: Women In STEM: holistic gender mainstreaming 99
Case study 16: Scotland-Pakistan Scholarships for young women 101
Case study 17: Girls into Global STEM 102
2.4 Resources and examples to assist with gender mainstreaming 103
2.4.1 Country and regional data resources 103
2.4.2 Policy and systems development 106
2.4.3 Institutional partnerships 106
2.4.4 Professional development 108
2.4.5 Student mobility 110
2.4.6 Insight, analysis and advocacy 112
3
2.5 Concluding reflections and recommendations 114
2.5.1 Prioritise gender mainstreaming 114
2.5.2 Develop gender expertise 115
2.5.3 Ensure an intersectional approach 116
2.5.4 Put a greater focus on violence against women 116
2.5.5 Address women’s under-representation in HE leadership 117
2.5.6 Tackle subject segregation, particularly in STEM 116
2.5.7 Take a gendered approach to online learning and collaboration 118
2.5.8 Strengthen organisational leadership and commitment to address gender inequality
in strategy, policy, quality assurance and delivery 118
2.5.9 Recognise and promote gender studies and women’s HEIs 118
2.5.10 Take a lifecycle approach 119
2.5.11 Assert the centrality of equality and inclusion to the definition
of quality and excellence in HE 120
2.5.12 Act at scale 120
Acknowledgements 121
Acronyms and glossary 122
Index of countries and regions 124
References and bibliography 127
4
There is global consensus on the importance of
addressing gender inequalities, expressed in the
inclusion of a standalone goal on gender equality in
the Sustainable Development Goals. It is important
to note that these goals are universal and relevant to
every country, community, sector and area of the
economy and, likewise, all areas of the work of the
British Council and our partners globally.
Gender equality issues impact and are reflected in
higher education systems worldwide – with unequal
access to higher education in many countries, fewer
resources and opportunities available to women, the
existence of violence against women affecting
students and staff, and sustained under-
representation of women in leadership positions in
higher education institutions. Despite women
succeeding academically, it is more challenging for
women to succeed in their future careers both within
and outside academia following their studies.
There is a critical need to address gender
inequalities in higher education – requiring
concerted efforts from a range of different
institutions and partners, including governments,
oversight and funding bodies, academics and civil
society organisations as well as higher education
institutions themselves. As reflected in this report,
progress has been made towards gender equality in
many countries and there are some excellent
examples of policy and practice to draw on.
However, much more still needs to be done and the
British Council is committed to supporting this
process.
The British Council has put an increasing emphasis
on gender equality over the past five years and this
is further reflected in Strategy 2025. In our higher
education work, we develop partnerships and
connections between governments, institutions,
policymakers, academics, researchers and students
around the world. This creates many opportunities
to enable dialogue and learning between the UK and
the rest of the world on how values of equality can
be put into practice.
This report acts as a resource to help us make the
most of these opportunities. It provides extensive
evidence and analysis of the issues in the sector and
a rich collection of case studies from both within and
outside the British Council, as well as resources that
set out practical ways in which we can strengthen
our work.
As well as improving our own understanding of
gender equality issues, how they are manifested in
the higher education sector and how we can
integrate gender equality considerations
systematically into our work, we would like to call on
our partners globally to work with us on this agenda.
By sharing expertise, experience, models and
successes and by developing innovative
approaches, we can together make an important
contribution to addressing challenges of gender
inequality both in the UK and around the world.
Maddalaine Ansell
Director of Education
Gillian Cowell
Head, Gender and Inclusion, Cultural Relations
Foreword
5
Gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls is central to the work of the British Council
as a cultural relations organisation that promotes
equality, diversity and inclusion as core values. The
British Council shares with others – in the higher
education (HE) sector and in the development and
women’s sectors – the desire to bring an intentional
focus to how HE systems and practices can be
improved through attention to gender equality
outcomes. This can equally well be expressed as the
desire to address gender inequalities and advance
the equality and empowerment of women and girls
through the vehicle of HE systems, programmes and
practices.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of how
gender inequality is reflected, reinforced and
challenged in HE worldwide. It examines relevant
legal and policy frameworks and statistical data, as
well as summarising academic research on the
extent and consequences of gender inequalities in
HE and the evidence for effective practice from
research and programme implementation.
For the first time, research and best practice from
around the world that addresses the multiple
manifestations of gender inequality in HE, together
with tools and practices to promote equality and
empowerment, are collated into one reference
document. The report then examines the challenges
and opportunities for gender equality in HE framed
by the five core outcome areas of the British
Council’s global theory of change for women and
girls’ empowerment. A compendium of global
resources and data sources, illustrated by 17
in-depth case studies and with suggestions for
evaluating and monitoring progress, is provided.
Recommendations are grouped into 12 thematic
areas.
Analysis of gender equality and
inequalities in HE
Higher education benefits women
asindividuals and in society
Individuals benefit directly and significantly through
investment in tertiary education where the rates of
return (profitability for individuals) are generally
higher for women than for men, globally across
low-income and high-income countries. Engagement
in HE is a route to economic independence for
women, which is a marker and facilitator of gender
equality, disrupting cycles of gender disadvantage.
HE also brings a range of social benefits, including
indirect and non-financial benefits, to women and is
associated with better individual and family health.
Higher education institutions
areimportant for gender equality
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are the
incubators for the thought leaders and social
leaders of the future. The creation of HEIs and
systems where norms for gender equality are
practised and modelled, and where the voices and
ideas of women are valued and raised up, are some
of the most powerful tools available to society for
accelerating progress towards the equality and
empowerment of women and girls everywhere.
When harmful, rigid social gender norms are
challenged, and gender equality is promoted, the full
realisation of equal rights for people of all genders
and gender identities becomes achievable.
Executive summary
andrecommendations
6
Higher education can perpetuate gender
inequalities
Despite HE systems being a driver for the promotion
of equality and empowerment, the evidence shows
that they also reproduce discrimination against
women, often ‘by default rather than design’. Action
is required within HEIs to transform discriminatory
gender norms – such as unequal domestic burdens
falling upon women and bias in assessment,
recruitment and promotion – as well as to address
the practical barriers in the here and now that
disproportionately affect women because of their
place in society. Effective policies to address
structural barriers (e.g. maternity, paternity, flexible
working) are not in place for HEIs or research bodies
in many parts of the world.
Intersectionality
Sex/gender discrimination and inequality do not
affect all women in HE equally, with data showing
that various characteristics – including, for example,
socio-economic background, ethnicity and disability
– intersect with and compound women’s
disadvantage. Research on gender identities, and
non-binary and transgender experiences is lacking,
compounded by a lack of clarity in data collection
on whether sex, gender identity or both are being
analysed.
Legal and policy frameworks
There is a range of binding and indicative
international and national legal, regulatory and
policy frameworks which set out the obligations
upon nations, public bodies and HEIs for taking
positive steps to promote women’s equality, and to
tackle discrimination and disadvantage. These are
described and signposted in the report.
Approach to the evidence
The report provides summaries of numerous
rigorous and up-to-date research studies that
demonstrate significant bias and discrimination
against women in HE – against a backdrop where
narratives of scientific, scholarly or professional
objectivity have clouded the willingness of
individuals and institutions to acknowledge and
therefore address the systemic discrimination for
which they hold responsibility.
In each thematic section of Section 1 of the report,
research findings are discussed together with
sources for evidence-led approaches to preventing
and counteracting bias. In turn, the report addresses
the gendered aspects of enrolment in HE;
progression to research; research and innovation;
subject selection; curriculum content; teaching and
learning environments; student assessment; and
recruitment, promotion, pay, ‘service’ work and
leadership among academic research and teaching
staff. Examples from research and programmes in
the regions and nations of the world are threaded
through the text.
7
Enrolment and progression
Concerted global action on equity in education
provision has contributed to the fact that more
women than men now complete HE in most
countries (52 per cent vs 48 per cent), despite one
in four people globally agreeing that university
education is more important for a boy than a girl.
Women’s higher completion rates do not translate
into personal advantage for those women over
comparable men, or for women in general, globally.
There is substantial variability in participation and
completion rates, and their association with other
markers of inequality, across different regions and
countries, showing that gender norms that suppress
or accelerate gender equality are not fixed and can
be shifted. One global pattern – women’s significant
under-progression into research roles – is
particularly variable by country and region as well as
discipline, which can be traced to the effects of
social and educational policies. Women are
consistently and significantly under-represented in
positions of power and leadership in HE globally,
regardless of whether their national context sees
more women overall filling the less prestigious roles
in HE.
Research, innovation and women in STEM
The field of STEM (science, technology, engineering
and mathematics) is critical for innovation, for
addressing environmental and health concerns, and
for economic advancement.
It receives a significant degree of attention in the
context of HE, and it is also the field with the most
global and persistent issues of under-representation
and marginalisation of women and where the
systematic under-valuing of women’s work has been
demonstrated in a host of rigorous research studies.
Efforts to address this imbalance and improve the
quality of STEM subjects and outputs through the
engagement and retention of greater numbers of
diverse women are described, including through the
adoption of action plans and frameworks designed
by research councils and HE advisory bodies.
Subject selection and gender as a subject
There is significant and persistent gender disparity
in a range of subject fields chosen for study at HE
level. Some but not all of this disparity sets in during
formative years of primary and secondary
education, where a combination of gender
stereotypes, gendered curricula and role models,
and other barriers to equal engagement are
apparent. Addressing the issue requires action
across the educational lifecycle.
In the meantime it is important that HE initiatives to
support access to HE are not skewed to subjects
where male students predominate, without targeted
action to support women. As a subject in its own
right, gender studies (or women’s studies) is an
important tool for legitimising and embedding the
enhancement of social understanding of gender
inequality, while also producing empowered
graduates with the motivation and the skills to work
towards a more gender-equal society. In-house
expertise on gender (academics working in gender
studies) will also assist HEIs to develop good policy
and practice.
Curriculum content
There is considerable evidence that curriculum
content often constructs men and boys as the
default subject, and the default holder of knowledge.
The consequences of leaving sex/gender and
women/girls out of the curriculum are many. They
include inappropriate and sometimes literally
dangerous over-generalisation from men’s
experience and/or physiology to women, and the
misrepresentation of women’s experiences and
needs as being deviant from what has been
constructed as ‘normal’ based on men’s lives.
Gender stereotypes based on sexism can be
employed to account for sex and gender
differences, where education about discrimination
and disadvantage would have provided a more
accurate picture.
Without practical engagement with sex/gender
issues within the curriculum, issues of particular
concern to women are unacknowledged. A number
of toolkits and resources are available to assist with
ensuring gender-sensitive curriculum content.
8
Teaching and learning environments
NGOs and others working to improve girls’ access to
education have paid considerable attention to
teaching and learning environments that are
physically appropriate for, and welcoming to, girls in
primary and secondary education. There is far less
evidence of action to improve the teaching and
learning environment for girls and women in HE
settings, despite strong evidence for the benefits of
gender-responsive pedagogy and for the detriments
suffered by female students due to unequal
treatment and to their heightened risk of
experiencing violence.
While there is little evidence that gender bias
towards students is prevalent at tertiary level in
student assessments, the evidence is considerable
that bias and inequality are commonplace in the
classroom and in the curriculum. Selection
processes for educational opportunities such as
scholarships need to be gender-responsive.
In addition to the need to create gender-responsive
pedagogy for the benefit of their own students, HEIs
are also responsible for programmes that provide
training and accreditation for teachers at primary
and secondary level, and the British Council
supports a number of such courses. Ensuring that
gender sensitivity is embedded in teachers’ future
practice will have impact at scale. The report
reflects upon the considerable short-term and
medium-term benefits of single-sex (women’s)
universities for both students and women
academics, noting that of the Times Higher Education
(THE) top 100 universities for gender equality, two
are women’s universities.
There is a scarcity of data about gender differences
in the uptake or effectiveness of online learning,
although the merits of online learning for increasing
access for disadvantaged groups, including women,
are significant. Generally, there is little evidence of
any universal or stable gender differences in the
effectiveness of online learning environments.
Rather, social and educational interactions taking
place online are likely to reflect the existing gender
norms that are present in more traditional learning
environments and in society.
Online abuse of women is a significant problem in HE
as in wider society. However, if adequate policy,
safeguarding and monitoring provisions are put in
place by the responsible institutions, then the
‘fingerprint’ left by those who use online platforms
to abuse or harass may give their victims better
evidence with which to take forward complaints or
demands for accountability.
Academic careers
Men as a group remain advantaged at every stage of
their academic careers. While women tend to
outnumber men at entry into HE, as they progress
through the ranks of academia the senior positions
are very disproportionately held by men. Men
receive more opportunities and higher discretionary
payments, and are consistently rated by students
more highly than women who teach – which holds
true in experiments where the gender of the
instructor is ar tificially manipulated. There is a
‘presumption of incompetence’ held by students
towards academic teachers who are women or
members of other minority groups.
Concerningly, research on leadership in HE not only
finds discriminatory and exclusionary practices in
recruitment, selection and promotion practices, but
also that many women report finding the idea of
leadership unattractive and difficult to navigate
culturally. Leadership and mentoring programmes
for women in HE are important for women who are
breaking the mould and helping to change social
norms. Women in academia can be subjected to
higher expectations that they provide nurture and
service to others as a part of their academic role
than their male colleagues. Men are also more
inclined to cite other men in journal articles and they
have been found to cite their own research 70 per
cent more often than women. Men are awarded
prizes, especially prestigious prizes, at considerably
higher rates than would be expected. Research
identifies a number of ways in which gender bias
operates when it comes to determining scientific
excellence. There is good evidence that
interventions to address bias in the recruitment and
promotion processes can be successful.
9
Compounded disadvantage and
discrimination
While to be Black and female is to represent the
global majority, in many nations these
characteristics incur significant social disadvantage,
together as well as separately. Putting effort into
expanding social or cultural ideas about academic
excellence to include privileged white women
without representing women in all their diversity is
likely to create disadvantage for marginalised
women.
Research in HE has revealed profound intersectional
disadvantage for Black and Latinx women as well as
disabled women. Research candidates presumed to
be men have been rated as less likeable, but more
competent and hireable, than those presumed to be
women. This is compounded by ethnicity. South
Africa is one of the few countries to set targets by
gender and ethnicity for research fellowships.
There are specific challenges for transgender men
and women in HE, with transphobia and ignorance
affecting career prospects as well as personal
well-being. There is far too little data on gender
identity and expression as well as on sexuality in HE,
but what there is points towards trans students
feeling more unsafe, experiencing more bullying and
harassment, and feeling more excluded from the
curriculum than other students.
The relationship of poverty and economic exclusion
to opportunities in HE is a main focus for
governments and institutions. Data shows strong
gendered patterns with the poorest female students
less likely to access HE than the poorest male
students. Initiatives to widen participation of the
poorest should always have a gender focus.
Lifecycle approach
A holistic understanding of every individual’s journey
towards and through HE from childhood to
adulthood is required. The success of programmes
that seek to empower girls to remain in secondary
education is amplified by considering their entry into
HE, and the pipeline of different genders into
non-traditional subject areas in HE is strengthened
by early intervention to address the norms,
stereotypes and family cultures that constrain their
engagement. HE programmes that stand alone are
likely to have less impact than those that are
developed and executed in dialogue with
programmes in the same locations which are
focused on culture, society and primary or
secondary education.
Gendered violence and harm
Sexual and gender-based violence persist in all
societies, both causing and resulting from gender
inequality. The occurrence of violence against
women (VAW) in HEIs reflects and supports gender
inequality in the immediate HE context but also more
widely in society. Sexual harassment and violence
are prevalent in HE and form a core concern for
many women managing their decisions to enter,
remain or progress in HE environments as teachers,
researchers or learners. HEIs are high-risk
environments for VAW, with HE students being more
at risk than those in the general population, and
international students being an even more
vulnerable group within the student population,
subject as they are to a host of both specific and
universal risks. The heightened risks for victimisation
are accompanied by heightened risks of severe
subsequent distress and trauma.
The level of data collection, analysis and prevention
undertaken by HEIs and those responsible for
supporting internationalisation in HE is not
commensurate with the prevalence and harm
caused by gendered violence in HEIs. This is despite
the fact that HEIs are well placed to conduct
research and are also ideal hubs for transformative
prevention work which would considerably further
progress towards gender equality and
empowerment.
10
Analysis of programmes and theory of
change
In the second part of the report, the British Council’s
theory of change for women and girls’
empowerment is used to examine the challenges
and possibilities for working in HE towards the five
core outcome areas of:
1. increased awareness and agency
2. fairer access to resources and opportunities
3. dialogue, collaboration and collective action
4. supporting legal and policy environment
5. changes in attitudes, beliefs, practices and
discriminatory social norms.
The importance of collecting and analysing gender-
related data at every stage of the project cycle is
emphasised.
‘Fairer access to resources and opportunities’ is the
gender equality outcome area that receives by far
the most attention in HE programmes and projects.
While creating additional and specific opportunities
for women’s par ticipation is important and laudable,
it is also important to focus on addressing and
removing the barriers that are standing in the way
and which otherwise remain at the conclusion of
activities that only raise participation temporarily.
This is achieved through policy actions at the
country and institutional level, as well as through
developing curricular and extra-curricular
programming that helps learners to understand and
challenge harmful gender-related social norms and
practices. It is important to work with both women
and men on social norms, and to create learning
conditions in which the prospect of backlash is
minimised. Introducing a commitment to include
gender awareness and sensitivity in pedagogy and
curricula as a matter of policy for quality assurance,
including in teacher training curricula, has the
potential to enhance the reach of gender equality
work in HE exponentially.
The increasing marketisation of HE in some regions
and nations has increased the number of
stakeholders involved in HE activity and policy, and
means that priorities between stakeholders are not
always aligned towards gender equality and
inclusion, reducing the potential for collective
action. This needs to be addressed through bringing
in specific requirements on policy and practice for
gender equality as standard, across the full range of
activities related to HE.
Resources and examples to assist with
gender mainstreaming
There are many sources of guidance and support
that have been produced by a range of contributors
to assist with different aspects of gender
mainstreaming in HE. This report creates, for the first
time, a compendium of such resources and toolkits,
for use by practitioners, programme designers and
policymakers in HE. The resources are presented
thematically to correspond with gender-focused
activities across the five portfolio intervention areas
in the British Council’s HE and science strategy:
1. policy and systems development
2. institutional partnerships
3. professional development
4. student mobility
5. insight, analysis and advocacy.
To aid reflection, relevant international case study
examples are highlighted, and suggestions are
included for what monitoring and evaluation
practices could look like in each of the intervention
areas.
Case studies
An analysis of 17 case studies of British Council and
wider HE projects and programmes brings to life
some of the main challenges discussed throughout
the report. The case studies range from policy
approaches to partnership projects and actions
undertaken by a range of institutions and agencies
operating in the HE sector globally. Examples of
good practice as well as reflections on what could
have been done differently for improved gender
equality impact are included.
11
Recommendations
The report concludes by making a set of
recommendations in 12 core thematic areas, for the
reduction of gender inequalities and the
improvement of outcomes for women and girls
worldwide through HE.
1. Prioritise gender mainstreaming
Progress towards gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls is a core ambition,
but it is not achieved without intentional focus.
Gender audits of current and planned projects
should be conducted systematically and standard
documentation should invite discussion of the ways
in which sex and gender analysis is (or is not)
relevant to, and reflected in, the work at hand.
Sufficient resource allocation for the work of gender
specialists should be factored into planning. Parties
should take up, and build on, training in gender
equality. Management reviews should include
competence and operational success in gender
mainstreaming. Externally commissioned work must
include gendered analysis conducted by
demonstrably competent analysts. Gender equality
objectives and outcomes need to be explicit and not
assumed, at every stage of project cycles and their
associated documentation. The default indicators in
monitoring and evaluation plans should be refined
and replaced as necessary, to enable analysis of the
gender inequalities and progress towards equality
that cannot be captured by simply ‘counting’
participation, access or completion rates by sex/
gender. Layers of disadvantage, including
intersecting inequalities, should be identified.
Materials demonstrating institutional commitment to
gender equality should be developed and promoted
in communications.
2. Develop gender expertise
Gender equality is currently not comprehensively
mainstreamed (as discussed above) and neither is
expertise on gender inequality regularly sought out
where it is needed. International NGOs focusing on
gender and education tend not to work in HE
spaces. Leaders in HE and in Research and
Innovation organisations worldwide have come to
state the importance of integrating gender equality
considerations into their work, creating a demand
for country, regional and global gender specialists
who have a specific focus on HE.
3. Ensure an intersectional approach
Good practice is not currently widespread, with the
majority of initiatives taking ‘women’ as the only
category of analysis. Ensure that interventions are
inclusive of minoritised women, disabled women and
other disadvantaged groups, and consider whether
programmes could produce more impact by being
targeted at specific groups of women and girls. The
different experiences of women and girls with
different intersecting identities need to be theorised,
monitored and evaluated.
4. Put a greater focus on violence against women
VAW in HE has been identified as an urgent global
predicament. It is a risk, concern and critical
challenge for all those involved in HE who need to
take a step up for accountability and safeguarding.
Urgent action is required to work with specialists to
develop evidence-based policy and assurance
frameworks, particularly in transnational HE
contexts where students appear to be at even
greater risk than home students. Guidance should
be provided to students and staff. Data collection on
VAW prevalence and institutional response should
be mandated. Prevention of VAW in HEIs should be a
priority area for investment in best practice.
5. Address women’s under-representation in HE
leadership
Across the board, women in HE who are equally as
talented as men are deprived of equivalent
opportunities to rise to better-rewarded positions of
influence and leadership. Women leaders when in
place are also notably effective champions of
further actions to address other forms of gender
inequalities in HE. Commit to long-term action to
address the leaky pipeline, glass ceiling, sticky floor
and other known patterns of impediment to women’s
equal leadership in HE, for which there are
established good practice models that can be
adapted for cultural context as required. Practices
and policies for recruitment and promotion, as well
as other institutional norms, can conflate good
leadership with masculinity, whereas excellence in
inclusive leadership should be advanced and
rewarded.
6. Tackle subject segregation, particularly in STEM
STEM remains a priority focus area globally for HEIs,
at the same time as being a male-dominated field.
When taking action to increase the numbers of
women in STEM, make use of country and regional
differences to address cultural gendered
assumptions, and be inclusive of women in all their
diversity. Ensure that other, less male-dominated
subject areas within or outside the STEM tradition
(e.g. climate geography, nursing studies) are not
overlooked.
12
7. Take a gendered approach to online learning
and collaboration
Ensure that online projects are designed for equality
of access and outcomes, being alert to the
unintended consequences of algorithms. Account
for benefits and disbenefits to women when
deciding on modes of learning and collaboration.
Maintain opportunities, such as for early-career
researchers, by generating the means for them to
collaborate online with exper ts around the world.
The engagement of HE projects with women in local
communities should be protected and enhanced
through online activities which can be recorded and
published to increase their visibility. E-learning
projects and modules that address gender
inequality in HE, including sexual harassment and
violence, should be developed and widely
disseminated.
8. Strengthen organisational leadership and
commitment to address gender equality in
strategy, policy, quality assurance and delivery
The evidence from HE initiatives and similar research
on gender equality more broadly is clear that the
buy-in and commitment of senior organisational
leadership is critical to the advancement of gender
equality. Decisive ongoing actions to address
gender inequalities are needed. These actions need
to be accompanied by consistent and strong
messages about the importance of the agenda to
promote gender equality, even and perhaps
especially where other parties or partners seem
uninterested. Men in managerial positions have an
important role to play in taking a lead on gender
equality. In place of the ‘institutional betrayal’ so
often experienced by women when discrimination
and discriminatory violence go unchecked, leaders
should model ‘institutional courage’ in the face of
gender inequality. It should be clear that overtly
discriminatory acts such as restricting women’s
access to HE, restricting access to education about
gender, and other discriminatory actions and
omissions are incompatible with core institutional
values. Positive action should be taken to
communicate this unequivocally to partners,
associates and stakeholders working in global HE.
‘Leadership for gender equality’ training must be
considered for managers and specific gender
competencies included in management training and
frameworks.
9. Recognise and promote gender studies and
women’s HEIs
Strategically support and champion programmes
and modules that involve gender studies. HEIs that
are for women can be models for woman-friendly
STEM learning, research and leadership, and as such
should be supported and learned from.
10. Take a lifecycle approach
Recognise the linkages between primary, secondary
and higher education and employment to build
pathways and opportunities for women and girls,
particularly underfunded and under-represented
groups. HE programmes benefit from being linked
with other programmes that are focused on other
areas, such as primary or secondary education,
active citizenship and social norms for gender
equality in the community. HE programmes should
seek synergy with activities in other programme
areas to complement and enhance each other. The
impact of gender-transformative interventions is felt
over the long term, requiring a long-term approach
to planning, monitoring and evaluation. Indicators
should go wider than measuring individual success
to include multiplier effects such as evidence of
participants’ ongoing influence in their communities
as ambassadors for gender equality.
11. Assert the centrality of equality and inclusion
to the definition of quality and excellence in HE
Practices that reinforce social inequalities or that
only work well for one half of the population cannot
be represented as high quality. Yet research shows
that quality and excellence as defined and measured
in HE are currently reflective of gender inequalities
and often perpetuate them. Definitions of quality and
excellence in curriculum content, pedagogy,
programming, candidate selection and policy must
be underpinned by gender equality standards.
Ensure that curricula – including teacher training
curricula – are gender sensitive and gender
transformative.
12. Act at scale
Impressive individual programmes in HE make
profound positive changes in the lives of women,
while every woman empowered goes on to be a role
model and empower others. Advocacy for gender-
responsive pedagogy and practice in national-level
HE plans and frameworks should be prioritised, to
greatly enhance the multiplier effects of
interventions for gender equality. Frameworks and
partnership programmes that have significant or
global reach should incorporate specific gender
equality plans, policies and monitoring systems to
enable transparency and efficacy.
13
1.1 Introduction
In higher education (HE), the British Council creates
educational opportunities and supports
improvements to HE worldwide, with a focus on the
shared global challenges of quality, inclusion and
internationalisation. This is achieved through
engaging policymakers, education leaders,
academics, researchers and students in
international dialogue, partnerships, mobility and
exchange.
HE is recognised as an important mechanism for
maintaining enduring relationships between people
of the UK and other countries, and HE is also a core
export for the UK. Ambitious targets have been set
by governments, regions and HE bodies to embed
international experience and mobility into HE
systems and the student experience. Through the
British Council’s programmes and activities, the
breadth and diversity of the UK’s education offer is
championed and supported, cementing its position
as a trusted partner for countries and individuals
around the world.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls is central to the work of the British Council
as a cultural relations organisation that promotes
equality, diversity and inclusion as core values. The
British Council has made a commitment to improving
the life chances of women and girls in its Corporate
Plan and to ensuring that women and girls
participate in, and benefit from, decision making and
social change.
As recognised in numerous national and
international frameworks, including most recently
the Sustainable Development Goals (all goals,
especially for our purposes SDG 4 and SDG 5) and
the UK’s International Development (Gender
Equality) Act 2014, reducing inequality between men
and women is a fundamental ambition for all
societies. It needs to be purposefully integrated into
plans and strategies at every stage of a project or
programme and at every institutional level.
Promoting gender equality and the empowerment of
women and girls has an essential part to play in any
mission to reduce human suffering, vulnerability and
poverty, and create positive social change through
enhancing prosperity, growth and development,
security and stability. It is not possible to do this
work well without intentionally planning to advance
gender equality and empowerment. Unequal
treatment based on gender expression and gender
identity, particularly trans and non-binary identities,
often overlaps and intersects with sex-based
discrimination (see the glossary for more on sex and
gender).
There is enormous potential for the British Council to
be a world leader in integrating gender equality
considerations at every level in its HE work. Already,
the British Council has been making a weighty
positive contribution through its range of gender-
sensitive and gender-transformative projects and
programmes. The ambition is for every one of its
projects and programmes to mainstream gender
equality and empowerment, proficiently, and
recognising the intersection with other
characteristics including race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation and disability.
Section 1
14
It is likely that there will be significant changes to the
international HE agenda, in the short and longer
term, as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic
which emerged as this report was being written.
Careful analysis of the potential gendered impact of
these changes is required.
A move towards virtual, online exchanges across
geographical boundaries, whether those are local or
international, may disadvantage those with the most
limited personal access to IT, who are more likely to
be women (Plan International, 2018). Online abuse,
which is highly gendered and particularly marked
against minoritised women (Amnesty International,
2017), will undoubtedly increase.
At the same time, internationalisation and learning
opportunities that involve less travel and fewer
face-to-face meetings may benefit those
constrained by family and caring responsibilities,
enabling greater equality of access, and will reduce
the chances of exposure to physical manifestations
of sexual harassment and violence which are known
risks for female international students.
This report was commissioned by the British Council
to signal its intent to level up every aspect of its
work in HE for the advancement of gender equality.
It is a unique reference document that brings
together for the first time the wealth of research,
knowledge and evidence-based practice on gender
equality and inequalities that are specific to HE
systems and institutions around the world. It
contains:
• data about gender and HE
• analysis of past and present approaches and
methods for advancing gender equality in HE
around the world and using HE as a vehicle for
the advancement of gender equality
• resources and guidance for British Council staff
and partners on mainstreaming gender equality.
The report encourages the reader to consider
gender equality issues in HE through two main
documents:
• the British Council’s theory of change framework
for gender equality and empowerment of women
and girls
• the British Council’s HE and science strategy.
These frameworks are used to synthesise and
integrate opportunities for the promotion of gender
equality in HE globally.
15
1.2 How to use this document
This report was commissioned with the primary but
not sole aim of assisting the British Council, and
British Council staff, to reflect on how its current and
future work programmes in HE contribute to the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment
of women and girls. Some sections of this report will
be of wider interest and use, to scholars and
practitioners in HE, to gender equality specialists,
and to representatives of government and civil
society organisations with an interest in HE and in
gender equality.
Where information is presented about specific
countries and regions in the text of the report, this is
recorded in the Index.
• Information and statistics about gender
inequality in HE, which will be of interest to all,
are recorded in Sections 1.3 and 1.4 of the
report. There are specific statistics and examples
from countries and regions around the world
throughout the text, which can be searched for.
• Section 2.1 will be of interest primarily to British
Council staff who work in HE and who want to
reflect on how their current and future work
programmes align with the five outcome areas
identified in the institutional theory of change for
women and girls’ empowerment.
• Section 2.2 will be of interest primarily to British
Council staff who work in HE and who want to
reflect on how to apply gender equality
considerations to the activities, outputs and
outcomes in each of the five strategic portfolio
areas for HE and science.
• A selection of case studies looking at the work of
the British Council and others in HE globally is
presented in Section 2.3, providing food for
thought and accessible inspiration for effective
ways to address gender inequalities in HE.
• Section 2.4 follows the British Council’s five
portfolio intervention areas for HE and science
(policy and systems development, institutional
partnerships, professional development, student
mobility, and insight, analysis and advocacy) and
sets out a table of up-to-date resources aligned
to each intervention area. The resources include
datasets for country-specific statistics on HE.
While the tables are aligned to the British
Council’s own strategic priorities, the resources
will be of use to HEIs, international civil society
organisations and others working in the field of
HE and HE policy. Suggestions for the relevant
case studies of interest, as well as suggestions
for developing indicators, and resources to assist
with project and programme planning, are
provided.
• Concluding remarks and recommendations for
the work of the British Council in addressing
gender inequality in HE are presented in
Section2.5.
1.3 What is the role of higher
education in transforming society
in relation to women’s equality and
empowerment?
Higher education is an ideal vehicle for perpetuating
– and for challenging – gender inequalities in the
realms of policy, individual power, social norms and
attitudes, fairer access to resources and dialogue,
and building capacity for collective action. Putting
resources into promoting gender equality in HE
worldwide is both the right thing to do and the smart
thing to do.
16
Higher education, once the privilege
of the elite, is increasingly within reach
of the majority – including women and
girls – in all countries. Education at all
levels, but higher education especially,
gives women options, empowers them to be
independent thinkers and agents of change.
Michele Bachelet, Executive Director UN Women, addressing the 5th Global Colloquium
of University Presidents, Pennsylvania, April 2011
‘’
Figur e 1: Promoting gender equality in higher education
Gender inequalities are
present throughout HE
and without action
they will persist
When gender inequalities
are not tackled in HE
institutions and systems,
they contribute to wider
social inequality
It’s a legal obligation
to comply with national
and international
gender equality law
and frameworks,
including the International
Development (Gender
Equality) Act 2014
•
•
The right thing to do
HE and HE systems
are ideal vehicles for
challenging gender
inequalities at scale
through social norms,
education, pedagogical
practice, research
and innovation
•
The smart thing to do
•
17
1.3.1 Benefits to individuals
Individuals benefit directly and significantly from
investment in their tertiary education (OECD, 2008).
The internal rates of return (profitability for
individuals) of tertiary education are high, and
generally higher for women than for men. This is the
case globally, with the average labour market
returns for tertiary education now being higher than
any other stage of education, estimated in 2014 at
16.8 per cent for women and 15.2 per cent for men.
This enhanced benefit of HE for women applies
across low-income and high-income economies
(World Bank, 2014) with few exceptions (See figure 2).
Enhanced earning potential for women does not
only bring material benefits, but also economic
independence. Economic independence gives
women the power to make independent financial
decisions for themselves and their families, which is
a marker of gender equality (Mu t h , 2018). Economic
independence is also a lifeline for women who would
otherwise be forced by dependency to endure
violence in the family home.
1 The promotion of
women’s economic independence is a state
obligation under the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Women.
2
Individuals also benefit in indirect and non-monetary
ways. The following benefits to individuals have been
identified in the literature (OECD, 2007/2008):
• better individual and family health through
indirect effects such as income; direct effects
such as changes in individual competencies,
risk-management and self-efficacy, including
control of fertility; intergenerational effects of
educated parents on the health and cognitive
development of their children
• improved investment awareness giving higher
return on financial assets
• non-market job satisfactions such as better
working conditions
• greater amenities in urban life such as mobility
into areas with a low crime rate
• enjoyment of the pursuit of study.
Tot a l Male Female
Region Primary Second-
ary
Tertiary Primary Second-
ary
Tertiary Primary Second-
ary
Tertiary
High
income
4.9 6.6 11.1 3.3 7. 5 10 .7 7. 2 5.2 12.3
East Asia 13.6 5.3 14. 8 12 .6 5.8 15 . 0 9.5 6.4 15 . 8
Europe/
Central
Asia
13.9 4.7 10.3 12.1 4.2 9.8 11. 9 6.4 12 . 2
Latin
America
7.8 5.4 15.9 7.9 5.3 15.7 8.7 6.5 17. 4
Middle
East/
North
Africa
16. 0 4.5 10 .5 12 .7 4.3 10. 2 21.4 7.4 13.5
South
Asia
6.0 5.0 17. 3 4.7 3.9 16. 6 4.8 6.2 23.3
Sub-
Saharan
Africa
14. 4 10.6 21.0 12. 5 10 .1 21.0 17. 5 12 .7 21.3
All
economies
11. 5 6.8 14.6 10 .1 6.7 14.4 13.2 8.2 16.1
1. See, for example, Scaricabarozzi (2017) Women’s Economic Independence, A Way Out of Violence.
2. Beijing Declaration, Paragraph 26. See www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm
Figure 2: Average returns to schooling by level
18
For women in particular, participation in HE also
supports increased awareness of their legal rights
(e.g. Malik & Courtney, 2011), supporting progress
towards gender equality because women’s rights
under law (formal equality) can often be in advance
of women’s experience of discriminatory custom
and practice.
As the next section of this report will show in detail,
when gender equality is promoted within HEIs, both
women and men benefit from the freedom to fulfil
their potential. Women are protected from gender-
based harassment, abuse and violence, as well as
from the discrimination that stands in the way of
equal access to opportunities and recognition. When
a work–life balance is enabled in the organisation,
distribution and planning of work, both men and
women benefit and will thrive (EIGE, 2016). The ‘leaky
pipeline’ of talented women who will build up
expertise often over many years is fixed by paying
attention to the barriers and inequalities that stand
in their way, and when the full potential of their
talents is achieved, then the institutions who have
successfully attracted and retained those women
benefit from their excellence in studying and
producing knowledge, teaching and research.
1.3.2 Social benefits
Higher education produces health effects which
benefit the state as well as the individual, including
reduced infant mortality, increased longevity and
improved public health. For women and girls in
particular, increased exposure to education is
associated with enhanced control over fertility,
which produces lower (healthier) fertility rates.
Education to HE level is associated with increased
participation in community affairs, democratic
processes and engagement in voluntary work as
well as reduced participation in violent crime and
indirect environmental benefits.
3 In the UK, HE
graduates are more likely to hold egalitarian
attitudes to gender equality as well as to be anti-
racist (Bynner & Egerton, 2001). More broadly, a
more highly educated population contributes to the
improvement of civic institutions and to political
stability.
The social health and civic benefits of engagement
in HE are additional to, and contribute to, the wider
economic benefits which are well documented (e.g.
Holland et al., 2013; Valero & Van Reenen, 2019). As
a rule, women’s participation in HE is associated with
a decreased gap between the sexes in labour force
participation (UNE S CO, 2013). Economies benefit
from the increased productivity and efficacy
delivered as a result of the application of knowledge
developed in HEIs among men and women. At the
same time, creativity and innovation are stifled when
members of workforces (such as science
researchers) are homogeneous, resembling each
other in social class, background and gender.
4
Elizabeth Pollitzer has curated a highly detailed
reference list for why gender matters in research
and innovation (Pollitzer, n.d.).
HE lays the foundations for the development of skills
which are likely to go on being enhanced, notably
skills in computing, organising and teaching. In the
UK, research has shown that female graduates in
particular continue through their career trajectory
to gain skills and confidence in their social
performance at a rate higher than those who have
not experienced HE.
5 In 2004, the combined social
rates of return to HE were calculated at 17.8 per cent
in the OECD area, 24.3 per cent in Africa, 23.2 per
cent in Asia and 26.1 per cent in Latin America,
representing a return on investment considerably
higher than returns on capital or private
investments.
6
3. OECD (2008), ibid.
4. See, for example, Handley et al. (2015) and Criado Perez (2019).
5. Bynner & Egerton (2001), ibid.
6. McMahon (2004) cited in OECD (2008), ibid.
19
The education of girls and women on an equal
footing with boys and men is substantively
empowering, but it is also powerfully symbolic. As
Ra b (2010) noted in her study of female university
professors in Pakistan, 11 out of 15 of the women
were brought up by mothers who themselves had no
formal education beyond the primary level, for
whom the education of their daughters in particular
was very important. Rab speculates that the act of
insisting on their daughters’ education was an act of
challenge to the cycle of gender disadvantage and
the value system of patriarchal society that was their
own experience.
In relation to research, the Global Research Council
(GRC, 2016) has stated:
• an increase in the diversity of research teams
correlates positively with research quality, as
more diverse teams are more creative and
produce a greater diversity of ideas
• increased diversity can correlate positively with
higher performance
• the ability to attract the best talent into the
research workforce in future will be hindered if it
is perceived not to be fair.
As the next section of this report will show in detail,
embedding a strong focus on gender equality in HE
is not only required in law (and increasingly required
by research-funding bodies in order for departments
and institutions to be able to access funding) but
improves the quality of teaching and learning,
research design and implementation in addition to
contributing to healthier and more cohesive
institutions (EIGE, 2016).
Most importantly, our HEIs are the incubators for the
thought leaders and social leaders of the future. The
creation of HE institutions and systems where norms
for gender equality are practised and modelled, and
where the voices and ideas of women are valued and
raised up, is one of the most powerful tools available
to society for accelerating progress towards the
equality and empowerment of women and girls
everywhere. When harmful, rigid social gender norms
are challenged, and gender equality is promoted, the
full realisation of equal rights for people of all genders
and gender identities becomes achievable.
Staff capacity for critical thinking on what it means to
do gender mainstreaming in terms of design, content
and measurement of outcomes – so not only ‘equality
monitoring’ that focuses on numbers of girls/boys or
women/men – is generally limited. If the British
Council wants to prioritise outcomes on women and
girls’ empowerment, staff need to be able to think
more comprehensively about what promoting
transformative outcomes means in specic
programmes – whether they target or mainstream
women and girls. Additionally, it will be important for
staff to develop a greater understanding of how
changes in gender relations can be manifested, as
well as the range of possible outcomes that benet
women and girls that can be achieved to reduce the
tendency to count numbers of participants by sex as
the only measure of success.’
Women and Girls: Making a Lasting Difference (British Council & ODI, 2017)
‘’
20
[F]or many women, entry into higher education can
be a means of mitigating gender oppression,
enabling social mobility, nancial independence,
professional identity development and entry into
the labour market. However, this is accompanied by
contradictions and tensions as women experience a
range of discriminatory practices, gendered
processes and exclusions within higher education
itself.
Morley et al. (2006)
‘’
1.4 How is gender inequality reflected,
reinforced and challenged in HE worldwide?
The provision of HE is a vehicle for individual and
social good. It can also be a significant driver for the
promotion of equality and empowerment of women
and girls. However, gender inequalities can also be
reproduced within HE systems. Some of the ways in
which gender inequalities are expressed and
challenged within HE systems are set out in Section
1 of this report, together with illustrative data.
As Morley et al. (2006) discuss in their detailed
report on gender inequality in HE within five
Commonwealth countries, gender discrimination
that occurs in HE is not always conscious.
Sometimes it can occur ‘by default rather than
design’. In other words, discriminatory practices in
institutions that are impeding women’s
achievements can arise through a failure to notice
and rectify or compensate for discriminatory
practices in the wider society.
For example, unfair and disproportionate
expectations and demands that are made of women
(such as responsibility for childcare, elder care and
housework within the traditional home) will mean
that women have less time to dedicate to rest or to
academic work outside of the working day.
A positive, gender-transformative approach to this
issue for women working in HE would include action
to change social norms and promote fairer
distribution of household labour. This transformative
approach would be undertaken in addition to
gender-sensitive actions such as introducing flexible
working policies. However, a discriminatory
approach would be one where those taking hiring
and promotion decisions about female academics
allowed their prejudices (for example, that women in
general are better suited to childcare than to
academic work) to direct how they treat women
compared to men. Such action, whether based on
conscious or subconscious discrimination, would
result in fewer women than men progressing
through mentorship, patronage, appointment and
promotion in academic life.
21
1.4.1 Data and measurability
Gender inequalities in HE are not always directly
measurable. Routinely, numbers of women or men
participating in or benefiting from programmes are
used or relied upon to indicate the extent to which
an activity reflects gender equality. But in a context
which is ‘gender-blind’ and simply counting equal
numbers of men and women as an indicator of
equality, the qualitative experience of those men and
women may have been very different. After all,
women and girls are not a numerical minority in
society but minoritised through their experience of
discrimination. The barriers experienced and
overcome by women in programmes and activities in
HE will have been different, as may the levels of
interest, enjoyment or satisfaction experienced.
Compounded disadvantage (such as being both a
woman and a disabled person) may be critical to
understanding an individual’s gendered experience.
For individuals who are transgender, or whose
identities do not correspond with binary gender
categories, data collection methods may not capture
this information at all – and analysis of their specific
experiences in HE is rare. A recent review for UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI)
7 pointed out the
importance of being clear about distinguishing
between sex and gender identity in order to improve
outputs.
Some of these challenges can be overcome by more
sophisticated quantitative data collection methods
such as ensuring that data can be analysed for sex/
gender in tandem with other characteristics such as
ethnicity or age. In many country contexts, data that
goes beyond counting sex/gender is not routinely
collected, but this should not be a barrier to
introducing more detailed indicators at project level.
Data comprising participation rates, completion
rates, leadership statistics and pay differentials is
informative to the extent that it can indicate the
existence of inequalities between men and women,
but it does not reveal the (often multiple) roots of
those inequalities.
This report looks not only at how gender inequality is
reflected and reinforced in HE, but also at how
gender inequality can be challenged. As set out in
the British Council’s theory of change for gender
equality and empowerment (described later in this
report), central to long-term progress is changes in
the attitudes, beliefs, practices and discriminatory
social norms that are supportive of gender
inequality. Research and evidence that investigates
and monitors changes in these factors and their
indicators within HE settings and systems is
invaluable.
7. Moody & Aldercotte (2019) p. 55. See www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/UKRI-020920-EDI-EvidenceReviewInternational.pdf
22
The publication Times Higher Education (THE)
calculates world university rankings. These are not
without controversy but do provide access to some
global comparative data. In April 2020 THE published
their list of the top 100 universities for gender
equality. In recognition of the UN’s SDG 5, the
ranking was developed to reflect the fact that
‘gender equality is one of the key challenges facing
society today’, and that ‘we cannot hope to develop
the world sustainably if the needs of over half our
population are not addressed’. This ranking focuses
on universities’ research on the study of gender,
their policies on gender equality and their
commitment to recruiting and promoting women as
students and staff.
The ranking, which covers 547 universities from 81
countries, provides a useful set of metrics for the
participating individual institutions; however, it fails
to measure policy or action addressing sexual
harassment or VAW, which is a central concern in
universities worldwide (see Section 1.4.12). One
metric (15.4 per cent of the overall score) counts
the proportion of female students who are first
generation, which rightly goes beyond sex to
consider its intersection with family educational
background. One measure (1.95 per cent) is given
for the existence of a policy of non-discrimination
against transgender people, which rightly goes
beyond sex to gender identity. However, universities
conducting their own assessments should ensure
that data collection can be disaggregated across a
fuller range of characteristics that intersect with sex
to compound or ameliorate disadvantage, including
for example ethnicity and disability.
While the top rankings are dominated by universities
in Europe/UK, North America and Australasia, the
top 100 list features universities in Brazil (7 and 69),
Pakistan (15), Indonesia (19, 57 and 73), the
Russian Federation (36), South Korea (50), Chile
(58 and 63), Malaysia (59, 74 and 92), Iran (69),
Mexico (69), South Africa (75) and Ecuador (76).
Most university rankings and other performance
measures still fail to value equality as an indicator
of quality.
1La Trobe University, Australia
2Western Sydney University, Australia
3Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
4University of Bologna, Italy
5University of Worcester, UK
6Charles Stuart University, Australia
7Federal University of Sao Paolo, Brazil
8University of East London, UK
9University of Auckland, New Zealand
10 York University, Canada
Figure 3: Top ten global universities, the gender equality ranking 2020
23
1.4.2 Legal and policy frameworks
International frameworks for gender equality that
have been adopted by almost all countries and
which are relevant to HE include the UN’s Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW). In 2011 the UK
Government Equalities Office (GEO) published a
policy paper (G E O , 2 0 11) summarising CEDAW’s
comprehensive framework for tackling gender
inequality. The obligations and requirements upon
states – and their ministries – are a good point for
reflection for all those working in HE, including those
who are UK-based. CEDAW articles summarised by
the GEO which are particularly pertinent to the work
of HE actors include:
• Article 2 – pursue by all appropriate means a
policy of eliminating discrimination against
women
• Article 3 – take all appropriate measures to
ensure the full development and advancement of
women
• Article 4 – adopt temporary special measures to
accelerate de facto equality for women until the
objectives of equality of opportunity and
treatment have been achieved
• Article 5 – take appropriate measures to
eliminate stereotyping, prejudices and
discriminatory cultural practices
• Article 8 – ensure that women are allowed to
participate in the work of international
organisations
• Article 10 – ensure that women have equal rights
with men in education, and eliminate stereotypes
of the role of women and men through revising
educational materials and teaching methods
• Article 11 – ensure that women have the same
opportunities as men in employment, promotion,
training, equal remuneration, social security and
safe working conditions with protections for
pregnancy, maternity and marital status
• Article 14 – eliminate discrimination against
women in rural areas for equal participation
including in education.
The UN’s SDGs, particularly SDG 4 and SDG 5, are
globally recognised calls to action for gender
equality and for education. UNESCO states:
Through the Education 2030 Framework for
Action, SDG4 aims to ‘Ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all’ and SDG 5 to
‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women
and girls.’ The Education 2030 agenda recognizes
that gender equality requires an approach that
‘ensures that girls and boys, women and men not
only gain access to and complete education
cycles, but are empowered equally in and through
education.’
8
The SDGs require that data should be disaggregated
by sex.
9
In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 has specific
provisions for HEIs who must not (directly or
indirectly) discriminate against, harass or victimise
prospective or current students in addition to the
responsibilities under the act held by HEIs as
employers, bodies that carry out public functions
and service providers. Positive action provisions of
the act allow for proportionate action to remedy the
disadvantage faced by students because of their
protected characteristics (e.g. sex). The Public
Sector Equality Duty requires that HEIs must have
due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful
discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity
and to foster good relations between people who
have particular characteristics and those who do
not.
The UK’s International Development (Gender
Equality) Act 2014 directs the State to have due
regard to reducing gender inequality when funding
programmes that constitute development assistance
to countries outside the UK.
Beyond the UK, there is a range of national and
regional instruments to address gender inequality
and the database Legislation Online provides a
searchable selection of international and national
treaties, laws and commitments to gender equality.
In Europe, gender equality and gender
mainstreaming in research is one of the five
priorities identified as critical for inducing lasting
step-changes in Europe’s research performance and
effectiveness, ‘to end the waste of talent which we
cannot afford and to diversify views and approaches
in research and foster excellence’ (European
Commission, 2012).
10
Further sections of this report will discuss policies
and frameworks developed by countries and sector
bodies including research institutes (and see case
studies 2, on national policies, and 7, on the Athena
Swan framework in the UK).
8. UNESCO (2019). See en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality (accessed 2 July 2020).
9. UN (2019) Data disaggregation and the global indicator framework. See unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/meetings/sdg-inter-workshop-jan-2019/
Session%202.a_UNSD%20IAEG.pdf
10. See p. 4.
24
Figure 4: Percentage of people aged 25–35 who have completed at least two years of tertiary education
(by gender)
11
1.4.3 Enrolment in HE
Concerted global action on equity in education
provision, including at primary and secondary level,
has contributed to the current picture recorded in
UNESCO’s eAtlas on Gender Equality in Education:
12
globally, more women than men now complete HE in
most countries (52 per cent vs 48 per cent).
However, in low-income countries which have the
lowest enrolment figures, men still outnumber
women. Access to HE is limited in most countries to
a relatively small number of people and remains
heavily influenced by economic background as well
as by gender and race/ethnicity particularly in lower-
income countries (Schendel & McCowan, 2016).
While the completion of HE boosts the life chances
of individuals, and the benefits for individual women
are – as we have seen – arguably higher than they
are for men, this does not mean that completion of
HE acts as an absolute leveller between men and
women. Thus, the higher completion rates for
women globally do not translate into personal
advantage for those women over comparable men,
or for women in general, globally. Gender inequality
persists during and after undertaking HE, so
advantages to women are always relative.
11. UNESCO data on educational inequalities taken from www.education-inequalities.org/indicators/comp_
higher#?sort=disparity&dimension=sex&group=all&age_group=comp_higher_2yrs_2529&countries=all
12. Retrieved from tellmaps.com/uis/gender/#!/tellmap/-1195952519 (no longer available).
Low Income countres
Upper Middle
Income countries
Cambodia
Ethiopia
Malawi
Pakistan
Tajikistan
Yemen
0100 %
https://www.education-inequalities.org/indicators/comp_ higher#?sort=disparity&dimension=sex&group=all&age_group=comp _
higher_2yrs_2529&countries=al higher#?sort=disparity&dimension=sex&group=all&age_group=comp_higher_2yrs_2529&countries=all
Female Male
25
Different vectors of gender inequality have an effect
upon the ways in which individuals and groups of
women may benefit from completing HE. For
example, in the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan
and Tunisia, rapidly rising female educational
attainment has not translated into higher rates of
participation in the labour market for women. Rather,
graduate women’s unemployment rate has risen.
This phenomenon, which has become known as the
MENA paradox, is the result of a number of factors,
including the contraction in public sector
employment opportunities for graduates – while
private sector employment remains inaccessible or
undesirable for women who have family
commitments because of fewer benefits and longer
hours (Assaad et al., 2018). In Iran, by 2012 the
number of women entering HE had overtaken men
at more than 60 per cent,
13 but legislation was
introduced to cap the numbers of women admitted
to HE and more men than women now enrol in HE.
Women are also banned from enrolling in various
university courses in a number of Iranian
universities.
14
Should the lower uptake of HE opportunities by men,
predominantly in higher-income countries, be an
area for intervention? There is no evidence that men
are being directly discriminated against in favour of
women in terms of access to places. On average,
women’s examination scores are higher
15 and in
higher-income countries they apply in greater
numbers for places (but not across all subject areas,
as discussed later in this report).
As the Global Partnership for Education has noted,
girls’ successes in education do not come at the
expense of boys.
16 More than one in four World
Values Survey respondents agreed that ‘a university
education is more important for a boy than a girl’,
ranging from two per cent in Sweden who agreed, to
59 per cent in Haiti, with men on average ten per
cent more likely than women to agree with the
statement (UN E S C O, 2019). Factors that can hold
men back, such as stereotypes of active masculinity
being less compatible with traditional classroom
learning environments than stereotypes of attentive
femininity, are transmitted in family cultures as well
as in wider society, including among teachers. These
can influence expectations and performance.
Factors such as a wider diversity of appealing or
relatively well-paid non-graduate job opportunities
being available for young men in some societies may
also influence these patterns.
17 For example, in the
Asia and Pacific region, young men from seaside
fishing communities are more likely to leave school
to take up work in fishing, while young women
without that option remain in education. Nursing
education is an investment for families because of
the demand from high-income countries for nurses.
Nursing is still seen as a predominantly female role
and so more women are supported to enrol in
nursing HE programmes (Ramachandran, 2010).
Educational marginalisation of both men and women
is affected by poverty and socio-economic
disadvantage, ethnic minority or caste status,
migrant status, disability and other characteristics
which may be more or less compounded by
intersection with gender. However, given that
current data suggests that men in general are not
being disadvantaged compared to women, by
women’s higher uptake of HE opportunities, there
may not be a compelling case for dedicated and
specific action designed to drive up men’s relative
enrolment in HE in higher-income countries.
Nevertheless, all activities that are gender
transformative are designed to act upon the
inequitable differences in the lives and social
treatment of women and men – and in an
educational context these activities would include
analysing teaching and learning content and
delivery to ensure it is inclusive of all genders as well
as acting upon binary and constricting gender
stereotypes of both masculinity and femininity. For
example, dress codes in HEIs that specify different
requirements for men and women reinforce
stereotypes and may create practical difficulties for
some trans people (Pugh, 2016 ). As gender
sensitivity becomes embedded in global concepts of
quality in HE delivery, so all gender disparities – not
simply those that clearly disadvantage women and
girls – should be diminished.
13. BBC news report (22 September 2012). See www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19665615
14. UNESCO data on educational inequalities (June 2020). Retrieved from www.tellmaps.com/uis/gender/#!/tellmap/79054752/2 (no longer
available).
15. For example, UNESCO data on educational inequalities (April 2020). See www.education-inequalities.org/share/g0c9i
16. GPE (2017) Guidance for Developing Gender-Responsive Education Sector Plans, p. xv. See https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org/en/library/
why-are-boys-under-performing-in-education-gender-analysis-of-four-asia-pacific-countries and www.globalpartnership.org/sites/default/
files/2018-02-gpe-guidance-gender-responsive-esp.pdf
17. See, for example, UNGEI (2012) and HEPI (2016). www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Boys-to-Men.pdf
26
The intersection of gender with other characteristics
of disadvantage or privilege can sometimes be seen
to have an impact when we go beyond the headline
data. For example, in India undergraduate women
are 49 per cent of the total. This percentage remains
stable across most categories, but at the most
prestigious ‘institutes of national importance’ the
proportion of women enrolled drops to below 30 per
cent. Morley and Lugg (2009) observed in their
study of universities in Ghana and Tanzania that
under-representation of women students was
greatest among the students from the most
deprived backgrounds.
There are quite clear-cut exceptions to the general
patterns observed in gender disparities, at
institutional as well as national and regional levels.
These exceptions show that gender norms are
variable and can be shifted, whether those norms
are operating at the social, institutional or individual
level, and whether they act to suppress progress
towards gender equality, or accelerate it. Even small
‘nudges’ can have significant effects: female
students’ probability of majoring in the male-
dominated field of economics was increased by
around six percentage points, by providing
information about careers and sending an
encouraging email remarking on their ability (Li,
2018).
27
Japan: despite its high GDP, there are signicantly
fewer female graduates than in comparable high-
income countries, with women making up only 45
per cent of entrants to undergraduate degree
courses, and only 31 per cent of PhD graduates
compared with the OECD average of 47 per cent.
This disparity is also reected in university teaching
staff (23 per cent, half the OECD average) (OECD,
2019). Commentators have noted that factors
playing a part in this picture include examples of
active discrimination such as articially boosting
the entrance scores of male medical school
applicants (Shirakawa, 2019) – a practice now
proscribed by the Education Ministry – as well as the
long working hours culture for professionals,
deemed incompatible with family commitments
which have been regarded as the domain of women.
Strongly stratied gender roles affect the
aspirations of women as well as the climate
surrounding them within HEIs which can be
experienced as hostile (Rich, 2019).
28
1.4.4 Progression to research
UNESCO data shows that despite improved access,
women are less likely to progress beyond master’s
level graduation or into research fields.
18
• 54 per cent of PhD graduates are male.
• 71 per cent of university researchers are male.
There is wide regional variation: Central Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean have the highest share
of female researchers at 49 per cent and 46 per
cent, compared with an average of 23 per cent in
Southern Asia. Within regions there is also significant
variation in the participation of female researchers
as a percentage of total researchers by country:
• the Americas: Venezuela 61 per cent; Peru 29
per cent
• Europe: North Macedonia 53 per cent;
Germany 28 per cent
• Africa: Tunisia 56 per cent; Chad three per cent
• Asia and the Pacific: Myanmar 76 per cent;
Jordan 20 per cent; Japan 17 per cent.
19
In the states of the former Soviet Union, the
percentage of women researchers is generally
relatively high, and stable.
20 A report on gender
balance in scientific research (Genova et al., 2014)
explained that:
Countries which experienced egalitarian policies
during the communist period stand out for both
higher levels of participation, and lower levels of
occupational segregation. However, egalitarian
policies with their generous provisions targeting
mothers (e.g. long maternity benefits) did not
challenge gender roles. New and more
transformative policies are being adopted, but still
today there is resistance to see parental
responsibility as a shared task, and also to accept
that leadership in science does not imply ‘giving
up’ motherhood.
21
Iceland is a country that is consistently recognised
as the closest to achieving gender equality, and it
has a long history of egalitarian policies, including
labour market policies and investment in social
infrastructure, that are also gender transformative.
22
The percentage of female researchers in Iceland is
46 per cent.
Gender stereotypes appear to confer disadvantage
to women and advantage to men, in systems where
individuals whose sex is known to the reviewers are
ranked. In a study conducted in Sweden,
applications for postdoctoral fellowships in medicine
were independently rated by the researchers, using
objective scales for scientific productivity. Male
applicants submitting their CVs were given far
higher scores by independent review panels than
female applicants with objectively equal scientific
productivity. In fact the most productive group of
female applicants was the only group of women
judged to be as competent as the least productive
group of male applicants. Female applicants would
have had to have been 2.5 times more productive
than male applicants to be rated equally. Women
were also rated lower on all the other evaluation
parameters (quality of proposed methodology and
relevance of research proposal). That year, four
women and 16 men were awarded postdoctoral
fellowships (Wennerås & Wold, 1997).
In the field of engineering and technology, no
country has more women than men engaged in
research other than Myanmar, where women make
up 76 per cent, reflecting the dominance of women
across the board in research.
18. UNESCO data on educational inequalities (April 2020). Retrieved from tellmaps.com/uis/gender/#!/tellmap/79054752 (no longer available).
19. UNESCO data on science, technology and innovation, August 2020 % Female researchers (all subjects). See data.uis.unesco.org/index.
aspx?queryid=64 See also UNESCO Women in Science Fact Sheet (June 2019): uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs55-women-
in-science-2019-en.pdf
20. UNESCO (2021) One in three researchers is a woman. 11 February. See en.unesco.org/news/one-three-researchers-woman
21. Genova et al. (2014) Achieving Balance at the Top of Scientific Research, p. 75. https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/genis-lab_
achieving_gender_balance_top_scientific_research_guidelines.pdf
22. Government of Iceland statement (December 2019). See www.government.is/diplomatic-missions/embassy-article/2019/12/18/Iceland-
remains-the-top-country-on-the-World-Economic-Forums-index-for-gender-parity/
29
Myanmar: Why are gender distributions in HE
enrolment and progression so different in Myanmar
from other countries? A report by Chinlone (2018)
points to the generalised shortage of human
resources in the academic sector – between 1989
and 2004 the number of HEIs increased from 32 to
154, with student numbers increasing from 120,000
to 890,000. Distance learning (more accessible to
women with caring responsibilities) has a long and
important tradition in the country. Research is a
part of the role of teaching staff, and staff begin
teaching as soon as they graduate. Traditions of
rote-learning, and of research funding that is not
distributed on merit, hamper innovation and
incentives to engage in research. Teaching staff are
very stretched, and are also expected to perform
administrative and management roles as well as
research roles while academic salaries are very low.
Teaching is one of the few professions available to
women in Myanmar (Thien, 2015), and the low pay
and high challenge make it less attractive to men
who have more options.
30
Few countries have seen significant changes in the
proportion of women researchers in engineering
and technology, with numbers remaining relatively
stable in UNESCO’s five years of data collection from
2012 to 2017. Exceptions include Oman, increasing
from one per cent in 2012 to 20 per cent in 2017,
while women researchers in humanities doubled
from 20 per cent to 41 per cent, reflecting a steep
general increase in all opportunities for women to
enter research, as national policies, strategies and
laws have enabled women’s participation in the
rapidly growing economy.
23 Egypt saw an increase
from 19 per cent in 2013 to 30 per cent in 2017,
which may reflect the unusually marked increase
(trebling) of research roles for qualified applicants in
the sector in Egypt during that time. Within Europe,
few figures are available, but the percentage of
female engineering and technology researchers in
the Netherlands only increased from 13 per cent in
2012 to 15 per cent in 2016 .
24
There is evidence to suggest that the gender bias in
favour of men in academic research is particularly
acute for the STEM subjects (science, technology,
engineering and maths). Additionally, men are
reluctant to accept evidence of gender bias in STEM,
particularly those working in HEIs. There is a
tendency for people working in STEM to see ‘doing
science’ as an objective business: in the same way
the deep hierarchies of caste in the practice of
science in India are resisted (Thomas, 2020). As
Handley et al. (2015) point out, broadening women’s
participation in STEM requires a widespread
willingness – especially by men – to acknowledge
that this bias exists before transformation is
possible. In countries where women have relative
financial security and relative choice to pursue
research work, enthusiasm for the subject may not
be enough to make up for daily exposure to a
heavily male-dominated working environment in
which the odds are against women to succeed on
equal merit, and male colleagues are unwilling to
acknowledge the disadvantage experienced by their
female colleagues.
1.4.5 Research and innovation
Research and innovation are critical to economic
strategies and to quality in HE. In the context of
international partnership programmes, there is a
focus on research and innovation in HE which
contributes to development. For example, the
winner of the Newton Prize for India in 2017 was a
project between institutions in the UK and India to
create more efficient solar energy.
25
Gender issues are not always visible in the plans or
other documentation for these research and
innovation programmes. However, gender issues are
always present: at institutional and policy levels as
well as the more obvious levels of external impact
(for example, solar power that heats water reduces
the labour drain on women who are expected to
collect firewood) and reach (for example, how many
women took part in the programme as researchers).
Research is highly likely to have impact that affects
men and women differently, because of the very
different daily lives and experiences and treatment
of men and women in society. Analysis by sex and
gender is relevant to, and benefits, research and
innovation in most contexts, as described through
21 case studies in a publication by the Gendered
Innovations Expert Group (European Commission,
2013). The case studies show how a gendered
analysis can be applied in a range of contexts and
disciplines through science communications,
engineering, technology, environmental science,
food and nutrition, health and medicine, and
transport.
23. See, for example, Oman’s Vision 2040: www.2040.om/Oman2040-En.pdf and Al Hasani (2015) Women’s Employment in Oman: espace.
library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_380891/n41269583-_PhD_-finalthesis.pdf
24. UNESCO data on science, research and innovation, April 2020 female researchers as a % of total researchers (FTE): data.uis.unesco.org/
index.aspx?queryid=61
25. Advancing the Efficiency and the Production Potential of Excitonic Solar Cells (APEX). See gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FM023532%2F1
31
Representation is important. Women should benefit,
in at least equal numbers with men, from
programmes that build the capacity of individual
students, researchers and other professionals
working in HE. It is important that all learners should
see the diverse faces and stories of women in their
study materials and in conferences, showcases and
other platforms for leadership in research and
innovation. However, counting the numbers of
women engaged or represented is a basic marker of
gender sensitivity, not an adequate indicator of
gender equality or parity.
Gender issues in research and innovation include
structural barriers and biases that impede women
researchers’ progress, including the unequal
distribution of responsibilities and freedoms outside
of the workplace that impact upon progress in the
workplace. In research teams, gender stereotypes
and biases contribute to different treatment of
women, and to different chances of recognition or
funding, as described elsewhere in this report
(Section 1.4.9.2. For example, in EU countries in
2014, women employed in research and
development earned 17 per cent less than their
male colleagues, and this pay gap widened with age.
In 2017, women constituted only 27 per cent of
board members of research organisations in the
EU.
26 Few funding bodies worldwide make any
reference to maternity, paternity or flexible working
policies within their terms and conditions of grants
and fellowships (Metcalfe & Day, 2019), but they
could usefully do this rather than assume that
country or research institution policies are
adequate. Sexual harassment and other forms of
GBV impact significantly on women in HE and on the
choices they make about the work they do, an issue
that all research funders should be accounting for.
No programme concerned with gender equality can
succeed in its aims – whether those aims are to
contribute to the advancement of women’s equal
rights and empowerment, or simply to ensure basic
equality of opportunity for women – without
embedding strategies to counteract the
disadvantaged position of women, as a group, in
research environments. A programme where female
participants are at higher risk than male participants
of being subjected to exploitation or sexual violence
needs to include resources to mitigate those risks
for individuals, and to build capacity for prevention
and response at the organisational and institutional
levels (see Section 1.4.12). A programme bringing
women to work in fields where the contributions of
women are objectively known to be undervalued
(e.g. STEM: see Section 1.4.9.2) needs to include
work with stakeholders to explore and address these
biases. This active plan to counteract known biases
and features of sex discrimination should also be an
integral part of any quality assurance programme.
Definitions of what constitutes ‘research excellence’
should consider the extent to which ‘excellence has
become defined with reference to the perspectives,
research interests and standards of a small number
of international journals, which tend to be abstract,
theoretical or universalist. This reduces the scope
for diversity’ (ICAI, 2019). As UKRI has stated:
Gender sensitivity enhances the societal relevance
of the produced knowledge, technologies and
innovations, and contributes to the creation of
outputs, goods and services better suited to
potential markets and beneficiaries.
UKRI, page accessed June 2020, no longer active
26. She Figures 2018 (2019) European Commission, p. 6 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9540ffa1-4478-11e9-a8ed-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en
27. Report on enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in R&I. European Commission, 2012a, p.15 https://op.europa.eu/en/
publication-detail/-/publication/dff78961-40a9-41cd-940a-a4a5afa8ed5f
Four consequences of failing
to act on gender inequality in
research
27
1. Danger of flawed research or diminished
relevance of results.
2. Missing innovation and market
opportunities.
3. Unfulfilled use of human capital (women
scientists) in a competitive global research
and innovation economy.
4. Increased societal distrust of, and
reduced support for, science and its
institutions.
32
UKRI has provided some resources (e.g.
guidance and a checklist) for incorporating
gender equality into international development
research and innovation, but as yet these are
not detailed and do not address issues of
gender based violence. Further resources
developed by other bodies are referenced in
Section 2 of this report. The UK’s flagship
Athena Swan charter (case study 7) is awarded
to departments and institutions to recognise
work undertaken to address gender inequality.
In India, the British Council is currently
partnering with the Department of Science and
Technology, government of India, to introduce a
gender equality framework in HE, science and
technology institutions, drawing upon good
practice in the UK. This pilot project aims to
enlist institutions of science, technology and HE
to adopt a Charter for Gender Equality in STEM,
customised to the requirements of the Indian
context, with a focus on bringing about
transformational change. Currently in the
inception phase, the project aims to create a
new ecosystem that will be based on building
competencies of institutions and provide them
with continuing mentoring support to achieve
transformation. This will entail examining the
full life cycle in the profession of women in
STEM at various levels in the institution,
including:
• progression into academia and research
• preparation for the workplace and future of work
• employment opportunities and crafting a life in
science
• work environment and support systems
• building competencies for life-long learning.
33
Progression through career and professional
opportunities: The Newton Fund
In 2019 the Independent
Commission for Aid Impact
published a performance review of
The Newton Fund, managed by the
UK government Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy (BEIS). The programme
operates on matched funding with
partner countries, and is fully
funded from the UK end via official
development assistance (ODA). The
programme promotes research
and innovation partnerships.
The review found that the aims of
development impact, including
capacity building, were not being
adequately met due in part to a
focus on grants and fellowships for
individuals where more attention
should be paid to institutions and
organisations. The review also
recommended that the Newton
Fund should ensure it meaningfully
considers options for reducing
gender inequality, and reports
against its progress, as required in
law by the International
Development Act. Opportunities for
building institutional and
organisational capacity could be
taken through strengthening the
gender inclusivity of partner
institutions and organisations.
Such opportunities should begin to
be identified in Newton projects
with the new mandatory ‘gender
statement’ requirement that has
been incorporated into joint UKRI–
British Council Newton Fund calls
under the Newton Fund Impact
Scheme since 2019. In April 2020,
the British Council also introduced
mandatory gender statements for
other Newton funding calls,
including the Institutional Links
Programme, the Researcher Links
Programme and the Newton
Bhabha PhD placement
programme.
34
The European Commission’s Horizon 2020
Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
builds on its previous work on mainstreaming
gender and is widely recognised as world leading for
its gender analysis. Every applicant for project
funding is asked to explain how sex and gender
analysis is (or is not) relevant to the concepts and
objectives of the proposed research. It is important
to note that the development of a ‘gender action
plan’ – describing how gender is relevant to, and
addressed in, research – is a skilled process that
may benefit from expert input. The process will
certainly be helped by making use of the specific
resources developed in recent years, a number of
which are signposted in Section 2 of this report. A
staff working document from the European
Commission (2005) found that only 15–25 per cent
of gender action plans for research that were
analysed were good or excellent. The participation
of women (‘counting women’) made up the majority
of planned actions and targets, and deeper gender
analysis was rarer. The same report made the point
that evaluators need to be trained in gender analysis
in order to be able to evaluate plans competently.
Another highly successful intervention as part of the
European Commission’s framework programme was
the introduction of targets of 40 per cent of ‘each
under-represented sex’ (allowing for a time or
context where women are over-represented) in
scholarships, advisory groups, assessment panels
and monitoring panels. These targets have had a
positive impact (Marchetti & Raudma, 2010).
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
has inaugurated the Brilliant Female Researcher
awards, recognising outstanding women in the field
of research and also recognising institutions that
support gender equality in research. The JST also
has a government-set target to increase the
proportion of women in managerial and board roles.
In Canada, an interactive e-learning programme for
researchers significantly improved their ability to
integrate considerations of sex and gender into the
design, methods and analysis plans of research
proposals and publications (Tannenbaum & van
Hoof, 2018).
The Global Research Council (GRC) brings together
the heads of science and engineering research-
funding agencies from around the world. As Morley
(2014) points out, it is a contradiction that HE is
routinely positioned as being concerned with
innovation and hypermodernisation, while it is
underpinned by the ‘archaism of male-dominated
leadership’. A survey by the GRC (2 016) found that:
• governing bodies and senior management of
funding bodies are predominantly male, with the
exception of Africa, where governing boards
have a majority of women
• well-developed research systems, such as in
Europe, North America, Japan and Australia,
are more likely to have a long-term focus on
gender equality and to have developed
comprehensive policies and targeted provision
for female researchers. GRC participants in these
regions are more likely to have very clear policy
statements on gender or to have published
gender equality plans. They regularly collect and
publish detailed data on success rates by gender
• Europe and South Africa have programmes that
are sensitive to characteristics that intersect with
gender, such as disability and ethnicity
• in countries with less well-developed research
systems there is a focus on attracting more
people into research, including women
• in Latin America, and to an extent in the Asia-
Pacific region, research participants expressed
concern over the gender pay gap and societal
influence on equality. Extensions of fellowships
for maternity leave are policy in Argentina,
Mexico and Brazil, while in Brazil there are also
adoption clauses for single males and same-sex
couples
• in Mexico, the government’s cross-cutting
strategy on gender equality has been translated
into a specific gender-responsive programme for
science, technology and innovation, requiring
that gender should be addressed in research and
innovation funding proposals
• the AWARD programme is a pan Sub-Saharan
Africa programme targeted solely at funding
female researchers in agriculture and promoting
gender-responsive agricultural research. The
scheme includes research skills capacity
building, mentoring, and career and leadership
development. There is a project under way to
collect baseline data on gender responsiveness
in African research institutions.
35
In 2016 the GRC endorsed a Statement of Principles
and Actions Promoting the Equality and Status of
Women in Research (GR C , 2016) (available in several
languages). The actions, which are applicable to any
research programming or funding body, can be
summarised as:
1. engage in national discussions of policy
frameworks
2. collect and make available data for comparative
analysis
3. incorporate the evaluation of progress towards
gender-based goals
4. shift focus from researcher ‘track record’ to
‘research opportunity’ to acknowledge how
productivity varies according to the
opportunities and breaks in careers
5. provide training on policy, including unconscious
bias training
6. explore pathways for women to succeed and rise
in leadership
7. consider dedicated programmes to encourage
gender equality
8. promote policies and practices supportive of
caregivers
9. carry out periodic review
10. recognise and encourage the advantages of
considering the gender dimension in research.
Individuals and institutions from around the world
can join the Gender Summit collaboration, sharing
ways to improve gender equality in research and
innovation. Examples of actions to promote gender
equality in research are listed in a recent publication
by the GRC (2019) . Case studies are described from
Brazil, Japan, Canada, Germany, New Zealand,
China, Peru, Chile, India, Spain, Norway, Sri Lanka,
Zambia, Australia, South Africa, the UK, France,
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, South Korea,
Switzerland, Senegal, the USA, Ireland and Oman.
1.4.6 Subject selection
There is significant and persistent gender disparity
in the subject fields chosen for study at HE level.
Research suggests that some (but by no means all)
of this disparity sets in during the formative years of
primary and secondary education, where a
combination of gender stereotypes, gendered
curricula and role models, and other barriers to
equal engagement are apparent. For this reason it is
important that initiatives to tackle inequalities in
subject choice are implemented in early years and
primary/secondary schooling, and a number of
university programmes include such initiatives as a
part of their work towards gender equality. This work
in HE complements projects such as the British
Council’s EDGE programme which has so far
reached 17,000 girls and their families and 1,600
peer leaders in India, Bangladesh and Nepal,
developing the skills and confidence of girls in
English and digital education.
It is also important that efforts to assist prospective
students with the cost of undertaking HE are not
skewed towards subjects where male students
predominate: for this reason the SPHEIR (Strategic
Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and
Reform)-funded Lending for Education in Africa
Partnership (LEAP) has begun a new partnership to
support nursing education, which in Kenya is a
subject chosen overwhelmingly by female students.
• In South Africa, visits from academic staff,
particularly female academic staff, to local high
schools in order to encourage female students to
apply to the Engineering Faculty have made a
significant difference to women students’ career
choices. A personal call from a female academic
following up after Open Day was also influential
(Shackleton et al., 2006). Care must be taken that
when outreach is conducted by women
academics, it should be recognised and
rewarded.
• In Brazil, a British Council project to increase the
representation of diverse women in STEM is also
working to train school teachers (case study 15).
• An Erasmus+ project in the UK, Poland, Cyprus
and Sweden partnered universities with NGOs
and secondary schools to increase girls’ interest
and engagement in STEM subjects (case study
17).
• In Scotland, five approaches to tackling student
gender participation imbalances were mapped
and evaluated for Advance HE (Hanesworth,
2016 ). The Scottish Funding Council requires HEIs
to identify subject areas with significant gender
imbalances in their outcome agreements, and to
set out their plans for improvement (SF C , 2016).
36
Currently, worldwide, more women than men study
in the fields of education, humanities and arts, social
sciences, business and law, and health and welfare.
Men are over-represented in the fields of information
and communication technologies, engineering,
manufacturing and construction, and agriculture.
Enterprise and entrepreneurship education (EEE)
has been identified as an important element to
introduce into HE to foster innovation and
encourage graduates to start their own businesses.
Entrepreneurship is highly gendered, with women
being far less likely to set up and run new businesses
than men, and with investors (venture capitalists)
and their networks being extremely male-
dominated. The creative industries (e.g. advertising,
film) are also highly gendered, with industry
leadership dominated by men. The British Council’s
Creative Spark programme in wider Europe set out a
five-year initiative to support international university
and institutional partnerships to develop enterprise
skills and creative economy. Research has identified
a degree of ‘gender-blindness’ in the creative
industries sector in the programme countries, and in
the Creative Spark programme (case study 6) the
British Council has recognised this gap and
introduced a proactive approach to address gender
inequalities.
The STEM subject area is often prioritised in global
HE initiatives because it is seen by policymakers as
driving the potential for economic growth through
innovation and enterprise. It is also the field in which
there is the greatest gender disparity, particularly
outside of medicine and other life sciences. Gender
disparities in women graduating in STEM go on to
contribute to gender disparities in income,
entrepreneurship and role models for future
generations. Because women’s life experiences are
often still quite different from men’s in a number of
ways, these disparities in STEM will also affect the
extent to which technological innovations are well
suited to women and their lives (Criado Perez, 2019).
The recent Global Education and Monitoring Report
on Gender (UNESCO, 2020) identified the balanced
representation of girls and women in STEM as one of
six main priorities for the international community.
• The SAGA project (STEM and Gender
Advancement) led by UNESCO created a
searchable database of policies and instruments
focused on gender equality in science,
technology and innovation. The database is
searchable by country, region and gender
objectives (such as career progression, social
norms, HE), and it is also searchable by
institution: ministries and government
institutions, universities or research institutions,
and international organisations (SAGA, n.d.).
• Systems:
incorporating into
policies, processes,
strategies,
leadership and
current reporting
mechanisms
• Humans: embedding
in staf f CPD, and
reward and
recognition
processes
• Resources: research
and understanding,
time, finance and
physical support
• Relationships:
internal and external
networks for
collaboration
Infrastructure
• Educators and
career advisers:
training, CPD and
resource creation
• Parents: awareness
raising and support
• Current students:
embedding in the
curriculum and
co-curricular
activities; awareness
raising and support
Influencing the
influencers
• Outreach:
workshops, taster
programmes, clubs,
talks, bespoke
programmes,
competitions, school
visits et al. aiming to
raise awareness and
understanding of
and interest in
subjects and careers
so as to influence the
educational and
career choice
process. Use of role
models, single-sex
activities, thematic
foci and media
campaigns
Raising awareness
and aspirations
• Recruitment:
ensuring equitable
admissions,
supporting the
recruitment process
and tackling
attainment
disparities
• Marketing:
embedding gender
equality and counter-
stereotyping within
prospectuses,
websites and open
day activities
• Course packaging:
designing courses to
attract non-
traditional students
and utilising access
programmes
Encouraging
applications
• Creating gender-
inclusive
environments:
auditing for and
tackling
environmental and
structural barriers
and developing
gender-inclusive
environments
• Enhancing the
student
experience: student
mentoring, student
networks, awareness
raising and support
for progression
into counter-
stereotypical careers
Supporting
success
Figure 5: Approaches to tackling student gender imbalances
Source: Hanesworth (2016) for Advance HE
37
• The Gambia’s Education Sector Strategic Plan
2016–2030 includes a commitment to provide
scholarships to women and girls enrolled in
science and mathematics subjects in HE and
tertiary education.
28
• In Mexico, the National Council for Science and
Technology has a programme of postgraduate
scholarships for Indigenous women.
29
Despite high numbers of women completing HE in
Europe and North America, they make up only one
in five of engineering graduates. Huyer (2015)
reported that in some cases, engineering as a
discipline has been losing ground to other sciences,
such as agricultural sciences, among women.
Some countries buck the gender trend in
engineering, including Cyprus, which recorded 50
per cent of female graduates. Proportions are also
higher in Denmark (38 per cent) and the Russian
Federation (36 per cent). In Sub-Saharan Africa,
percentages are on the increase, although they
remain below 20 per cent with the exceptions of
Liberia and Mozambique (Hu y e r, 2015 ).
Oman’s female engineering graduates were
recorded at 53 per cent, which helps to explain the
accelerated rate at which women are also entering
research in that field. In Oman, women’s entry into
certain fields of study is influenced by their aptitude
for study, including passing English examinations,
and they are less likely to drop out of studies than
men.
30 Many female engineering students are
sponsored by the Ministry of Education and there
are multifaceted strategies for the empowerment of
women engineers (National University of Oman,
2019).
In Pakistan, girls and their educators reported
concerns about STEM career tracks being unreliable
or unprofitable as well as unattractively competitive,
and girls perceived themselves as less naturally
gifted than boys at STEM subjects. STEM subjects
were not seen as a good fit with gender obligations
to serve the family (Hollows et al., 2017). In India, the
Ministry of Human Resource Development has
issued a directive to ensure reserved places for
female applicants to Indian institutes of technology.
A ministry representative explained that male
students can take advantage of rigorous coaching in
far-flung areas which female students would not be
able to attend.
31
28. Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education and Higher Education Research Science and Technology (2017) Education Sector Strategic
Plan. See www.globalpartnership.org/sites/default/files/2018-09-the-gambia-essp-2016-30.pdf See result area 7.3, p. 141. Accessed 6 July
2020.
29. Gobierno do Mexico CONACYT (2019). See www.conacyt.gob.mx/index.php/becas-y-posgrados/becas-nacionales/programa-de-
fortalecimiento-academico-para-indigenas Accessed 6 July 2020.
30. See, for example, Sipes (2014) Women Adjust to University Life in Oman: www.al-fanarmedia.org/2014/05/women-adjust-university-life-
oman/
31. Economic Times of India, 3 February 2018.
Figure 6: Women in Science at the WOW Festival, Rio de Janeiro
Source: British Council in Brazil
38
Why are young women increasingly taking up STEM
subjects at tertiary level in some countries, but not
in the more apparently ‘gender-equal’ countries? A
recent research paper (Stoet & Geary, 2018)
conducted an analysis of international adolescent
achievement in science, mathematics and reading,
and found that girls performed similarly to or better
than boys in two out of every three countries. This
means that it is not a lack of ability that holds girls
back from progressing into STEM fields. In almost
every country, more girls had the capability to study
STEM at tertiary level than had enrolled to do so. In
almost every country, girls had superior
achievements in reading.
The data analysis suggested that it is life quality
pressures that drive women’s engagement with
STEM subjects in less gender-equal countries, but
that with an abundance of choice and lower
economic risk in more gender-equal countries (such
as Finland, Norway and Sweden), girls and women
gravitate towards the subjects that they excel more
in and say they enjoy more. Gender-sensitive
pedagogy clearly has an important role in increasing
girls’ enjoyment of STEM subjects at primary and
secondary level, especially in countries where
enjoyment is a significant criterion that determines
choice of future study path. Gender-sensitive
pedagogy has an equally important role to play in
increasing boys’ enjoyment of, and interest in,
non-traditional subjects which are also so often
overlooked in the context of HE and development.
After all, as the authors of a meta-analysis of gender
and science research noted:
Equal attention should be given to both girls’ and
boys’ choices. Working towards a more mixed
composition of all study fields should not mean an
alignment to the male model.
European Commission (2012b)
32
Huyer (2015) also documented a worrying decrease
in the proportion of women graduating in the field of
computer science globally since 2000. The most
recent data from 2017
33 shows that few countries
approach parity, although there are some countries
where female graduates outnumber male graduates:
Oman (76 per cent), Myanmar (67 per cent), Tunisia
(56 per cent) and Qatar (53 per cent). The worst
performing European country is Belgium, where by
2016 men still made up over 90 per cent of
computer science graduates. In the UK the rate for
women graduates was stable at just under 20 per
cent between 2012 and 2016.
There are strong gender stereotypes at play in some
cultures which associate computer science with
masculinity. A study conducted in the USA found
that gender stereotypes communicated in a
secondary school computer science classroom
caused girls to express significantly less interest in
the subject than where stereotypes were not
present (Master, Cheryan & Meltzoff, 2016). Wide
disparities between countries within regions, and
showing trends in both positive and negative
directions, demonstrate the importance of creating
and maintaining incentives to make computer
science a desirable field of study for women.
Job advertisements making use of social media may
fall victim to algorithms that discriminate by gender.
A field test in the USA found that a ‘gender-neutral’
Facebook advertisement for STEM careers was
delivered to and seen by more men than women
(Lambrecht & Tucker, 2018). This finding also has
implications for HEIs and partner institutions who
use social media to recruit students.
It is likely to be a valuable experience for staff and
students from countries where STEM subjects are
dominated by men, to be exposed through
placements to university departments where women
comprise half, or more, of students and researchers.
Such exposure is likely to be a powerful counter to
ingrained stereotypes about subject ‘suitability’ by
gender, as well as potentially of fering insights into
what cultures supportive of women in STEM might
look like.
32. Meta-Analysis of Gender and Science Research: Synthesis Report, p. 17.
33. UNESCO data on education, April 2020. See data.uis.unesco.org/index.aspx?queryid=61#
39
Why study about gender in higher education?
Because it is clear that only through a democratic
inclusive curriculum, one that responds to the
needs and values of societies, one that includes
more than excludes, may we be condent that we
produce open-minded individuals, able to cope with
the diversities around them, to accept, and
celebrate differences. Curriculum deals with the
actual content of education, with the methodologies
and processes through which learning takes place.
It deals with facts but, more importantly, with the
culture and values of society. It should consequently
deal with gender.
Laura Grünberg ( 2 0 11)
34
‘’
40
1.4.6.1 Gender studies and women’s studies
Particularly in the latter quar ter of the 20th century,
undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in
the humanities specifically dedicated to the analysis
of gender (often described as gender studies or
women’s studies programmes or modules) grew in
HEIs worldwide. These programmes have been seen
as an important tool for legitimising and embedding
the enhancement of social understanding of gender
inequality. They have also produced graduates with
the motivation and the skills to work towards a more
gender-equal society and are described by women
students as empowering (e.g. Morley et al., 2006).
For these reasons among others, there was
worldwide concern among academics and among
politicians when the government of Hungary
introduced a ban on gender studies courses in
2018 .
35 In 2020, the government of Romania passed
a new law, L87/2020, banning all discussion about
and around ‘gender identity’ in academic and
educational settings, defined as any opinion or
theory where gender represents a separate concept
from biological sex.
36 By contrast, the Equality Law
3/2007 of Spain requires governments to foster
education on equality between women and men in
HE curricula, and the creation of specific
postgraduate studies on equality between women
and men.
37
The analysis of the multiple and significant
differences in the lives of men and women, and
across gender variation, is not mainstreamed into
university teaching, learning or administration in
most institutions or in most academic disciplines.
While this remains the case, university departments
hosting specialist insight can be invaluable partners
advising on wider programmes. Expertise among
those working in gender studies and women’s
studies units can be engaged, to facilitate ‘a learning
environment that is conducive to gender justice’.
38
International research networks for gender studies,
as well as for analysing sex/gender within
disciplinary fields, can be built and supported, as
recommended in the report into the British Council’s
work with women and girls published in 2017 (British
Council & ODI, 2017).
In-house expertise on gender equality is a good
indicator of how well HEIs will be able to develop
good policies and practices for mainstreaming
gender equality. The presence of a unit or
department of gender studies or of women’s studies
is one indication that an HEI has in-house expertise.
Others include the number of publications on
gender equality produced by staff within an
institution, and the proportion of papers on gender
equality in top journals by staff within an institution.
Both these metrics are used in the THE World
Ranking for Gender Equality (Methodology: THE,
2020).
• Italy: The University of Milan already had an
interdepartmental Centre for Women and Gender
Differences, which had been created in 1995 as
one of the very first centres in Italy on gender
equality and gender studies. As part of its action
plan tailored to the legislation for reform of
Italian universities in 2010, the university created
a new interdepartmental Centre for Coordinated
Research on Gender and Equality in Research
and Science, bringing in departments from the
science faculties which had been identified as
priorities for intervention. The new centre
created a more explicit focus on gender in
science, was a base for producing more tailored
and effective communications, added to the
sustainability of the action plan, and provided a
base from which to contribute to the field of
responsible research and innovation.
• China: In 2015 across China, more than 100
colleges and universities were offering over 440
courses on women’s studies and gender equality.
The state has included gender equality in the
national philosophy and social science plans to
support research.
39
• Romania: A similar centre, with an associated
network of women, research group on gender
studies and communication team, as created at
Alexandria Ioan Cuza University in the years
before the ban on ‘gender identity’ theory
(above) was introduced.
40
34. In Grunberg (ed.) From Gender Studies to Gender IN Studies (2011), p. 8 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000211180/
PDF/211180eng.pdf.multi
35. See Inside Higher Ed (17 October 2018): www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/10/17/hungary-officially-ends-gender-studies-programs
36. Reported in The New York Times (18 June 2020): www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/06/18/world/europe/ap-eu-romania-gender-studies-
ban.html
37. Article 25, p. 13 in English translation.
38. University of Kabul (2010), ibid., p. 19.
39. See the Chinese government’s White Paper on Gender Equality and Women’s Development in China: english.www.gov.cn/archive/white_
paper/2015/09/22/content_281475195668448.htm
40. Reported in EC & Italian government (2015) STAGES project guidelines, pp. 3–6 and 15–19.
41
The existence of academic journals specialising in
analysis of gender issues (e.g. the Journal of Gender
Based Violence, the Journal of Gender and
Development, the Journal of Politics and Gender)
should not mean that issues disproportionately
affecting half the population should only be
discussed or analysed in specialist publications.
After all, the persistence of gender inequality arises
in part from a widespread failure to engage with and
understand the centrality of sex/gender-based
discrimination to the lives of many women and girls
(and the centrality of sex/gender-based privilege to
the lives of many men and boys). Yet the recent
example below of what happened to a research
project on a core public policy area for women and
girls
41 – sexual harassment in public spaces – shows
how ingrained the practice is of marginalising forms
of knowledge that matter more for women than for
men.
41. See, for example, www.stopstreetharassment.org/about/what-is-street-harassment/why-stopping-street-harassment-matters/
Figure 7: Twitter conversation about research on street harassment
Source: Reproduced with permission from the authors
42
1.4.7 Curriculum content
Closely related to the issue of gendered subject
choice is the issue of gendered curriculum content.
The exclusion or invisibility of girls and women as
human subjects within textbooks and curricula, as
well as in all other media, has been extensively
documented.
44 By default, characters in stories and
other texts, whether animals or humans, have
characteristically been assumed or described as
male. Human bodies are depicted in anatomical
science books as male, with female bodies deviating
from the male standard.
45 These practices are
ingrained so that it seems ’normal’ for humans to be
over-represented by male people, as though men
constitute far more than 50 per cent of the species.
Similarly, curricula and textbooks in many countries
worldwide either ignore sexual orientation, gender
identity and gender expression or treat those
outside of traditional binary heterosexual
stereotypes as deviant (UNESCO, 2020).
• The Freie Universität Berlin in Germany has
published a toolkit for gender and diversity in
teaching, which includes questions and
reflections on the use of images in teaching
(Freie Universität Berlin, 2018).
• The Middle East Technical University in Ankara,
Tur key offered a specific course on gender and
technology for master’s and PhD students in
technological sciences (EGER A , 2017 ).
• With the Ministry of Education of Malaysia,
IBE-UNESCO (2017) has published a resource
pack for gender-responsive STEM education,
including checklists for the process of designing
and developing a gender-sensitive STEM
curriculum
46 and guidance for developing
gender-sensitive teaching resources and
textbooks.
47
42. From Blood, Bread and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979–1985.
43. Page 129.
44. For example, Criado Perez (2019), ibid. pp. 11–12, 18.
45. Standring (2004), cited in European Commission (2013), p. 126.
46. See Module 2, Activity 5, pp. 84–87.
47. See Module 5, pp. 204–235.
When … someone with the authority
of a teacher, say, describes the world
and you are not in it, there is a moment
of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked
in the mirror and saw nothing.
Adrienne Rich
42
Given that males have traditionally taught science
to males, and in many countries, in single sex
settings, pedagogy and textbooks have emerged
that may in effect act as “chill factors” or
exclusionary mechanisms for women.
Helsinki Group National Policies Report, cited in Marchetti & Raudma (2010)
43
‘’
43
Cultural assumptions that men are by default
knowledge producers and innovators are
reproduced, and strengthened, when stories that
are told about the history of knowledge provide
examples of men but not of women. In the past (and
still, in the present) women have had less access to
academic work than men because of different caring
responsibilities. Also in common with all those from
lower-income backgrounds or otherwise
discriminated against, women have had less access
to academic work because of denial of equal
opportunities. This means that (often wealthy) men
in most societies were able to produce more
knowledge, and be more often named as the
producers of knowledge, than women.
However, even in the less distant past those women
who did make significant contributions to knowledge
were ‘left out’ of the history books through
discrimination and discriminatory social norms, as in
the case of physicist Katherine Johnson in the USA
(newscientist.com) and physicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell
in the UK (scientificwomen.net). In the 1700s, Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu was the first to introduce
smallpox inoculation to Britain and Western Europe,
having observed the procedure in Turkey. She was
met with considerable resistance and her story has
largely been forgotten. Edward Jenner is widely
celebrated as the creator of the vaccine decades
later (time.com).
• At a Life Science Career Day in a STEM institution
in Switzerland, the audience of the event was
gender-balanced. The plenary speaker at the
opening session, chaired by a man, was also a
man. He illustrated his talk with cartoons
depicting 18 men and not a single woman. He
also presented slides with statements all written
in the masculine gender. This sent a strong
message that careers in the life sciences were
associated with masculinity and maleness
(Trbovc & Hofman, 2015).
48
• Male Engineering Faculty lecturers in South
Africa only referred to ‘he’ in examples
(Shackleton et al., 2006).
• A European research project to improve gender
sensitivity in research and teaching found
resistance and reluctance to engage with the
research, with a number of course leaders in the
natural sciences choosing not to respond to
requests to share the extent of gender content in
their curriculum.
49
• A study of seven modern undergraduate biology
textbooks in the USA found that for every woman
scientist mentioned, men were highlighted seven
times. Black women were not represented a
single time in any of the works analysed (Wood et
al., 2020).
The consequences of leaving sex/gender out of the
curriculum are many. They include inappropriate and
sometimes literally dangerous over-generalisation
from men’s experience and/or physiology to women,
and the misrepresentation of women’s experiences
and needs as being deviant from what has been
constructed as ‘normal’ based on men’s lives.
Gender stereotypes based on sexism can be
employed to account for sex and gender
differences, where education about discrimination
and disadvantage would have provided a more
accurate picture.
Practical engagement with sex/gender issues within
the curriculum can help to ensure that issues of
particular concern to women are acknowledged and
addressed: for example, architecture students can
learn to consider women’s safety and security issues
in the design of public spaces (case study 9). Equally,
architects educated in gender equality might design
kitchens – spaces that were historically designated
as being literally fit for the woman of the household
– to be spacious enough for more than one
householder to work together in the kitchen (Morley
et al., 2006).
1.4.7.1 Gender mainstreaming as key to quality,
standardisation and internationalisation
The internationalisation of HE requires ongoing
standardisation and quality assurance across
nations and regions, increasing the compatibility of
their HE systems. In Europe, in 1999 this process
began with the ‘Bologna Declaration’
50 by ministers
of EU countries and has now expanded to apply
across 48 countries in what is known as the
European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
The Erasmus+ programme enables the international
mobility of HE students and staff from participating
countries, allowing them to study, teach, train or be
trained, or to run collaborative strategic
partnerships. The British Council was a managing
partner for the UK while it was in the EU.
48. Page 38 of the GARCIA toolkit for integrating gender sensitivity into research and teaching. https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/
garcia_toolkit_gender_research_teaching.pdf
49. Page 39 of the GARCIA toolkit, Trbovc & Hofman (2015), ibid.
50. See ehea.info/
44
The Erasmus+ programme relies on and feeds in to
the Bologna Process. It is notable that at an early
conference to review progress towards
internationalisation and standardisation of
undergraduate and master’s education across
Europe (the Bologna Process), it was deemed
necessary to ‘reaffirm the importance of the social
dimension of the Bologna Process’, stating:
The need to increase competitiveness must be
balanced with the objective of improving the social
characteristics of the European Higher Education
Area, aiming at strengthening cohesion and
reducing social and gender inequalities both at
national and at European level.
51
In 2015 the Yerevan Communique
52 set out the
refreshed common goals and vision of the EHEA,
‘where higher education is contributing effectively
to build inclusive societies … We will support HEIs in
enhancing their efforts to promote… gender
equality’. The commitment to making the HE systems
more inclusive includes a specific aim to improve
gender balance at the same time as widening
opportunities for access for students from
disadvantaged backgrounds.
The architects and custodians of the Bologna
Process and other similar projects have signalled
that gender equality should be mainstreamed as a
part of the internationalisation, standardisation and
quality assurance process. The move towards
flexible and blended learning (learning that can take
place over varying periods of time, through digital as
well as face-to-face methods) is one step that
addresses the practical needs of many women and
others who have been disadvantaged by their
circumstances. Strategic progress towards gender
equality is addressed by integrating gender and
gender equality into the curriculum. To that end, a
number of helpful resources have been developed
which enable those overseeing course content to
ensure that gender is mainstreamed.
Mainstreaming gender into teaching improves the
quality of instruction and the social relevance of the
resulting knowledge, technology and innovations.
The gender perspective facilitates an in-depth
understanding of the needs, behaviour and
attitudes of the whole population … Teaching with a
gender perspective also stimulates students’ critical
thinking capacity, providing them with new tools to
identify social stereotypes, norms and roles related
to gender. They thus learn to … develop skills that
will enable them to avoid gender blindness in their
future careers.
AQU (2019), p. 14
‘’
51. Communique of the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, EHEA (2003). See enqa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/
BerlinCommunique1.pdf
52. Yerevan Communique, EHEA (2015). ehea.info/media.ehea.info/file/2015_Yerevan/70/7/YerevanCommuniqueFinal_613707.pdf
45
• The Gender Curricula site is available in English
and in German. It presents a searchable
database of 55 academic degree subjects, with
regularly updated information about
mainstreaming gender into each of the subject
areas as well as a list of gender exper ts in each
subject area. An accompanying book chapter
(Kortendiek, 2011)
53 describes the steps for
developing a gender-balanced curriculum, with
examples relating to gender-related teaching
objectives and specific gender-related content.
• In 2019 an English language version of the
General Framework for Incorporating the Gender
Perspective in Higher Education was published
(AQU Catalunya, 2019). This comprehensive
publication was first published in Catalan (AQU
Catalunya, 2018). It provides instruction on a
framework, with indicators and standards, to
mainstream gender throughout any degree
programme, with notes on general and subject-
specific learning outcomes for students.
These resources, which were developed in European
contexts to assist with gender mainstreaming in the
Bologna internationalisation process, are also
deeply relevant and useful for quality assurance in
internationalisation across the world.
A report of an EU-funded project on good practice
for gender mainstreaming in curricula (EGERA , 2017 )
identified three broad ‘success factors’ for
integrating gender into the curriculum, based on
feedback from course co-ordinators and students.
They were:
1. organisation: it is helpful to integrate courses
that explore gendered dimensions of the subject
into the core degree curriculum
2. legitimacy: gender experts should be involved
in course design and delivery
3. course content and accessibility: a diversity of
teaching approaches is desirable. Encouraging
reflexivity in students improves their critical skills
as well as their future social outlook. Offering an
interdisciplinary or even interuniversity course
provides for further diversity in analysis and
critical thought.
1.4.8 Teaching and learning environments
The physical and environmental constraints
operating to restrict the freedom of girls to access
or thrive in primary and secondary education have
been well documented and have been the focus of a
number of successful interventions worldwide.
These constraints do not disappear at the point of
transition to HE, although the provision of basic
facilities such as private toilets is normally more
reliable than in primary or secondary educational
environments. Physical environment constraints that
affect participation and/or achievement include:
54
• lack of private space for menstruating girls and
women
• lack of single-sex toilet facilities
• lack of safe transportation to the educational
setting
• lack of educational institutions close to home, in
contexts where travel far from home is not
possible or permitted.
Borker (2019) used big data and algorithms to
demonstrate that an unsafe public sphere inflicts
serious educational and economic consequences on
women. In Delhi, India, female students were willing
to trade a place at a top university for one nine
ranks lower, in order to travel by a safer route that
offered a three per cent decrease in the risk of rape.
Men would only trade down by one rank for the
same degree of added safety. Women were
spending 16 times as much money per year for
added travel safety as men (amounting to almost
double the average tuition fee), and would travel 40
minutes more daily for a safer route, compared to
men’s willingness to travel four minutes more.
In reviewing the literature for this report, no
examples could be found of purposeful long-term
action taken by institutions in response to gender-
sensitive concerns about physical access or
transportation for educational purposes. Many
university students’ unions in Australia and the UK
run ‘safety buses’ at night. A number of cities
worldwide (rather than HEIs) have women-only
buses, train carriages or taxis, or have introduced
heightened accountability measures such as CCTV
or reporting apps, phone lines or hubs. A recent
collection of articles (C e c c a to , 2017 ) acknowledged
that such methods to change the ‘criminogenic
conditions of places’ may be effective (to meet
women’s practical needs). Such interventions might
include education of architects, engineers and city
planners in principles of crime prevention through
53. Pages 208–228.
54. Kellum, J (2018) Inclusive, Quality Education: An Annotated Bibliography. Plan International. https://plan-international.org/publications/
inclusive-quality-education-annotated-bibliography
46
environment design. Ultimately, education to change
social norms supportive of violence against women
(VAW) is required in the long term.
• Case study 9 describes a method of teaching
architecture students about gender equality and
women’s safety by conducting a socio-spatial
analysis of their campus (Keddy, 2015).
Morley et al. (2006) refer to the ‘hidden curriculum’
in which male students dominate classroom time
and space. In their study of gender in HE across five
Commonwealth countries, they found that male
students and staff often underestimated both the
ability and the achievements of female students.
Indeed, there is a growing dataset that demonstrates
the strength of this phenomenon in HE teaching and
learning environments across the world, as well as
the direct effect upon further opportunities. For
example:
• male biology students in the USA showed
consistent bias in overestimating the
performance and knowledge of their male peers
but not their female peers (Grunspan et al., 2016)
• both female and male Science Faculty in the USA
were asked to rate an application from a student
for a laboratory manager position. The same
application materials were randomly assigned
either a male or female name. The ‘male’
participant was rated (by both men and women)
as significantly more competent and hireable
than the (identical) ‘female’ participant; the ‘male’
was offered a higher starting salary and more
mentoring opportunities (Moss-Racusin et al.,
2012)
• male Engineering Faculty students in South
Africa would laugh if female students asked a
question in lectures (Shackleton et al., 2006)
• male students in Afghanistan would exit the
classroom first, before female students. So
female students were not able to see the teacher
immediately after class because by the time they
came out of the class, the teacher would already
be gone. Bias and favouritism towards male
students prevented female students from having
equal opportunities to access scholarships or to
attend special classes such as management,
computer or internet courses (Kabul University,
2010)
• male students in male-dominated subject areas
were more likely to endorse sexist ideas and
stereotypes in a study conducted in the USA
(Banchefsky & Park, 2018).
The UNESCO guide for teacher education (2015) lists
the following teacher behaviours which discriminate
in favour of male students:
• calling on male students more frequently
• waiting longer for males to respond to questions
• giving male students more eye contact following
questions
• remembering the names of male students
• using these names when calling on male
students
• attributing male students’ comments in class
discussion
• interrupting female students before the end of
their response
• asking males more questions that call for
‘higher-order’ critical thinking as opposed to
‘lower-order’ recounting of facts.
A recent report from a UK parliamentary body
(APPG on Diversity & Inclusion in STEM, 2020) found
that school science teachers are ill prepared to
tackle inequity in the classroom and ill equipped to
know how to support students to find a connection
with STEM subjects. However, gender was not an
explicit focus of the Erasmus+ project with the
British Council and the British Science Association to
‘Make Science Real in Schools’ and which reported
its recommendations in 2017, without addressing
gender or wider diversity and inclusion themes
(MARCH, 2017).
Research from the USA has found that, in biology
classes using small-group teaching, the more
women who were participating in the groups, the
higher the performance for everyone (Sullivan et al.,
2018).
The physical look and feel of a classroom can send
powerful signals about belonging. Simply removing
stereotypically ‘masculine’ objects from a computer
science classroom can be enough to boost female
undergraduates’ interest in computer science to the
level of their male peers (Cheryan et al., 2009).
Improving the teaching and learning environment
for girls and women should form part and parcel of
any HE programme that seeks to deliver gender-
equitable outcomes, including but not limited to the
range of professional teacher training courses that
are supported by the British Council. The
importance of addressing gender inequalities in
teaching, learning and in the HE internationalisation
agenda can be lost: a number of sector documents
make reference to ‘inclusion’ or to the need to
eliminate discrimination and barriers to participation
and success – but only in passing, for example the
recent guide to the Advance HE framework for
internationalising higher education (Ryan, 2020).
47
Learning about, and transforming, gender bias in the
pedagogical environment can be achieved on the
ground through research and making use of the
range of resources that have been published in the
field – a number of which are documented in Section
2 of this report. The evidence for the benefits of
gender-responsive pedagogy is strong (e.g.
Wanjama & Njuguna, 2015). Specific and localised
experiences can be sought out using project-
specific workshops – such as those that have been
undertaken as a part of the TESCEA project (case
study 1). These workshops also function to raise
awareness among all participants.
Research in schools has also suggested that
democratically elected student councils are a
powerful way of increasing the ability of female and
male students to voice their needs and concerns, to
increase their interventions around discriminatory
social norms and to develop increased leadership
skills (Mnubi, 2017). Support for gender-sensitive
student councils in HE is likely to confer similar
benefits.
Bias as well as practical constraints can play a part
in the denial of equal opportunities to women
students beyond the core curriculum, for
enrichment of their studies. Opportunities such as
scholarships, laboratory work and shadowing or
summer internships may be less available to women.
The British Council and ODI review
55 found that in
some countries, affirmative action practices to
support young women facing challenges obtaining
the same educational experience as men were not
consistently applied. The review also found that
some of the British Council’s scholarship
programmes did not have a gender-responsive
selection process.
55. Women and Girls: Making a Lasting Difference (2017), p. 74. See www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/british_council_impact_report_
web.pdf
Africa: PedaL
The Partnership for Pedagogical Leadership in
Africa (PedaL) is a part of the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-
funded SPHEIR programme managed by the
British Council with PwC and Universities UK
International (UUKi).
It is a formal partnership of eight institutions that
aims to embed and catalyse systemic change in
teaching and learning in African universities,
through training a network of academics. The
training package includes a module on gender,
and seven of the project’s 15 e-cases feature a
focus on gender and marginalised groups. The
project uses revised course outlines and
reflective logs, as well as focus group
discussions, to capture changes in teaching
practice among those trained under PedaL. It has
reported the following examples of strategies
that have been used by faculty to integrate
gender in course delivery:
• inserting gender into the course curriculum
to allow discussion of gender issues
• making reference to gender issues in
analysis, and teaching students how to
undertake gender-based analysis
• providing references from both male and
female authors
• ensuring a gender balance in students’
responses to questions in class
• appreciating the difficulties faced by student
mothers in class attendance due to
pregnancy or childcare issues
• respecting everyone’s opinion and ideas
irrespective of gender
• ensuring that there is a female class
representative as opposed to having males
only
• ensuring balanced gender representation in
materials used, class activities and role
sharing
• using gender-sensitive language (e.g. ‘he/
she’) and examples
• ensuring gender parity in groups
• appointing both male and female students to
be group discussion leaders and to present
findings to the rest of the class.
PedaL also counts a number of female faculty
among its core team, and the project has
developed their leadership skills and visibility
since it began.
48
1.4.8.1 Student assessment
Unconscious bias based on a range of
characteristics may affect teachers’ evaluations and
assessment of students in HE, but there is very little
evidence that gender bias is prevalent towards
students at tertiary level, while teacher grading bias
in favour of female students has been recorded at
school level in Europe (Bygren, 2019). In any case, it
makes sound sense to aim for so-called ‘blind’
assessment to be implemented as far as possible,
with the names of students removed from their
submitted work before assessment.
Another consideration for those designing
evaluation and assessment systems in HE is whether
certain examination methods produce better or
poorer results, on average, by student gender.
Salehi et al. (2019) observe that:
• male science students perform relatively better
at multiple-choice exam questions than female
students, compared to per formance with
short-answer questions that engage critical
thinking skills
56
• stereotype threat (heightened awareness that
those of one’s group are not thought to be ‘good’
at a subject) can cause female students to
underperform – this can be addressed by
providing positive messages before an
assessment
• high-stakes exams in STEM subjects (where poor
performance might mean being excluded from a
course) create test anxiety which in turn affects
the exam performance of female students more
than male students, in contrast to laboratory or
non-exam assessments.
Just as female students may be on average more
anxious about their performance, the relative
confidence of male students can extend to
advantage after initial assessment. Male HE students
appear to be more likely to respond to poorer
grades by demanding a grade change – reflecting
their higher confidence and entitlement – resulting
in more male students receiving favourable grade
changes (Li & Zafar, 2020).
1.4.8.2 Women’s universities
Sex segregation in HE spaces, like single-sex
schooling, has been seen as a method of liberating
girls and women from both the physical dangers
inherent in mixed-sex environments, and the
stereotypes of male dominance in education and
leadership. Of course, the act of sex segregation in
itself is likely to reinforce rigid and binary ideas
about the fundamental nature of sex and gender
difference – ideas which have more, or less, traction
in diverse cultures of the world. Keeping women
segregated from men for women’s own safety is not
a desirable long-term aim, since it contributes
nothing to transforming inequality between the
sexes and, in particular, it contributes nothing
towards addressing the factors that lead men to
believe they have the right to assault women.
However, in the shorter term, single-sex
environments do by their nature reduce the
opportunity for VAW, especially in the absence of
appropriate holistic prevention strategies. In the
shorter term, women-only learning environments
also reduce men’s cultural dominance in the
classroom as teachers or fellow students.
• Of India’s 993 universities, 16 are exclusively for
women.
57
• Since 1998 Pakistan has created 29 universities
and colleges for women.
58
• In 2020, of the THE Top 100 universities for
gender equality, two – in Pakistan and South
Korea – are women’s universities.
Faculty in women’s HEIs are more likely across the
board to be women, including in traditionally more
masculine subject areas. Women usually occupy the
majority of leadership roles in women’s HEIs.
Does research suggest that single-sex HE
environments can be helpful for women’s aspirations
and achievements? A study conducted in the USA
(Dasgupta & Asgari, 2004) investigated the gender
stereotypic beliefs of women HE students in single-
sex and co-educational learning environments. It
found that:
• when women have recently seen representations
of high-profile women leaders, they are more
likely to automatically (unconsciously) associate
women with leadership qualities
• when women are in everyday social contexts that
expose them to women leaders (i.e. a year in a
single-sex HEI), they are less likely to express
automatic (unconscious) stereotypical beliefs
about women as a group
• taking part in maths and science courses where
men dominate as teachers and students (in
co-educational settings) strengthens women’s
existing automatic (unconscious) gender
stereotypes
• taking part in maths and science courses with
only women as students and mostly women as
teachers (i.e. the teaching and learning
environment in single-sex settings) reduces
automatic gender stereotypes.
56. Stanger-Hall (2017), cited in Salehi et al., ibid.
57. All India Survey of Higher Education 2018–19, p. i.
58. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Women%27s_universities_and_colleges_in_Pakistan (accessed 4 June 2020).
49
A three-year study of female academics in both
mixed-sex and women-only universities in Pakistan
concluded that Pakistan’s single-sex institutions
were overwhelmingly positive for women, both as
academics and students.
59
A study in the USA of female science and
engineering PhD students found that they were
more likely to complete their degrees in
departments with higher percentages of female
faculty, and more likely to complete their degrees
when working with female advisers rather than male
advisers. Gender balance had no effect for male PhD
students (Mai n , 2018).
These findings are in line with research from the USA
reporting that success is enhanced among Black
women in STEM undergraduate programmes who
are in a learning environment – historically Black
HEIs – encountering other women who look like
them, fostering a congruous personal ‘STEM identity’
(Ja c k so n , 2 013 ). These studies underline the
importance of attracting and retaining diverse
women into teaching roles in subjects where they
are historically under-represented.
1.4.8.3 Online learning environments
Worldwide, women undertake more domestic and
household labour than men, spending longer on
those tasks. In some cultures there are longstanding
expectations that women in households will shoulder
all cooking, cleaning and caring responsibilities. One
task for making gender relations more equitable is
to encourage men and women to look at the fairness
of the unequal distribution of domestic labour.
Meanwhile, the demands of those extra
responsibilities carried by women can interfere with
the freedom to spend additional time travelling to
and from physical learning spaces, and can also
result in falling behind in studies or stepping back
from educational opportunities. Women may also be
more likely to fear violence or lack of suitable toilet
facilities when they travel.
Opportunities for online or blended learning study
programmes can therefore be helpful for women in
particular, but need to be designed and monitored
with a gendered analysis and taking account of the
ways in which co-construction, active student
participation and shared learning can still be
integrated as important elements of any pedagogy
that seeks to be transformative (Koseuglu et al.,
2020).
• In the least developed countries, only 19 per
cent of individuals had internet access in 2019.
• Broken down by gender, 24 per cent of men but
only 14 per cent of women had internet access.
• Regionally, the internet gender gap is largest in
Africa. Between 2013 and 2019, the gender gap
grew in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the
Pacific because of a rapid growth in male
internet users compared to female internet
users.
• Mobile phones are the most frequently used
means of accessing the internet, and in 58
countries more men than women own a mobile
phone.
60
The fact that women are less likely than men to own
or have access to technology – other than in
high-income egalitarian countries – requires
programmes to factor in access to technological
tools.
Data on gender differences in uptake or
effectiveness of online learning is in short supply.
Overwhelmingly, most research into online learning
reviewed for this report failed to investigate,
account for or even mention gender or sex, or to
recommend that gendered analysis be undertaken
(e.g. in the UK, the Education Endowment
Foundation’s guidance on using digital technology to
improve learning). Generally, there is little evidence
of any universal or stable sex/gender differences in
the effectiveness of online learning environments.
Rather, social and educational interactions taking
place online are likely to reflect the existing gender
norms that are present in more traditional learning
environments and in society (Gunn et al., 2003). For
example, male students may express more
confidence in using technology (e.g. Yau & Cheng,
2012) but this may not be related to ability.
Nevertheless there are some courses which are
particularly popular with women and which they
tend to be more likely to complete, although the
reasons for this remain unclear. An example is the
Web Design short programme module hosted by
Kiron in Jordan and Lebanon for the SPHEIR
PADILEIA programme.
61
59. See www.timeshighereducation.com/news/pakistans-women-only-universities-are-progressive-spaces and www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/
press-releases/2016/october/uk-pakistan-university-project-provides-boost-for-womens-empowerment
60. International Telecommunications Union, Measuring Digital Development Facts and Figures 2019. See www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/
Documents/facts/FactsFigures2019.pdf
61. SPHEIR mid-year report, PADILEIA programme May – November 2019.
50
• Nigeria: the Knowledge for Health project ran
nine online learning courses for medical
laboratory scientists between 2011 and 2015.
Although the professional and regulatory bodies
had concerns that women would be less likely to
access online courses, women in fact earned 52
per cent of the online course certificates
awarded.
62
• Romania: cultural norms about males being
more comfortable with technology than females
and possessing more computer-related skills
were expected to produce dif ferences in use of a
virtual campus environment, but no differences
were found (Ciuclea & Ternauciuc, 2019).
• A global study of online STEM massive open
online courses (MOOCs) found that while females
were less likely than males to enrol in STEM
courses, they were equally likely to complete
them (Jiang et al., 2018).
62. Amy Lee (2016) reporting for Medium.com. See medium.com/the-exchange-k4health/online-learning-are-there-really-differences-between-
men-and-women-77d71a78b461
Jordan and Lebanon: online course completion rates
The PADILEIA project (Par tnership for Digital Learning and Increased Access) is part of the FCDO’s
SPHEIR initiative. It provides educational opportunities for displaced Syrian students in Lebanon and
Jordan, as well as disadvantaged Jordanian and Lebanese students.
By focusing on the barriers to completion for female students on the programme, the completion rate
for female students studying courses with PADILEIA partner Kiron improved from 38 per cent to 49
per cent between May and September 2018. The project held focus groups with students using Kiron’s
online platform and identified factors such as role models to build confidence, word-of-mouth
recruitment and referrals, and explicit gender sensitivity measures in classroom management and
student support team behaviours that supported female students to feel at ease with learning on the
platform. Future online courses across PADILEIA’s study pathways will allow for analysis of student
satisfaction by gender, which will increase the gender sensitivity of the courses.
The project has also responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by exploring how to shift safeguarding work
online, and how to best advise students on staying safe during lockdown.
Figure 8: Graduating from the PADILEIA project
Source: SPHIER programme with American University of Beirut, CCECS
51
The sexual harassment of women via social media is
a significant problem in HE as in wider society.
Women are disproportionately targeted online, and
the accounts of women scholars reflect this
(Veletsianos et al., 2018). Academic women who ‘put
their head above the parapet’ to engage in public
discourses concerning their research specialties
can end up self-censoring and removing themselves
from online spaces,
63 in the face of unmanageable
torrents of abuse which are far more numerous and
persistent than those experienced by men in the
public eye. The abuse directed at women of colour in
the Global North is yet more considerable.
64
Whatever coping strategies women use, they take a
toll and require labour that men in similar positions
do not face. As far as learning platforms go, the
recent swift adoption of online learning platforms in
UK HEIs in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has
revealed that students and their teachers are not
safe from harassment or abuse on the platforms
they use for education.
65 However, if adequate
policy, safeguarding and monitoring provisions are
put in place by the responsible institutions, then the
‘fingerprint’ left by those who use online platforms
to abuse or harass may give their victims better
evidence with which to take forward complaints or
demands for accountability.
63. Veletsianos et al. (2018), ibid.
64. See a recent review for DFID on the digital harassment of women leaders: Stevens & Fraser (2018): www.sddirect.org.uk/media/1631/q-210-
digital-harassment-of-women-leaders-evidence-review.pdf
65. Article in the UK Guardian: www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/22/students-zoombomb-online-lectures-with-extreme-pornography
66. From She Figures (2018), p. 116, data from Eurostat.
Figure 9: Typical academic career
Proportion (%) of men and women in a typical academic career, students and academic staff, EU-28, 2013–16
66
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Grade AGrade BGrade CISCED 8
Graduates
ISCED 8
Students
ISCED 6&7
Graduates
ISCED 6&7
Students
Women 2016 Women 2013 Men 2016 Men 2013
52
1.4.9 Academic research
and teaching staff
1.4.9.1 Recruitment
Section 1.4.4 provided some data on gender
differences on entry into research roles. Proportions
of women academic teaching staff tend globally to
follow similar patterns to those described in Section
1.4.4. The data from Europe in Figure 9 is quite
representative: while women tend to outnumber men
at entry into HE, as they progress through the ranks
of academia the senior positions are very
disproportionately held by men – a pattern that is not
showing any great change over time and that is even
more distinct in the STEM fields (She Figures, 2018).
• A study in Afghanistan (University of Kabul,
2010) pointed to nepotism, favouritism, lack of
transparency and accountability disadvantaging
female staff in the recruitment process.
• A study in the USA of 624 academic letters of
recommendation found significant differences by
the gender of the person being recommended,
showing that the letter-writers adhered to gender
norms. Men were described using more ‘agentic’
terms (e.g. ambitious, self-confident) and women
using more ‘communal’ terms (e.g. affectionate,
kind). The more communal terms that were used
in the letters, the less ‘hireable’ candidates were
seen to be by assessors (Madera et al., 2009).
There is good evidence that interventions to address
bias in the recruitment process can be successful. A
research study from the USA found that university
science departments where a ‘gender bias habit-
breaking intervention’ lasting 2.5 hours had been
delivered to faculty, the proportion of women hired
increased by 18 percentage points compared to no
increase in departments who did not receive the
training intervention (Devine et al., 2017).
• In India, the ratio of male to female teaching staff
is 58 per cent to 42 per cent. However, this
varies widely by region, for example in Bihar
male teachers outnumber women by 4:1 at 79
per cent to 21 per cent. Female teachers are
heavily concentrated in the lowest ranks.
67
1.4.9.2 Promotion and the distribution
of opportunity
Even in countries where women outnumber men in
academic roles, men outnumber women in the
senior positions. A recent review of women in
academia (Catalyst, 2020) found:
• women in Australia held over 50 per cent of
faculty positions below lecturer but under 35 per
cent of positions above senior lecturer
• women in India held over 40 per cent of lower-
level faculty positions but under 30 per cent of
professorial and equivalent positions
• women in the USA held half of all tenure-track
academic positions but only 40 per cent of tenured
positions, while Black and Latina women each held
five per cent of lowest-ranking ‘instructor’ positions
but 1.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively, of
professorial positions. The gender pay gap across
all academic positions was 13 per cent
• research in South Africa found that in 2001, 48 per
cent of lecturers or those holding lower academic
and administrative ranks were women while only
ten per cent of professors were women.
68
Data on ‘discretionary allowances’ awarded on top of
salary, for market reasons or on the basis of
‘distinction’ or additional responsibilities, are not
routinely published, but a study in an Australian
university (Currie & Hill, 2013) found an overall
difference of almost $2,000 per year in favour of
men. There was a difference of $8,744 per year in
favour of men in one faculty.
In research for the British Council on women and HE
leadership globally, Morley (2014) described how
women would frequently be tasked with ‘inward-
looking’ teaching and student support, while their
male counterparts were encouraged to be more
external-facing, focusing on international networks
and research, and given opportunities for taking
study leave and international travel.
• In their study of an Engineering Faculty in South
Africa, Shackleton et al. (2006) were told that all
the men in one department had enjoyed
repeated job grade increases, while the one
woman in the department stayed at the same
grade despite never being given any negative
feedback about her performance.
• In Afghanistan, some female staff reported that
some of the male students did not respect them
and were verbally abusive towards them. Non-
teaching female staff also felt that they were not
listened to by the management of the university,
reporting that male members of staff did not
respect them or behave appropriately towards
them (University of Kabul, 2010).
67. All India Survey on Higher Education 2018–19, p. 20.
68. Cooper & Subotsky (2001), cited in Shackleton et al. (2006), ibid.
53
Women are less likely to be promoted to senior
academic positions than men, despite outnumbering
men in some fields.
• Men on promotion committees have been found
to discriminate against women candidates: a
study of 35,000 candidates in Spain found that,
for every male member of a promotions
committee of seven, a woman candidate was 14
per cent less likely to be promoted to professor
than a male candidate. A larger proportion of
female evaluators increased the chances of
success of female applicants to full professor
positions (Zinovyeva & Bagues, 2010).
Student evaluations are frequently used as a
measure of teaching quality for academic staff. Yet
there is compelling evidence from multiple research
studies that there is a sizeable and systematic bias
against teachers who are women. This bias will affect
external assessment from administrators, but can
also have a negative impact on self-confidence and
self-belief.
• In a quasi-experimental dataset of almost 20,000
student evaluations of university faculty in the
Netherlands, women received systematically
lower teaching evaluations than their male
colleagues, and these differences could not be
explained by any objective difference in teaching
quality. This pattern of lower evaluations was
twice as strong for evaluations given by male
students as by female students, although on
average both male and female students showed
this bias. The bias was driven by negative
evaluation of junior female teaching staff, and
was not demonstrated for more senior
instructors. The bias was substantially larger for
courses with mathematics content. Even the
learning materials (textbooks and so on,
consistent across all tutors) were rated less
positively by male students when their instructor
was a woman, compared to when their instructor
was a man (Mengel et al., 2018).
• Data from an experimental study of online
learning, where students were told that the
instructor (who they interacted with in text alone)
was either a man or a woman, showed that
students evaluated the ‘man’ significantly better
than the ‘woman’, regardless of the actual gender
of the instructor.
69
• Research points towards a cultural ‘presumption
of incompetence’ by students when being taught
by more junior academic staf f who are women,
or from minority groups. The higher rate at which
women instructors are challenged in class would
seem to bear this out (Lazos, 2012).
Prestigious prizes in recognition of intellectual
excellence are given more to men than to women.
For example in 2018 Donna Strickland became only
the third recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in its
more than 100-year history.
70 A study of prizes in
biomedicine reported in Nature (Ma et al., 2019)
showed that in the last decade women, who
constitute 50 per cent of students and 38 per cent
of PhD enrolments, won 27 per cent of prizes.
Women only received 17.4 per cent of the most
prestigious prizes. For the highest value awards,
only 14.6 per cent of recipients were women, and
overall women received just over 60 per cent of the
prize money that men received on average.
Excellence is also measured by citations in high-
impact academic journals, a factor which is also
influenced by gender norms. Studies across
different fields have repeatedly found that the voices
and words of men are picked up, amplified and
repeated more than the voices and words of women.
For example, in journalism male political reporters
were found to ‘retweet’ the words of other men three
times more than they did their female colleagues
(Usher et al., 2018). In academic publishing, a
rigorous study analysed more than 149,700 papers
published between 1950 and 2015 in five high-
impact astronomy journals. Controlling for all other
identifiable variables, the study predicted that male
authors should receive four per cent fewer citations
than female authors in matched journal articles. In
fact, papers written by women received over ten per
cent fewer citations than those written by men
(Caplar et al., 2017). A recent study of top
neuroscience journals found that the citation
practices of men lead to the over-citation of other
men, and the under-citation of women authors
(Dworkin et al., 2020). A similar study of political
science journals found under-citation – by male and
mixed gender authors – of work by women, even in
journals that publish mostly female authors (Dion et
al . , 2018). This has led one journal – International
Studies Review – to monitor the gender citation gap
and ask authors to explain it.
71 Men have been found
to cite their own research 70 per cent more than
women (King et al., 2017).
69. MacNell et al. (2015) cited in Mengel et al. (2018).
70. Reported by the Society of Women Engineers, 9 April 2019. See alltogether.swe.org/2019/04/women-in-engineering-a-review-of-the-2018-
literature/
71. Reported in Inside Higher Ed: www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations
54
There is also evidence of bias in reviewing journal
articles for publication: for example in 2001 the
journal Behavioral Ecology began to mask the sex of
authors sending in articles for consideration. In the
four years that followed, there was a 7.9 per cent
increase in the proportion of papers published with
a female first author, while there was no significant
increase among similar journals that did not adopt a
gender-blind reviewing policy (Budden et al., 2008).
In 2020, a group of over 100 UK academics sent a
letter
72 to UKRI saying that many of their doctoral
training partnerships and centres for doctoral
training were ‘scoring and ranking candidates on the
basis of a narrow set of criteria rooted in biased
views of “excellence”’. The letter pointed out that
access to opportunity, often enabled by financial
privilege or lack of caring responsibilities (e.g. being
able to live or af ford rent in Oxford, Cambridge or
London, or being able to undertake unpaid research
internships), was being used as a scoring criterion
rather than ability or potential.
• Pakistan: the British Council in Pakistan monitors
the number of research publications authored by
female researchers from their joint research
partnerships: between 2014 and 2018 over 2,000
research publications resulted from the research
partnerships, of which half were by women.
• Romania: the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
created a number of practices to increase
women researchers’ visibility, voice and
recognition, which engaged large numbers of
people and were very positively received. These
included an annual public event – Women
Researchers Day – to celebrate women in
science, an annual excellence award for women
researchers, a series of documentary films on
women in science, and a documentary exhibition
– A Place of Women in Science.
74
• Ireland: Before 2016, while female STEM
graduates were approximately 50 per cent,
women made up only 25 per cent of candidates
for the Starting Investigator Research Grant
programme for early-career researchers. This
meant that despite similar success rates by
gender, women’s under-representation at the
start of the process led to gender imbalance at
the end of the process. When the number of male
candidates per institution was capped at 50 per
cent, institutions nominated equal numbers of
male and female researchers and the success
rates for men and women were similar. An
information campaign addressed misperceptions
about the fairness of this process.
75
Gender stereotyping and flawed systems for
assessing excellence which discriminate against
women are not the only barriers to their
progression, or to their equal participation in
opportunities such as international travel
fellowships. Efforts at ‘gender mainstreaming’ can be
undermined by sexist practices such as sexual
harassment (Morley, 2010).
72. Reported in Research Professional News, 23 June 2020: docs.google.com/document/d/1EInAKFl7px2DxYv-sAZxVOyTjkm-
AE29CzFFnjxw6hg (accessed 30 June).
73. Footnote 182, p. 119.
74. Reported in EC & Italian government (2015) STAGES project guidelines, pp. 17–18.
75. Global Research Council (2019), p. 35.
Gender Bias can occur (1) in the characterisation of
scientic excellence, (2) in the criteria used to
assess it, (3) in the choice of the explicit and implicit
indicators for scientic excellence, (4) in the way the
criteria are applied to men and women, (5) in the
failure to integrate women in scientic networks,
and (6) in the procedures through which criteria are
applied to people.
Gender and Excellence in the Making, cited in Marchetti & Raudma ( 2010)
73
‘’
55
In most countries around the world, the shouldering
of responsibility for providing or outsourcing caring
work such as childcare still tends to ‘default’ to
women in households. A Japanese academic
explained in 2013 that almost 50 per cent of female
university teachers in Japan did not marry – and
that 62 per cent of male university teachers had
spouses who were housewives (Morley, 2014).
Carers’ leave, such as maternity or paternity leave, is
less often fully taken up by men than by women, and
sometimes the ‘leave period’ is preceded or followed
by a time of enforced overwork. Morley (2014) gives
an example of a Hong Kong academic who was
asked to pack all her lecturing commitments in to
the period before taking maternity leave. There is of
course only a finite number of hours in a working
day.
An article in an HE trade news outlet reflected on
how the gendered caring default played out during
the global Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 when, around
the world, usual childcare and schooling provision –
as well as outsourced domestic cleaning labour –
was suspended. Academic journal editors began to
notice a pattern: men submitting more articles and
women submitting fewer.
76
The fact of women’s greater average contribution to
domestic labour and greater average time taken
from work for parental leave means that fellowships
and prizes that discriminate by age are likely to also
discriminate by sex.
• In China, the upper age limit for women to apply
to its Young Scientists Funds was raised in
2011–12. Encouraged by these policies, women’s
application rates for research funding have
increased year on year, with female applicants
exceeding male applicants at 51 per cent for the
first time in 2018 .
77
• In New Zealand, there is a health research-
funding stream (Explorer Grants) where the
‘track record’ of the team is not assessed and the
reviewers do not know the personal
characteristics of the applicants. This approach
resulted in a 16 per cent increase in the number
of female applicants over two years, resulting in
parity (50 per cent) in 2018 .
78
• In Senegal, the Ministry of Higher Education,
Research and Innovation has created a special
fund to boost recruitment, retention and
promotion of women teacher-researchers at
universities in Senegal.
79
76. Inside Higher Ed, 21 April 2020. See www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/21/early-journal-submission-data-suggest-covid-19-tanking-
womens-research-productivity and see also this article from the History of Science Society, 7 August 2020: hssonline.org/isis-submissions-
and-gender/
77. Global Research Council (2019), p. 22.
78. Global Research Council (2019), p. 22.
79. Global Research Council (2019), ibid., p. 33.
Using age bars on fellowships for example is likely
to prevent more women than men from making
applications because women are more likely
to have had career breaks and therefore their
chronological age is older than their ’academic’
age. Institutionalised sexism does not necessarily
mean that individuals are biased or discriminatory,
but the outcome of the systems they operate may
well be systematically biased.
European Commission (2012a), p. 20
‘’
56
It is important to note the findings from a meta-
analysis of the literature on gender and science: that
while ‘many young women end up believing that
science is incompatible with family life’, in fact there
is no clear evidence that women without children
have better career prospects than their other female
colleagues, and there is no significant impact of
marriage or children upon women’s scientific
productivity or academic performance (European
Commission, 2012b).
80
1.4.9.3 Pay
Where women are represented in higher academic
positions, they are paid less, especially at the higher
ranks. In Canada, male professors earn five per cent
more than female professors on average,
81 while in
the USA male professors earn over ten per cent
more (AAUP, 2020). Recent figures are difficult to
obtain for most countries.
80. European Commission (2012b) Meta-Analysis of Gender and Science Research, p. 18.
81. Catalyst (2020), ibid. Quick Take: Women in Academia (23 January 2020).
82. Although this requirement was suspended in response to the Covid-19 pandemic for 2019–20.
UK: Funding and pay
transparency
In the UK, all large organisations (including
universities and research institutions) are
required by law (HM Government, 2017) to
publish gender pay gap data.
82 This law was
enacted in response to sustained campaigning
by women’s organisations who recognised that
transparency in the award of discriminatory pay
by gender, which is illegal but culturally
persistent, will drive remedial action.
Every one of 228 reporting universities in the UK
had a gender pay gap in favour of men (THES,
2019) with 192 institutions managing to reduce
their mean average hourly pay gap since
reporting was introduced. The mean hourly wage
for all women HEI staff is 15.9 per cent lower than
for men. The worst-performing university had a
gap of 44.8 per cent while the best performing
university had a gap of 2.1 per cent.
For academic staff, analysis of 2015–16 data
showed that most of the pay gap is found at the
highest pay levels: senior management (6.3 per
cent), senior heads (7.0 per cent) and professors
(6.4 per cent). Women outnumber men at the
lower pay band levels, and men outnumber
women at the higher levels (UCU, 2017).
Since 2012, UKRI has analysed and published
applications for funding and fellowships, together
with success rates, by gender. The data reveals
that, broadly, the number of women applying to
research councils reflects the number of women
working in the relevant disciplines. For example,
in 2015–16 women were 17 per cent of staff
working in engineering and physical sciences,
made 15.5 per cent of research grant
applications and received 15.9 per cent of
awards. Women were 47 per cent of staff working
in economic and social research, made 44.3 per
cent of applications and were awarded 47.2 per
cent of grants.
57
1.4.9.4 ‘Service’ and pastoral work
Research in HE has widely documented the
additional burden falling on women in academia,
especially in teaching roles, related to the cultural
expectation that women are suited to nurturing or
servicing others. This phenomenon appears
particularly acute in fields where women are
numerically under-represented. Research in South
Africa identified a particular burden of ‘care work’
upon Black African women academics (Magoqwana,
Maqabuka & Tshoaedi, 2019). Even in the awarding of
prizes, women are more likely to win low-prestige,
low-income prizes that recognise their service
(advocacy, teaching, public service) than prizes for
research: in 2008–17 women working in biomedical
sciences won 50 per cent of ‘service’ prizes but 27
per cent of research prizes that bring in more
money, get more public attention and are more likely
to promote career development (Ma et al., 2019).
Research with faculty women working in STEM in the
USA (Pedersen & Minnotte, 2018) showed that they
reported being more stressed and isolated, and less
happy at work, than men in their departments – and
this was associated with their perception of being
expected to conduct more ‘service work’ than men
(e.g. academic reviews of programmes; governance;
internal committee membership, sometimes referred
to as ‘institutional housekeeping’ or ‘academic
housework’). Job dissatisfaction contributes to the
‘leaky pipeline’ effect seen in STEM where not only
are there fewer women entering the field but they
leave in greater numbers than men.
83
Job dissatisfaction also appears more prevalent for
women when they are in a minority, particularly
where women make up less than 25 per cent of
faculty (Griffith & Dasgupta, 2018). In contrast, while
there are challenges for men in female-dominated
fields, they benefit through association of their
masculinity with assumed leadership qualities and
an assumed special dedication to pursuing their
work as a career (Simpson, 2004).
Students also perceive and expect female
professors to be more nurturing than male
professors and react more negatively when their
demands are not met by female professors. A recent
study in the USA found that female professors
reported receiving more requests than male
professors for standard work demands, special
favours and friendship behaviours. An experiment
found that students, especially those who were
‘academically entitled’, had stronger expectations
that a female professor should meet their special
favour requests than a male professor. This
increased the likelihood that they would make such
requests and behave negatively if the requests were
denied (El-Alayli, Hansen-Brown & Ceynar, 2018).
Ironically, women in traditionally male-dominated
fields are also often disproportionately called upon
to devote time to committees and initiatives related
to improving diversity. This adds to the service-
workload and consequently reduces the time they
have available for research which is crucial to
advancement.
Interventions to address the disparity in service
workload include restructuring promotion criteria to
more fully recognise and value excellence in
leadership and citizenship, alongside teaching and
research as developed by the University of Bristol in
the UK (case study 8).
1.4.9.5 Leadership
Globally, women are under-represented in positions
of power and leadership across all occupations,
whether or not those occupations are themselves
male-dominated, such as politics, or female-
dominated, such as primary school teaching.
• In Egypt, although women constitute more than
a third of the scientific community, they occupy
only two per cent of senior research positions.
84
• In the UK in 2017–18, 48 per cent of full-time
academic staf f were female. However, only 26
per cent of professors were female and only 36
per cent of other senior academic post-holders
were female.
85 In 2018 –19, women remained
under-represented on university governing
bodies.
86
• In Saudi Arabia in 2017, 18 per cent of university
deans were women, but only one woman held the
most senior role of director in all 34 universities
(Alsubaie & Jones, 2017).
• In Ethiopia between 2013 and 2019 the
proportion of women vice-presidents of
universities increased from zero per cent to 16
per cent, supported by government action.
87
• In 2018 in the Pacific Rim region, women held 37
per cent of academic staff positions but 21 per
cent of executive positions (A P RU, 2 019). The
lowest representation of women in management
was found in Japan, China and Hong Kong,
Switzerland, and Singapore.
83. See, for example, Huyer (2015), ibid.
84. Equality and Status of Women in Research (Metcalfe & Day, 2016) p. 23.
85. HESA (Higher Education Statistics Authority): www.hesa.ac.uk/news/24-01-2019/sb253-higher-education-staff-statistics
86. HESA (Higher Education Statistics Authority): www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/staff/working-in-he
87. Reported in University World News, 12 December 2019. See www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20191209065455348
58
In 2013 on the eve of International Women’s Day, the
British Council Going Global conference launched a
Manifesto for Change for women in HE leadership
(British Council, 2013) which called for a number of
actions, including:
• accountability and a new world ranking for
institutions based on gender equality
• transparency about women’s representation
• development and commitment to invest in
women to bring female talent up the ranks
• data and research into the enablers of and
impediments to the promotion of women.
As described in Section 1.4.6 .1, THE has now
developed a World Ranking for Gender Equality.
Around the world, some countries are adopting
reporting requirements and targets for women’s
representation (see case study 2 for some
examples). Some recent research and initiatives are
set out below and in case studies 2, 7, 8, 12, 13 and
15.
In academia and research, as in all walks of life, the
concept of leadership has a long history of being
gendered. Concerningly, research on leadership in
HE not only finds discriminatory and exclusionary
practices in recruitment, selection and promotion
processes but also that numerous women find the
idea of leadership unattractive. For example, a study
of women’s leadership in HE in South Asia found
that leadership was associated with masculinity, and
was frequently perceived and experienced by
women in HE as very dif ficult to navigate in the face
of the cultural expectation of women being led by
men. Women were therefore strategically resisting
entry into leadership, while at the same time not
being identified or prepared for leadership (Morley &
Crossouard, 2016). Research in China has reported
similar findings (Zhao & Jones, 2017). Research in
Malaysia has explored the impact of patriarchal
social structure reinforced by religious discourses
on the professional engagement of Muslim women
academics (Sh ah, 2018). A European research
project into leadership in scientific research similarly
found that there was a persistent idea that women
who became leaders were somehow ‘non-women’ or
‘aggressive people’, demonstrating the need to
make the organisational environment more friendly
to all genders and more open to diverse leadership
styles (Genova et al., 2014).
Figure 10: Par ticipants in a Gender Champions workshop hosted by Ethiopian Academy of Sciences in
Ethiopia in February 2020 as part of INASP’s Sida-funded Global Platforms for Equitable Knowledge
Ecosystems programme’
Siân Harris, INASP
59
In global research for the British Council, Morley
(2 014) found that women in HE often perceived
leadership as a ‘loss’: unsuccessful applications
resulted in a loss of status and self-esteem, while
successful applications resulted in loss of
independence, research time, health and well-being.
• UK: Advance HE is the UK’s national body for
supporting transformative leadership and
management, teaching and learning, equality,
diversity and inclusion, and effective governance
in HE. Aurora is Advance HE’s leadership
development initiative for women and those who
identify as a woman. Participants explore four
core areas associated with leadership success:
Identity, Impact and Voice; Power and Politics;
Core Leadership Skills; and Adaptive Leadership
Skills. Learning from role models, and developing
networks, is an important element of the
programme.
• Tur key: repeated messaging from the president
of the Council of HE that the numbers of women
leaders should be increased was cited as
positive. A dedicated Ministry for Women, Family
and Community Development in Malaysia,
together with equality law and targets, was
identified as a driver for change. Many
international research participants echoed the
importance of a women-friendly political context
in addition to recognition, affirmation and
support in professional development (Morley,
2014 ).
1.4.10 Compounded disadvantage and
discrimination
Some institutions have been slow to understand the
importance of paying attention to the range of
characteristics that intersect with sex and gender.
As the GRC’s Gender Working Group has said:
‘Many funders are developing wider diversity goals
that go beyond gender to include intersectionality
(the interconnected nature of social categorisations
such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a
given individual or group, regarded as creating
overlapping and interdependent systems of
discrimination or disadvantage) or target other
groups – such as indigenous groups, under-
represented ethnicities and those who may have
been disadvantaged socially, economically or for
health reasons.’
88
Women have too often been ‘constructed as a
unified analytical category’.
89 A recent study
conducted in the USA (Eaton et al., 2020) examined
the ratings given for competence, hireability and
likeability for identical CVs submitted to science
professors for a postdoctoral research position
where the presumed gender and ethnicity of the
candidate were manipulated using their stated
names. Physics professors rated the candidates who
were ‘men’ as more competent and more hireable
than the identical ‘women’ candidates. They rated
‘Asian’ and ‘White’ candidates as more competent
and more hireable than ‘Black’ and ‘Latinx’
candidates. Biology professors rated ‘Asian’
candidates as more competent and hireable than
‘Black’ candidates, and as more hireable than ‘Latinx’
candidates. Across all departments, ‘women’ were
rated as more likeable, but not more hireable, than
‘men’. In physics, ‘Black women’ and ‘Latinx women
and men’ were rated the lowest in hireability
compared to all others.
While to be Black and to be female is to represent
the global majority, in many nations these
characteristics incur significant social disadvantage,
together as well as separately. They also present
multiple challenges for Black women’s own
development of identity (as an academic, an
intellectual, a scientist for example) because of
imposed definitions of race and gender stereotypes
that are at odds with – or ‘interfere’ with – the
stereotypical representations of academics,
intellectuals or scientists (Ireland et al., 2018). For
this reason promoting female role models who are
white may have no particular impact on the subject
choices of Black girls or young women in the
absence of Black, female role models (Stearns et al.,
2016 ). Putting effort into stretching or expanding
cultural ideas about leadership or STEM success to
include white women but not Black women creates
disadvantage for Black women and girls.
The disadvantage faced by Black women in UK
academia is more complicated than an ‘additive’
disadvantage or ‘double penalty’ incurred by being
both Black and female, as the data shows. In the UK,
latest statistics on ethnicity show that people of
Black ethnicity make up an extremely small
proportion of the total academic workforce, at just
under two per cent. Of the 535 senior academic
officials in UK universities, not one (zero) is recorded
as Black (15 are recorded as Asian and five as
Mixed).
90 Only 140 professors identified as Black
(representing fewer than one per cent of the 20,000
professors in the UK), and previous research
88. GRC (2019), p. 3
89. Morley (2010), ibid. p. 533.
90. Higher Education Statistics Authority. See www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb256/figure-6 (updated January 2020).
60
(Rollock, 2019) identified only 25 Black female
professors (of African, Caribbean or other Black
heritage) employed in the UK. The barriers
encountered by these women have included
cultures of racial stereotyping and
microaggressions, excessive workloads, opaque and
unfair promotion practices and a lack of solidarity or
support from white female colleagues.
• Nationally, South Africa has been at the forefront
of action to tackle intersecting inequalities, and
since 2013 the distribution of National Research
Foundation bursaries and fellowships has been
subject to ministerial guidelines which set targets
intended to bring about a more representative
scientific workforce: 80 per cent Black people
(African, coloured and Indian/Asian), 55 per cent
women, and four per cent disabled people. In
2017 of all PhD graduates, 65 per cent were
black and 43 per cent were women.
91
Disabled women report being channelled into
traditional female fields or into disability-related
fields, and away from male-dominated professions,
being less likely than disabled men to complete
higher levels of education (Junia & Josephine, 2018).
In the UK, disabled academics have reported having
access to considerably less support than disabled
students. Women described leaving more male-
dominated disciplines such as engineering or
physics for more feminised fields, to avoid having
‘double the trouble’ of being a woman and
disabled.
92 Olkin (2011) lists a range of added
challenges and constraints upon disabled women in
HE: from logistical challenges at work and
conferences through the added financial and
budgetary constraints in addition to the
interpersonal, social, attitudinal and perceptual
prejudices.
93
There are specific challenges for transgender men
and women in academia. As Hanna (2016) points out,
for transgender men and women who may have
published or be making applications under more
than one name over time, the difficulties of applying
to academic positions begin before even submitting
any applications. Transphobia and ignorance from
colleagues may be widespread and affect career
prospects as well as personal well-being. At the
same time, trans individuals in HE report being
expected to undertake unfair and burdensome
equality work that should be the responsibility of
their institutions, such as policy development and
training (Mckendry & Lawrence, 2020).
A recent report by several UK-based science bodies
(IOP, RAS & RSC, 2019) found that 28 per cent of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender+ (LGBT+)
respondents had at some point considered leaving
their workplace because of the climate or
discrimination towards them. Women reported a less
comfortable climate than men, and more offensive
or harassing behaviour.
Research on pay and promotion for trans academics
is lacking, as it is for LGB academics, but generic
research from the USA into working conditions and
pay (with a small sample size of 64) found that
average earnings for female-to-male transgender
workers increased slightly following their gender
transitions, while average earnings for male-to-
female transgender workers fell by nearly one-third,
saying:
This finding is consistent with qualitative evidence
that for many male-to-female workers, becoming a
woman often brings a loss of authority,
harassment, and termination, but that for many
female-to-male workers, becoming a man often
brings an increase in respect and authority.
Schilt & Wiswall (2008)
In the USA, data shows that two out of five trans
women left school early or were expelled because of
gender-based mistreatment, and of those trans
women who did make it to HEIs, one in four
experienced assault and two in five had to leave
college because of mistreatment (Restar & Operario,
2019). Research in the UK (NUS, 2014) found that
trans students were significantly less likely to feel
completely safe on campus (21 per cent) than
heterosexual (43 per cent) or LGB students (37 per
cent). Trans students also repor ted high levels of
bullying or harassment on their campus. Trans
students and LGB students tended to disagree that
they saw their experiences and history reflected in
their curriculum. The term ‘trans’ in the NUS
research included those identifying as non-binary.
91. GRC (2019), ibid., p. 19.
92. Science Magazine, 15 May 2017. See www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/05/survey-highlights-challenges-disabled-academics-face-and-
what-can-be-done-address-them (accessed 9 July 2020).
93. In JL Martin (ed.) Women as Leaders in Education, Volume 1. Praeger.
61
The intersection of socio-economic status with
gender has always been evident in education
studies. While there is little research into class,
gender and careers in HE, there is compelling data
on HE enrolment (e.g. Ilie & Rose, 2016
94) showing
that, ‘as poorer people start to have the opportunity
to access higher education, they are likely to be
disproportionately male’. In most but not all lower-
income countries the poorest males are significantly
more likely than the poorest females to access HE,
with the richest males up to ten times more likely to
attend than the poorest females. Initiatives to widen
participation of the poorest should always have a
gender focus.
Data collection methods, and qualitative research
methods, which do not allow for exploring the
intersections of sex and gender with other
characteristics linked to discrimination and
disadvantage, obscure the intersectional
experiences faced by women in all their diversity.
94. See Figure 4.
1.4.11 The importance of the lifecycle approach
Timeline of women in science, from British Council Brazil (2019) stakeholder presentation
Lack of an
inspiring
model
Low quality of
teaching Stereotype Sexism Lack of
funding
Glass
ceiling
Minority in
leadership
positions
Discrimination
Racism Lower
wages
Lack of
mentors and
references
Lack of
support in
maternity
Minority in
Tier 1
research
groups
Childhood Youth Adulthood
Fi g ur e 11: Timeline of women in science - the glass ceiling and main challenges
62
During the interviews conducted as research for this
report, a number of people made the same point
about taking a ‘lifecycle’ approach towards the men
and women engaged in HE programmes. There are
parallels between a holistic understanding of gender
equality and empowerment (for example,
considering the range of ‘strategic’ and ‘practical’
gender needs to be met for women in HE) and a
holistic understanding of every individual’s journey
towards and through HE from childhood through
adolescence and into adulthood, including
potentially marriage and/or parenthood. The
success of programmes that seek to empower girls
to remain in secondary education is amplified by
considering how to enable their entry into HE. The
pipeline of women into STEM subject areas in HE is
strengthened by ensuring early intervention to
address the norms, stereotypes and family cultures
affecting the behaviour and identity development of
men and women that prevent girls from engaging in
STEM subject areas at secondary level. Therefore,
HE programmes that stand alone are likely to have
less impact than programmes that are developed
and executed in dialogue with programmes in the
same locations which are focused on culture,
society and primary or secondary education.
• The LEAP project, part of the FCDO’s SPHEIR
initiative, is a non-profit social lending fund that
provides student financing to otherwise un(der)
funded talented youth across Sub-Saharan
Africa. The FCDO also supports a range of
projects that are focused on girls’ education,
supporting hundreds of thousands of girls in
primary and secondary school. Efforts are now
being made to create links between the
initiatives, to benefit and amplify the work being
done in each area and to bring focus to the
critical transition for girls between secondary
school and HEIs.
• The PADILEIA project, also part of the SPHEIR
initiative, prepares Syrian refugee and
disadvantaged students in Jordan and Lebanon
for HE by providing foundation certificate
courses. Students report a range of benefits,
from improved English language and computing
skills to learning how to deliver presentations and
apply successfully for university scholarships.
The project team aims to further strengthen the
emphasis on the transition between secondary
and tertiary education, which might include ICT
and other skills training, career advice and
counselling services.
95
• Engaging girls and women in STEM subjects is a
priority for the UK. This is reflected in the
number of government departments and
agencies promoting International Women in
Engineering Day.
96 The UK has a number of
standalone initiatives for engaging girls and
young women in STEM subjects and the country
has seen steady progress in the number of
female students taking A-levels in STEM subjects,
attributed to ‘decades-long efforts ’.
97 There is
still a long way to go. Yet at the level of
educational policy for schools it is still the case
that reports which aim to drive up student
engagement – such as the recent guidance
reports from the Educational Endowment
Foundation on improving mathematics (2017)
and science (2018) – are silent on sex or gender
differences in engagement or strategies to
ameliorate these differences. This is a strong
indication that gendered analysis still remains
outside the mainstream, which in turn mitigates
against the long-term mainstreaming of
successful interventions.
95. SPHEIR MEL mid-year report 2019, p .20.
96. For example, on Twitter:
• twitter.com/spacegovuk/status/1275353972270923776?s=20
• twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1275353217933639681?s=20
• twitter.com/HighwaysCareers/status/1275451258015412231?s=20
• twitter.com/transportgovuk/status/1276173549401788417?s=20
• twitter.com/GEOgovuk/status/1276435855910068224?s=20
97. The Guardian, 15 August 2019. See www.theguardian.com/education/2019/aug/15/female-students-outnumber-males-in-a-level-science-
entries
63
1.4.12 Gendered violence and harm
A number of universities and HE projects worldwide
have developed analytical tools and templates for
addressing gender inequality in HE (see Section 2).
Many of these focus on comparative quantitative
data by sex (representation, pay gaps, citation
practices) that is collected by institutions or
available by conducting desk research. It is notable
that few of these make reference at all to the
experience of sexual harassment and other forms of
VAW – and to the perpetration of violence by men –
despite its known prevalence and its known impact
on women students and staff in HEIs as a sector,
worldwide.
Meanwhile, reports that review best practice to
address ‘bullying and harassment’ in HE do mention
sexual violence and harassment, but by bracketing it
with bullying some of the very specific features of
GBV can be elided. The added difficulty in collecting
data on GBV (e.g. additional concerns that arise
regarding confidentiality and trauma, the need for
specialist advice on data collection methodology,
concerns about institutional reputation) may be a
factor, but this should not stand in the way of
integrating GBV prevention and response into all
projects that claim gender sensitivity.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) takes a
number of forms and persists in all societies. It is of
deep relevance to this report on gender and HE
because it is both a cause and a consequence of
gender inequality, and its occurrence in HEIs reflects
and supports gender inequality in the immediate HE
context but also more widely in society. VAWG is
underpinned by widely held and deep-rooted
prejudicial attitudes to women and girls. The
elimination of VAWG and associated harmful
practices is an important target of SDG 5, and
central to all international commitments to gender
equality. Gender equality and the empowerment of
women and girls cannot be achieved without ending
VAWG. Therefore, to meet goals for equity and
inclusion, VAWG and its prevention must be
considered.
The wider term ‘gender-based violence’ (see
Acronyms and glossary) encompasses forms of
(usually sexual) violence that is perpetrated against
women, sexual minorities and those with gender
non-conforming identities. Where survey data is
collected on gender identity, information from
transgender women and men, as well as those
identifying as non-binary or other, is usually pooled
to assist with statistical reliability (see the
prevalence box below). Data from a large-scale
study in the USA (AAU, 2020) shows that students
who do not identify as a man or woman – but choose
another category, including transgender – are at a
similar or slightly higher risk of sexual misconduct
such as harassing behaviour, intimate partner
violence and stalking than those who identify as
women. The same students are at almost the same
high risk of sexual assault as those who identify as
women. An earlier large-scale study, also in the USA
(Coulter et al., 2017), reported a one-year probability
of being a victim of sexual assault at 57.7 per cent
for Black transgender students, 14.2 per cent for
white transgender students, 7.7 per cent for
heterosexual non-trans women (increasing to 8.5
per cent if lesbian and 15.9 per cent if bisexual) and
a rate of 2.9 per cent for non-trans men (increasing
to 9.4 per cent if gay).
Sexual harassment and violence are prevalent in HE
and form a core concern for many women managing
their decisions to enter, remain or progress in HE
environments as teachers, researchers or learners.
Yet while significant attention has been paid to
addressing the risks of VAWG for girls in primary and
secondary education, there is far less evidence of
VAW being integrated into programmes in HE
managed by national and international bodies
globally. In the UK, it is through the lens of recent
‘safeguarding’ scandals, including at the charity
Oxfam,
98 that awareness rapidly grew of the need to
safeguard vulnerable people – including all women
and girls – from sexual exploitation and abuse at all
times.
Globally, since the #MeToo movement
99 revealed the
power of speaking out and the power of new social
media platforms to share and amplify experiences of
sexual harassment in institutions, there is a new,
permanent visibility to women’s experience of VAW
in HEIs. This visibility will inevitably lead to increased
accountability but also to reputational damage for
organisations who are slow to act.
98. See the report by the Charity Commission for England and Wales (2019): assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/807943/Inquiry_Report_summary_findings_and_conclusions_Oxfam.pdf
99. Founded by Tarana Burke in 2006. See metoomvmt.org/about/
64
Most of this section will examine the issue of GBV
experienced within the context of HEIs, or as a topic
for education within HEIs. However, in broader terms
there is some evidence that exposure to HE (being
educated at tertiary level) is transformative in itself,
in that it at least indirectly reduces violence in
general terms and in the ongoing longer term. In a
UK study, graduate men were found to be less likely
to experience accidents or assaults than non-
graduates, an effect also related to the social
classification of their current occupation. The same
study found a possible protective effect for
prevention of domestic violence: graduate women
were at lower risk of assault from their relationship
partners at the point of separation (Bynner &
Egerton, 2001), although this effect was also
strongly related to childhood poverty (risk factor)
and to academic ability at age 11 (protective factor).
Dalal (2008)
101 also reported women graduates in
Kenya to be at lower risk of domestic violence.
Broadly speaking, financial independence which is
boosted by educational qualifications gives women
more control over their lives and makes it less likely
that assaulting them would go unpunished. However,
in most cultures globally there are harmful but
normative social attitudes about masculinity and
gender roles, which contribute to a constraining
sense of masculine identity (described by Promundo
Global (2017) as ‘the Man Box’). This identity can be
perceived to be threatened when women’s
independence is increased, and a response to that
threat may be to attempt to exert control or
dominance through GBV. For this reason, harmful
100. For example, UKRI safeguarding policy (2020). See www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/UKRI-050920-PreventingHarmSafeguarding
InResearchAndInnovationPolicy.pdf
101. Cited in Oketch et al. (2014), ibid.
UK: Making Tertiary Education
Safe to Learn – a Code of
Practice
Safe to Learn was an important agenda for the
UK Department for International Development
(DFID), which has now merged into the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office. In
November 2019, DFID hosted a three-day
workshop with support from the NGO Restless
Development. Participants included
representatives from organisations involved in
delivering HE programmes (such as the British
Council, which manages the SPHEIR programme),
university students and youth delegations from
the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Over the three
days a Safeguarding Code of Practice for HE was
drawn up, aligned to DFID’s Safeguarding
Guidance (2020), setting out expectations for
universities and NGOs involved in HE
programmes. Plans are under way for its
adoption and implementation across DFID
grantees, organisations active in HE, and donors.
The safety of those involved in research –
whether as researchers, participants or other
stakeholders – is currently also primarily
addressed through more broad guidance on
safeguarding such as the Guidance on
Safeguarding in International Development
Research published by the UK Collaborative on
Development Research (UKCDR, 2020). This
guidance is designed to aid stakeholders in
anticipating, mitigating and addressing potential
harms. It poses important questions for a range
of stakeholders from funders through to HEI
leaders, administrators, researchers and
participants. However, a number of the questions
(e.g. ‘what support mechanisms are in place?’ or
‘what risk assessments do we carry out for
research sites?’) require a level of knowledge
about the aetiology, practice and experience of
sexual violence and harassment that is unlikely to
be widely held by those who need to answer
them.
Policies that require partners to provide
information about their risk management
frameworks and evidence of how they mitigate
and address risks of exploitation, abuse or
harm
100 can only be ef fective when both the
provider and the evaluator have an accurate and
proportionate appreciation of the prevalence of
sexual and gender-based violence and
harassment. However, such prevalence data
(which is entirely different from data of reported
cases – the vast majority of victims never make a
report to authorities) is very rarely collected.
65
social attitudes about gender – particularly those
held by men – need to be addressed at the same
time that women’s agency and fair access to
opportunities are being strengthened. In the
absence of such transformative efforts, a backlash
effect may be observed. While Dalal’s work found
that women graduates in Kenya were on average at
lower risk of domestic violence, if their level of
education or occupational status was higher than
that of their partner’s, that risk was increased.
• Afghanistan: a study of three universities found
that male staff and students were less likely than
the women to believe that GBV was prevalent.
Accounts of VAW against female staff and
students included sexual harassment from both
staff and students, sexual assault, demands and
threats, and domestic homicide. However, openly
discussing or reporting these matters was not
possible for fear of dishonouring women and
their families. Victim-blaming attitudes (which
could be addressed through education) exist in
campus communities. In one university, 69 per
cent of male respondents claimed that what and
how women wore their clothes had an impact on
GBV. Fifty-six per cent of women shared this view
(University of Kabul, 2010).
• Western Africa: Nigeria and Ghana: In 2019 the
BBC documentary Africa Eye: Sex for Grades
revealed how power ful male academics in two
HEIs (the universities of Lagos and Ghana) were
sexually harassing their female students.
Undercover journalists recorded the men
propositioning and grooming young women in
violation of university policy. In one case, this
included propositioning a student who the
professor thought was aged 17 and therefore
also below the legal age of consent.
• Northern Nigeria: Of 300 female students
surveyed, 23 per cent experienced physical
violence, 22 per cent sexual violence and 51 per
cent emotional violence (Iliyasu et al., 2011).
• Ghana and Tanzania: Sexual harassment was
reported by female staff and students. The most
common form of sexual harassment cited was
‘sex for grades’, demanded by some male
lecturers and at the same time invoked to
diminish and undermine women’s educational
success (Morley, 2011).
• Zimbabwe: 66 per cent of randomly selected
female HE students in one institution (zero per
cent of male students) said that they had been
made to submit to sexual advances by a lecturer.
Most students also indicated that there was more
sexual harassment among students themselves
than between students and lecturers (Shumba &
Masiki Matina, 2010).
Cultures of sexual harassment function in myriad
ways to undermine and destabilise women and keep
them in positions of fear and powerlessness. Sexual
harassment, like other forms of gender violence, is
an attack on the mind as well as the body. Widening
participation strategies need to incorporate an
understanding of access to what?
Morley (2011), p. 10 8
‘’
66
• UK: Four in ten survey respondents who were
current students had experienced sexualised
behaviour from staff, and fewer than one in ten
who had experienced staff sexual misconduct
reported this to their institution (1752 Group &
NU S , 2018).
• Egypt: 100 per cent of randomly sampled female
students experienced sexual harassment, 34 per
cent of whom were exposed to inappropriate
touching. Thirty-eight per cent of male students
admitted to perpetrating sexual harassment
(Desouky & Marawan, 2013).
• Lebanon: 5–28 per cent of female students in
Lebanese universities reported sexual
harassment by their professors (U-Harass, n.d).
• Korea: 51 per cent of nursing students
experienced sexual harassment (Kim et al., 2017).
• China: 14 per cent of 2,060 students surveyed
reported being a victim of sexual violence in the
past year, with male victimisation rates
approaching the level of female victimisation
rates. Twenty-six per cent of male students and
16 per cent of female students reported being
perpetrators themselves, with 3.5 per cent of
male students saying they had raped someone in
the last year (Wang et al., 2015).
There are wide variations in degrees of cultural and
institutional openness about sexual harassment and
VAW in HE. The forms in which it commonly presents
also vary with cultural norms.
HEIs have a crucial role to play in the elimination of
VAWG because they are high-risk environments
– with international students being particularly
vulnerable – and because they are ideal hubs for
transformative prevention work.
1.4.12.1 HEIs are high-risk environments for VAW
HEIs are high-risk environments for VAW (UN
Women, 2018). There are many reasons for this.
• Statistically, while all women are particularly
vulnerable to sexual violence, assault and
harassment, these are perpetrated even more
against young women – in the age range of the
typical university student – than against women
in other age brackets. So an environment with a
high proportion of young women is one where
we would expect to see higher than average
incidence of rape, sexual assault and
harassment, and one which will draw or attract
perpetrators.
• Women in the average undergraduate age
bracket are also higher risk for domestic abuse
and forced marriage.
• Young men, including those in the age range of
the typical university student, are the largest
perpetrator group of sexual violence and assault.
• Entry into university often represents a literal or
symbolic move away from home and family who
may (although not always by any means) have
represented ‘capable guardianship’ in
criminological terms against a range of factors
for victimisation and/or perpetration. In some
cultures secondary schools and most homes can
be restrictive and highly regulated when it comes
to relations between the sexes, with girls and
boys socialised differently and separately until
they enter HEIs (Dranzoa, 2018, commenting on
African HEIs).
• Researchers and other HEI staff are often
studying and working in environments which
meet several criteria for heightened institutional
risk of sexual harassment, including inequitable
and hierarchical interpersonal relationships,
horizontal and vertical male dominance, working
in isolated spaces, employment precarity or
dependency on patronage, and blurred work–life
boundaries
• Historically, universities worldwide have been
slow to act on reports of VAW, resisting their
responsibility to invite, investigate and rectify
reports. Some HEIs have also protected high-
status perpetrators who brought in research
funding. Leadership cultures of defensive
reputational risk management action in response
to reports of VAW have been widespread. All
these factors have contributed to sustaining
cultures of impunity for perpetrators, in place of
cultures of accountability which would inhibit
perpetration.
Violence-free campuses at
Cairo University
In 2014 Cairo University was the first in the
MENA region to set up a dedicated Anti-VAW
Unit to address the problem of sexual
harassment (see case study 5). Managers and
volunteers designed awareness-raising
campaigns around significant dates in the
international calendar (International Women’s
Day, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-
based Violence) to amplify their messages.
67
Prevalence data – and data gaps
– on VAW in higher education
There is a serious data gap, worldwide: various
small-scale self-selection questionnaires have
built up a picture, but more robust, publicly
available large-scale survey data using
population sampling tends to come from the
Global North, particularly in North America and
Australia. Representative sampling is,
nevertheless, still open to self-selection bias and
completion bias that may affect data reliability.
A recent review suggested that exposure to
sexual harassment in HE is highest for female
students at lower levels of education, with the
median exposure for female heterosexual
students being 49 per cent (median 15 per cent
for heterosexual male students) (Bondestam &
Lundqvist, 2020). Research into the experience
of international students is critically lacking
(Po s te l , 2 017 ). A study funded by the European
Commission published in 2012 (Feltes et al.,
2012) found high prevalence across universities
in England, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain.
Between 29.9 and 47.3 per cent of women
students reported experiencing sexual violence
during their HEI studies, while 47–68 per cent
were sexually harassed and 41–58 per cent were
stalked.
In the USA (AAU, 2020), 25.9 per cent of women
undergraduates, and 9.7 per cent of women
professional or graduate students, reported
experiencing non-consensual sexual contact by
force or by inability to consent since enrolment
(this compares with 6.8 per cent/2.5 per cent of
men and 22.8 per cent/14.5 per cent of TGQN
students, i.e. transgender or genderqueer
women or men, or non-binary/other gender). The
sexual harassment of graduate and professional
women was most likely to be perpetrated by a
faculty member or instructor.
This survey did not investigate international
student status, but a previous study (Kimble,
Flack & Burbridge, 2013) found that American
female undergraduates were at significantly
increased risk for sexual assault when studying
abroad, particularly in countries with a different
first language. 38.1 per cent reported some type
of unwanted sexual experience while abroad. Six
per cent reported attempted sexual assault and
4.6 per cent reported completed sexual assault.
Non-consensual sexual contact was primarily
carried out by non-student local residents; the
remainder was carried out by fellow students
from the study abroad programme or students
who were resident of the country. Per semester,
the risk of experiencing a completed sexual
assault while abroad was 4.13 per cent, which is a
significant five-fold increase on the semester risk
while studying at home (0.83 per cent). While
most regions were associated with increased
risk, Africa and the Americas posed the greatest
increased risk.
In Australia (AHRC , 2017 ), 32 per cent of women
students reported being sexually harassed at
university during one year (2016). Rates were
higher for LGBT students, younger students,
those with a disability and those who were
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. In this
survey, across all genders, international students
studying in Australia were slightly less likely (22
per cent) than home students (27 per cent) to
report experiencing sexual harassment in that
year. However, research by Forbes-Mewett and
McCulloch (2015) found that international
students (from primarily non-English-speaking
backgrounds) who travelled to study in the USA
and Australia were being exploited for
transactional sex (including by lecturers and
supervisors and by landlords, and fathers in
homestay families), as well as being particularly
vulnerable to sexual harassment and
interpersonal violence.
68
1.4.12.2 Particular vulnerability of international
students
Data suggests that students and staf f at HEIs are
generally most at risk from the actions of other
members of their university communities. But with
international travel, although there needs to be
much more research undertaken, the signs from
research suggest there may be increased risk from
people outside the immediate university community.
This is a point that needs to be addressed in risk
management practice. This risk, while often
undeclared, is nevertheless and increasingly likely to
be considered by prospective students. The recent
report Your Higher Education Spotlight on Asia (QS,
2019) revealed that 40 per cent of prospective
international students from the Asian region believe
that safety is one of the most important aspects of a
study destination.
The travelling undergraduates from the USA in the
study by Kimble, Flack & Burbridge (2013) were most
at risk of sexual violence from non-student members
of local populations, who perpetrated 89 per cent of
the unwanted sexual experiences while studying
abroad.
Factors identified by Kimble et al. that might place
female students studying abroad at increased risk
are expanded here into the following summary:
• being separated from mutually vigilant friendship
groups
• lack of familiarity with local culture/social norms/
legislative frameworks
• legal/increased access to alcohol/increased
alcohol drinking rate
• being targeted by perpetrators who see students
as vulnerable and less likely to go to (foreign)
authorities if they are sexually assaulted (but it
should be noted that travelling students’
language fluency appeared to play no role in risk)
• being targeted by perpetrators who see
(American/Western) students as sexually
available.
While some of these risk factors are culturally
specific, others are universal. Being separated from
family and friendship groups and other strong social
networks is an issue that will affect almost every
international student and professional. This is likely
to have an impact on how the individual responds to
and recovers from VAW. It is also the case that the
temporary nature of transnational placements
makes it less likely that those experiencing VAW will
feel able to report into systems that often take
months or years to produce investigations – a fact
not lost on perpetrators who are skilled in identifying
vulnerabilities that increase their sense of impunity.
The authors of the US study also point out that for
some American students overseas, there is likely to
be less support from authorities than they might
expect at home. This is also increasingly the case for
international students from the UK, as UK
universities improve their institutional approaches at
home. The lack of support from networks and
institutions contributes to heightened persistent life
stress. In turn, this creates an increased risk,
compared with non-international students, of severe
subsequent and continuing distress such as PTSD.
Other additional factors contributing to increased
risk of VAW for international students versus home
students have been identified by Forbes-Mewett and
McCulloch (2015), who researched international
students, primarily from non-English-speaking
backgrounds, studying in the USA and Australia and
found that they were a high-risk group. These
factors include:
• reduced scrutiny from family or friends of male
students from the same home country who may
go on to perpetrate
• misguided trust in individuals from the same
home country
• pressure to succeed increasing vulnerability to
quid pro quo (sex for grades) harassment from
teachers
• secondary visa status of female students being
dependent on male partners who may be(come)
violent
• secondary visa status of male partners who seek
to reassert power through violence
• financial insecurity of many international
students.
For international students who travel to study in the
UK, there will be a similar but not identical range of
risk factors which may include cultural influences
affecting ability or willingness to make a disclosure.
For example, students already struggling with
cultural scripts of personal shame may also be
unfamiliar with the relatively recent shift among UK
institutions, who now acknowledge the extent to
which sexual violence against students is a systemic
issue more than a private, interpersonal one.
69
Many students will seek paid work or work
experience where there may be risks of sexual
exploitation. For example, research for the British
Council in Pakistan (Capstick, 2015) found that 51
per cent of female students from Pakistan studying
in the UK had taken work or completed work
experience that was not a part of their course, and
half of these had applied for the work independently
rather than through their university or family
contacts. However, risks or experiences of sexual
harassment or exploitation were not explored in this
research as they were not identified by students
when they were asked to share a list of priorities.
Additional risk of VAW cannot be a price to be paid
for the undoubted wider benefits of international HE
in the UK, including its contribution to gender
equality (see, for example, interviews in the report by
BIS, 2013). The additional risks must be researched
and mitigated.
This report has discussed VAW in relation to student
mobility, but it has not addressed in detail VAW in
relation to the mobility of academic teaching and
research staff. This appears to be a field in which
little to no research evidence is currently available.
1.4.12.2 HEIs are ideal hubs for transformative
prevention work
Examples of interventions that aim to meet the
practical needs of women based on their gender
roles and position in society include providing
childcare and transport facilities that recognise the
multiple responsibilities of women entering
employment, or providing ‘attack alarms’ in case of
anticipated attempted sexual assault. These practical
interventions can go some way to compensate for
the different, unequal conditions of women’s lives,
but they are not ‘gender transformative’.
Transformative interventions are those that meet the
strategic needs of women and men, to progress
towards a more equal society in which men’s
violence towards women and girls no longer arises
from, and feeds into, gender inequality.
HEIs are ideal sites for the promotion of change to
harmful social norms which underpin VAW. They are
in many ways ‘total institutions’
102 in that groups of
people work, socialise and even live together in their
relatively enclosed groupings. Many of the normative
conditions which can make HEIs dangerous for
students are also conditions under which the
formation of positive new ideas, cultures and norms
Strategic gender needs are those needs which
are formulated from the analysis of women’s
subordination to men, and deriving out of this
the strategic gender interest identied for
an alternative, more equal and satisfactory
organization of society than that which exists
at present, in terms of both the structure and
nature of relationships between men and women. …
In contrast, practical gender needs are those needs
which are formulated from the concrete conditions
women experience, in their engendered position
within the sexual division of labor, and deriving
out of this their practical gender interests for
human survival.
Moser (1989), citing Molyneux (1984)
‘’
102. Goffman, E (1961) Asylums.
70
can be achieved. Efforts to control VAW using
paternalistic methods, such as curfews for female
students in India, will not change underlying
discriminatory norms (UGC, 2013).
But it is possible for campus universities in particular
to ensure blanket coverage of communications in
residences, teaching environments and leisure
spaces that promote messages about gender
equality and reporting of VAW, which will inhibit
perpetration. It is possible for entire HEIs to require
every student to undertake education on human
rights (as is proposed by the president of the
University of Cairo in Egypt) or specific training for
the prevention of VAW (as is happening at the
University of Cork and University College Dublin in
Ireland). Such activities will foster cultures of
cohesion, equality and leadership against violence,
and the formation of gender-equal attitudes that
should endure beyond graduation.
However, such activities remain the exception rather
than the rule. A report from the World Health
Organization published in 2014 found few countries
had invested in sexual violence prevention
programmes in schools and colleges. There is no
legislation outside the USA that mandates such
programmes in HEIs, and global progress is slow
despite the unequivocal evidence that universities
are hotspots for VAW.
• In the UK, significant resources have been put
into addressing sexual violence and harassment
in HEIs since the publication of the report
Changing the Culture (UUK , 2016) that
documented the extent of the problem and made
recommendations for change. In 2020 the Office
for Students, which is the regulator for HE in the
UK, published a draft Statement of Expectations
(OfS, 2020) for consultation, setting out
requirements for HEIs to communicate and
embed a series of commitments for an adequate
and effective approach to sexual harassment and
misconduct. However, these requirements can
only be binding upon UK-based HEIs, and it is not
clear what accountability exists for the
protection of UK students while studying or on
placement abroad. Neither is it clear how
agencies might be expected to risk-assess HEIs
or placement organisations in the absence of
specific training to do so, and in the absence of
obligations upon HEIs or other organisations to
make centralised reports about concerns raised.
While Universities UK, the association for UK
universities, has produced a number of
resources tackling sexual violence and
harassment as well as other forms of harassment,
its international arm – UUKi – has not produced
research or guidance on the specific issues for
international students, neither has the UK’s union
for students, the NUS. Sexual harassment or
violence have not featured as research areas in
the research or reports published by the Council
for International Student Affairs (UKCISA, n.d.).
UUKi does publish on its website a helpful
general guide on navigating university life in the
UK which includes relevant sections on
relationships (including abusive relationships)
and on sexual health (Student Minds, 2018).
• In Australia, the HE regulator has published a
Guidance Note on Wellbeing and Safety (TEQSA,
2018) identifying risks of sexual assault and
sexual harassment, including risks to quality, and
setting out expectations on HEIs.
Machismo and violence
against women in Latin
America in HE
The Latin American region reports the largest
number of feminicides worldwide. An article
by scholars based in Mexico and Brazil on
women’s issues in Latin American HE
(Maldonado-Maldonado & Acosta, 2018)
reports that women living in these countries
are subjected to the culture of machismo,
experiencing physical and psychological
violence, discrimination, lack of equal
opportunities, and limited recognition for
their work, abilities and capacities. While
access to HE for women in itself is not a
significant issue, there are several primary
areas of concern:
• disparities between men and women in
promotion and leadership
• sexual harassment of female students
• sexual harassment of female faculty
• the second highest rate of teen
pregnancies in the world.
Some promising recent developments have
included universities in Mexico working on
formal mechanisms for reporting and
investigating the sexual harassment of
students, as well as enhanced maternity leave
and paternity leave provisions for staff at a
national university in Argentina.
See www.girlsglobe.org/2018/04/09/
barriers-to-education-equality-latin-america/
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The British Council is in the position to be an
influential driver for progress towards gender
equality in HE globally, through its relationships and
partnerships with individual institutions and through
its overarching work on policy and systems change.
This section of the report builds upon the context of
the research and examples presented in Section 1
and begins by setting out how some of the British
Council’s current programmes in HE align with its
theory of change for women and girls’
empowerment, and how future programmes might
do so. The following sections then address the
British Council’s theory of change for HE and
science, setting out how a ‘gender lens’ can be
applied to the actions, outputs and outcomes of the
British Council’s work in this area. Seventeen case
studies that describe how gender equality concerns
have been successfully addressed – or in some
cases less successfully addressed – in HE projects
worldwide are provided for inspiration and
reflection. Comprehensive resources to assist with
gender mainstreaming are signposted. Finally, the
report concludes with recommendations for
maximising the impact of work to promote gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls
in HE.
2.1 How does the British Council’s
work in HE align with its theory of
change for women and girls’
empowerment?
The British Council has a strong focus on gender
equality. This focus is a response to the worldwide
persistent inequalities between the sexes, which are
expressed and reproduced at the level of individual
relationships, within families and social groups, in
institutions and structures, and which affect the
rights, capabilities, opportunities and well-being of
all. Further information about the British Council’s
holistic and systemic approach to empowering
women and girls is available online and in the British
Council Guide to Addressing Gender Equality.
There are five inter-related positive outcomes that
frame the impacts that the British Council wants its
programmes to achieve, so as to promote women
and girls’ equality and empowerment, reproduced in
the theory of change diagram below. They are:
1. increased awareness and agency of individual
women and girls (individual power)
2. fairer access to resources and opportunities
3. dialogue, collaboration and collective action
4. a supporting legal and policy environment
5. changes in attitudes, beliefs, practices and
discriminatory social norms.
What are the challenges and possibilities for working
towards these outcomes, in the context of the work
of the British Council in HE? This section of the
report aims to assist the thinking of British Council
staff and partners. It takes each of the five outcomes
in turn and briefly presents challenges and
opportunities.
The successful implementation of actions taken in
any given project to respond to the opportunities
identified will always depend on project leaders
undertaking a contextual gender analysis as a part
of the project cycle, from the design stage. An
important resource throughout, for British Council
staff, is the British Council’s Guide to Addressing
Gender Equality, which includes detailed information,
resources and activities. Pivotal human resources
for British Council staff are the British Council’s
global gender advisers, who can share their
expertise in gender issues and assist with the
provision and analysis of contextual data on gender
issues in regional and country contexts, as well as
signposting to local NGOs and experts. At all times
and stages, the ‘how’ – that is, how the proposed
activities should be delivered – should be explored
and workshopped with partners on the ground.
Section 2
72
2.1.1 Data collection
First, there is one clear message which applies
across all the themes below: that it is necessary to
collect data by sex/gender. Gender inequality is
evident in all the areas of HE in which the British
Council participates. The opportunity to address
gender inequality, and promote the equality and
empowerment of women and girls, is therefore also
presented for all the areas of HE in which the British
Council participates. The opportunity for positive
intervention needs to be evidence-based, and the
positive outcomes should be recorded. Therefore at
every stage of the project cycle, the British Council
and partners will benefit from using the Guide to
Addressing Gender Equality, and related toolkits for
HE that are identified in Part 2.4 of this report, to set
out and monitor the gendered dimensions and
impact of their work.
Gender equality
Individual
Formal
Institutional
Informal
Fairer access to
resources and
opportunities
Supporting legal and
policy environment
Changes in attitudes,
beliefs, practices and
discriminatory social
norms
Increased
awareness and
agency of
women and
girls (individual
power)
Dialogue,
collaboration
and collective
action
Women and
girls empowered
Fi g u r e 12 : The British Council’s theory of change for women and girls’ empowerment
73
2.1.2 Increased awareness and agency of
individual women and girls (individual
power)
2.1.2.1 Challenges within HE
Gender equality in HE is challenged by systems and
practices that reduce the self-confidence and
agency of women and girls, including:
• discrimination and bias in teaching and
evaluation
• unsafe environments and experience of violence
• lack of individual and institutional accountability
for discrimination and GBV
• practices that disadvantage those with primary
caring or domestic responsibilities.
2.1.2.2 Opportunities afforded by HE programmes
and partnerships
The evidence shows that taking part in HE is
associated with increased agency and awareness, as
reported for example by participants in the British
Council in India’s STEM scholarships to the UK (case
s t ud y 11). This potential is magnified when specific
curricular and extra-curricular content is introduced.
Higher-level qualifications increase the likelihood of
entering and remaining in the paid workforce, giving
women financial security and autonomy.
Programmes could continue to embrace the
opportunity to support women into HE, particularly
by using tailored approaches for women who have
marginalised ethnic or social identities, disabled
women and women with caring responsibilities who
face additional structural, identity-based and social
barriers to engagement in HE. Programmes could
similarly embrace the opportunity to support
women’s retention and progression in HE, including
into leadership positions. Programmes could build in
the development and delivery of gender-sensitive
and gender-transformative curriculum content and
extra-curricular activity, including in the crucial
areas of VAW prevention and awareness raising,
clubs and societies, and work with schools using
women role models.
2.1.3 Fairer access to resources and
opportunities
2.1.3.1 Challenges within HE
Throughout their educational lifecycle, women and
girls face additional barriers to accessing HE,
progression and completion, as well as barriers to
making the most of the opportunities in HE systems
and programmes. Some barriers are social and
rooted in stereotypes, which include gender-biased
evaluations of students, teachers and leaders. Other
barriers are structural and practical. Access to
resources and oppor tunities for women in HE can,
for example, be dependent on family support for
fees or childcare (practical), according to
assumptions about gender roles (social). Experience
and fear of sexual violence and misconduct are
barriers to fair access but are rarely measured. Data
on participation and on outcomes is not always
sex-disaggregated, making it impossible to assess,
monitor and evaluate for gender equality. While
creating additional and specific opportunities for
women’s participation is important and laudable, it is
also important to focus on addressing and removing
the barriers that are standing in their way.
2.1.3.2 Opportunities afforded by HE programmes
and partnerships
The evidence shows that taking part in HE creates
individual and social returns for women that are
greater than for men, often opening doors to
professional careers and to security and autonomy.
Opening up fields of study and research to the most
talented, regardless of sex/gender, increases quality.
Targeted interventions towards levelling the playing
field for women have delivered results. Addressing
the risks of, and institutional response to, GBV needs
to be explicit and integral to every HE programme,
with every partner and agent playing an active role
in safeguarding, risk assessment, prevention and
monitoring. Targets for access and participation by
sex/gender are the most common gender indicators
that are set for projects and programmes in HE.
Where there is gender disparity in access and
participation by country, region or subject field,
evidence-led targeted interventions could be
proposed and implemented, such as women’s
leadership programmes. Accountability and
transparency for gender-sensitive recruitment,
retention and promotion practices within and
beyond programmes could be prioritised, rewarded
and modelled. There is also much opportunity for
demonstrating commitment to the principles of
gender equality by consistently ensuring that
women’s voices and leadership are equally present
in the teams, events and delegations managed by
the British Council.
74
2.1.4 Dialogue, collaboration and
collective action
2.1.4.1 Challenges within HE
Management of HEIs and of the research and
teaching groupings within HEIs is very often
numerically dominated by men, and longstanding
cultures that are exclusionary or disagreeable for
women (whether or not that is intentional) can be
hard to change, especially in the absence of focused
oversight. Soft power, exemplified in the British
Council’s approach, is built and maintained through
dialogue and collaboration. When dialogue and
collaboration are fostered among individuals and
institutions in HE, there is a clear risk that the groups
of people who are being identified through networks
and brought together may not be diverse. Indeed, in
recent years research agencies and other actors in
HE have recognised the need to address residual
and continuing bias in who is selected to participate
in teams and collaborations. The increasing
marketisation of HE in some regions and nations has
increased the number of stakeholders involved in HE
activity and policy, and means that priorities
between stakeholders are not always aligned
towards gender equality and inclusion, reducing the
potential for collective action.
2.1.4.2 Opportunities afforded by HE programmes
and partnerships
Learning in HEIs is a dialogic, collaborative process
associated with increased civic awareness and
engagement. Research is also a fundamentally
collaborative process. With the growth in
inexpensive, reliable IT-based platforms for
collaboration, fresh opportunities are presented to
recruit, engage and support women, including those
marginalised by socio-economic status or by
geographical remoteness. HEIs provide curricular
and extra-curricular opportunities for collective
working, mobility and internationalisation.
Mentoring, including for women’s leadership, and
groupwork, including for research or gender
activism (whether within institutions, or across
institutional or national boundaries), can create new
collaborations and bonds. Research shows that
there are gender differences within and between
nations, regions, university departments and subject
areas, and those interested in promoting gender
equality in HE have much to learn from each other. In
some areas there are significant resources and
expertise which could be mobilised and shared
across boundaries – for example, the work on
women in STEM in the USA and UK, on women and
research in Europe and on women’s leadership in
Pakistan.
There is much scope for increasing the currently
limited number of the British Council’s international
collaborations that have a gender-transformative
approach, such as the Cairo University Anti-VAW
project (case study 5). There is also much scope for
widening the engagement of civil society
organisations – such as local women’s groups – in HE
projects, as well as engaging women from the worlds
of politics, business and research in the arena of
gender equality in HE. Dialogue and collaboration
with local and national women’s anti-violence
organisations to strengthen policy, prevention and
response to VAW in HE settings is urgently needed.
There are good examples from the UK of how this
can succeed, although sustainability will be an issue
without policy change at the highest levels.
The impact of gender norms throughout the
educational lifecycle, culminating in the disparities
seen in subject entry and progression in HE, can
only be adequately addressed through joined-up
action that engages consistently with girls, boys and
teachers in schools, through tertiary education, and
throughout the dif ferent life stages of women and
men working in HEIs. Teacher training in HEIs, to
promote gender-transformative pedagogy and
gender-sensitive curricula, is one important focus
where the links between school and HE are obvious.
But programmes in HE would benefit from better
links with civil society organisations already working
to address gender inequalities in primary and
secondary education, and with arts- and society-
focused projects that address gender inequality. In
some countries the British Council will itself have
separate teams and projects in primary education, in
culture and society, and in HE, who share or should
share joint goals for gender equality and whose
work and resources could be mutually reinforcing.
75
2.1.5 Supporting legal and policy
environment
2.1.5.1 Challenges within HE
There is considerable discrepancy across the HE
sector internationally when it comes to laws and
policies that support and shape gender-
transformative action, despite most countries having
the principle of gender equality enshrined in their
laws. Some ministries for education and higher
education have high-level or more detailed
commitments to gender equality in HE which may
then be supported by resources and strategies,
while others as yet do not. However, the focus on
parity in teaching and learning standards, using an
interpretation of quality and excellence that
excludes gender equality and inclusion, is a
significant barrier to progress.
Progress towards gender equality is not swift, and it
is not linear. As this report has shown, in recent
years a number of states have enacted laws and
policies to restrict women’s access to HE and to
restrict the subjects that women might study. These
laws and policies also serve to restrict the teaching
of some subjects (such as gender studies) that have
a role in promoting gender equality by examining
assumptions about men’s and women’s aptitudes
and roles.
One of the main drivers for widening access and
participation in HE is the benefits this brings to the
wider economy through increased productivity.
Therefore, where equality of access has been
achieved to HE, or to subjects within HE, attention
also needs to be focused on the next step: entry into
the labour market and retention in the labour
market. Policy and practices which mitigate against
women’s full and equal participation in the labour
market, including in enterprise, need to be
addressed to maximise the benefits of their full and
equal participation in HE.
Accountability is not strong: regarding
internationalisation, frameworks such as Erasmus+
espouse the principles of non-discrimination and
equality of opportunity, but fall short of applying a
holistic gender lens. Consequently, for example, they
do not require agencies (and therefore participating
institutions) to adopt policy, action or monitoring to
address one of the most significant features of
gender inequality in HE: the threat and reality of
sexual harassment and VAW.
Oversight is also not strong: even in countries such
as the UK where data collection is sound in some
areas, such as pay equality, there are no statutory
requirements to collect and report data on sexual
violence or to commit proportionate resources to
prevention and culture change. Most countries and
most international frameworks do not mandate (or
use) an intersectional approach to the reporting of
data, which inhibits planning, monitoring and
evaluation of effective interventions.
2.1.5.2 Opportunities afforded by HE programmes
and partnerships
All HEIs are governed by national legislative
frameworks which are in turn informed by
international legislation and policy for gender
equality. There is also a considerable body of
research, and evidence from case studies, to inform
effective policymaking and the creation of effective
frameworks (such as the Athena Swan framework:
case study 7). The groundwork is laid, therefore, for
developing, improving and promoting sound and
holistic legal and policy frameworks to address all
aspects of gender inequality in HE, for ministries and
regulatory bodies as well as for agencies who
deliver programmes and partnerships in HE. Without
paying attention to the development of such
frameworks, at national and regional levels, a
significant opportunity to be gender transformative
at scale in HE is lost.
Conversely, a sustained focus on gender equality will
meet the British Council’s ambitions to influence the
improvement and internationalisation of HE systems
around the world. A formal statement of
expectations on gender equality in teaching and
learning may be of consequence for national or
regional bodies who seek to restrict women’s access
to HE, or who seek to restrict access to education
about gender and gender discrimination.
The British Council supports the professional
development and training of thousands of
individuals, including teachers, through its work in
HE around the world. Introducing a commitment to
include gender awareness and sensitivity in
pedagogy and curricula as a matter of policy for
quality assurance would increase the reach of this
work exponentially.
For programme frameworks and delivery, bias and
the potential for bias can be addressed by:
• standardised (not one-off ) strategies for
awareness-raising
• embedding transparency and accountability in
processes
• embedding gender equality as a fundamental
and necessary element of quality and excellence.
76
Policy can identify and mitigate structural barriers to
women’s access and full participation, including
post-qualification. Agencies and partner institutions
who participate in programmes across HE could be
required to demonstrate their commitment to
implementing gender-transformative policy and
governance, including specific policy protocols such
as flexible working, parental leave, and violence
prevention and response. Bringing in specific
requirements on policy and practice for gender
equality would demonstrate the British Council’s
commitment and leadership in the area, while raising
the bar across the extensive range of HEIs involved
in British Council projects.
2.1.6 Changes in attitudes, beliefs,
practices and discriminatory social
norms
2.1.6.1 Challenges within HE
Research shows that gender stereotypes and biases
that deter boys and girls from enjoying and
succeeding at subjects which have not been
normative for their gender begin to exert an
influence early in the educational lifecycle, as well as
persisting throughout the HE experience.
Stereotypes and biases are present in pedagogy,
curriculum materials, learning environments and
evaluations. Research is clear that gender
stereotypes confer disadvantage to women and
advantage to men in HE, but a refusal to believe
such discrimination exists is entrenched and hinders
good-faith positive action.
The historic dominance of men in certain fields (e.g.
a number of STEM fields) as well as in HE
management has two main effects. The first is that
the status quo is perpetuated by reinforcing existing
stereotypes of men as leaders and as ‘naturally’
suited to this work. The second is that ‘groupthink’
and ‘the way that things have always been done’
make it difficult to find traction for a focus on issues
that are critical for gender equality in HE.
The most easily measured outcomes of relevance to
gender equality are those that involve ‘counting’
men’s and women’s participation. While equality of
representation is an important aim, in itself it is not
gender transformative and it is therefore not
sustainable without the more difficult work to
transform attitudes, beliefs, practices and norms.
Any work that is targeted at supporting and
empowering women risks being seen as unfair or
discriminatory towards men and risks a ‘backlash
effect’ of hostility or negativity. Backlash can be
anticipated and addressed through careful
communication as well as dedicated work with men
and women to raise awareness and confront
discriminatory attitudes.
2.1.6.2 Opportunities afforded by HE programmes
and partnerships
Research shows that while harmful gender norms
can be challenging to shift, they can be shifted. HEIs
which are centres for learning and innovation are
ideal institutions in which to focus activities to
challenge and change discriminatory attitudes and
norms through policies, pedagogy and training with
both men and women. This kind of project, which
would involve working with gender experts as well
as building local links, could form a more significant
part of the British Council’s portfolio in HE. It would
also assist with the wider project to ensure the entry
and retention of graduates into the active labour
market. The Active Citizens programme has been
delivered in HEIs
103 and this approach could be
consolidated more intentionally. HEIs are also often
strongly rooted within their wider local communities
of political life, businesses, primary and secondary
educational establishments, which affords
opportunities to grow ‘lifecycle’ approaches to
tacking harmful gender norms, working across HE,
education and society.
Harmful gender norms are not stable across all
countries, cultures, institutions or HE subject areas,
a fact that provides opportunities to exchange
knowledge and insights and demonstrate policies
and practices that have been successful between
different partner institutions and countries. The
British Council as an expert in cultural relations is
ideally suited to produce regionally focused
materials that highlight, showcase and model how
HE governance, subject and leadership cultures can
look when they are gender equal.
There is a clear opportunity to make the British
Council’s portfolio of programmes in HE gender
transformative as a matter of course.
103. For example in partnership with the Ministry of HE in Afghanistan: www.britishcouncil.af/active-citizens-universities and see case study 4.
77
2.2 Applying a gender lens to the
HE and science theory of change
The British Council seeks to promote connections,
understanding and trust through its work in
education. The strategic ambition for HE is to
develop stronger, more inclusive and internationally
connected HE systems which support economic and
social growth in the UK and globally, with the UK
seen as a trusted par tner and provider of HE.
To achieve the desired impact, the British Council
has identified a range of activities and outputs
across five portfolio intervention areas. Those
intervention areas are:
1. policy and systems development
2. institutional partnerships
3. professional development
4. student mobility
5. insight, analysis and advocacy.
In this section, a gender lens is applied to the
generic activities and outputs in each of the
intervention areas, helping to show how the theory
of change for HE and science can be gender
responsive and produce gender-transformative
outcomes. Examples and resources to help shape
these activities follow in a later section.
2.2.1 Policy and systems development
Activities
The activities in this area include policy dialogue and
conferences, high-level delegation visits, technical
assistance and consultancy. With a gender lens,
activities should include:
• improving HE policy, legislation and systems to
deliver on advancing gender equality and
eliminating discrimination
• promoting high-profile women leaders, speakers,
discussants and women delegates
• promoting gender-sensitive communication
content
• carer-friendly and safe conference arrangements
• the integration of gender analysis, policies and
action plans for gender equality into the agenda
for all activities.
Outputs
The UK policies and practices that are engaged with,
in international dialogue, should be strong on
gender: best practice in gender-transformative
policies and practices will be shared and widely
taken up. All agreements (e.g. system alignment
agreements) and policies will contain standards for
gender equality and empowerment. Improvements
and changes which support quality, inclusion and
internationalisation will be by definition inclusive of
robust measures to address gender inequalities,
including VAW.
2.2.2 Institutional partnerships
Activities
The activities in this area include support for
partnerships enabling collaboration in teaching,
transnational education, research and reciprocal
mobility, as well as paid consultancy for UK HEIs.
With a gender lens, activities should include:
• ensuring that accreditation practices include
integration of minimum standards in gender-
sensitive policy and practice
• introducing clarity and accountability for the
introduction and audit of robust policies and
measures addressing gender inequalities and
VAW
• evaluation of research proposals for sex and
gender analysis
• promoting partnerships and collaborations with a
gender focus
• promoting gender-transformative pedagogy in
teaching and teacher training
• promoting excellence in gender mainstreaming
activities.
Outputs
Best practice in gender-transformative policies and
practices will be shared and widely taken up.
Partners will report that they understand the value
placed by the UK on gender equality. All partnership
agreements and policies will contain standards for
gender equality and empowerment, with measurable
progress. There will be an increase in partnerships
and collaborations that have a gender focus.
Teaching and research quality will be improved
through gender sensitivity. Improved accountability
on VAW will go hand in hand with decreased risk and
incidence of VAW for women educators, students
and researchers in institutional partnerships.
78
2.2.3 Professional development
Activities
The activities in this area include short-term work
and research placements in another country,
professional training, and platforms for science
communications and outreach. With a gender lens,
activities should include:
• ensuring that professional training such as
teacher training includes competencies in
gender
• building and supporting research networks on
gender and gender equality
• promoting the representation of women and
gender-sensitive content in communications
• capacity-building and leadership development
for women.
Outputs
All data will be (at a minimum) disaggregated by sex,
with appropriate targets, for example where subject
fields are imbalanced. All placement and
participation agreements will include information
and accountability for VAW which will be specifically
measured. Placement and participation agreements
will be gender sensitive and family friendly. Gender-
responsive pedagogy will be integral to professional
training. The content and delivery of science
communications will have improved gender balance
including diverse women.
2.2.4 Student mobility
Activities
The activities in this area include study and work
placements in another country, scholarships to the
UK, the Study UK campaign, paid services to support
HEI student recruitment, and alumni networks and
support. With a gender lens, activities should
include:
• creating and upholding minimum standards for
gender-transformative and VAW prevention
education in preparation for travel
• targeted recruitment to improve gender
balance/increase women’s participation
• women’s alumni networks and support.
Outputs
All data will be (at a minimum) disaggregated by sex,
with appropriate targets, for example where subject
fields or country cohorts are imbalanced. All
placement and participation agreements will include
information and accountability for VAW which will be
specifically measured. Placement and participation
agreements will be gender sensitive and family
friendly. Gender-transformative education will be
integral to the offer.
2.2.5 Insight, analysis and advocacy
Activities
The activities in this area include research into
priority themes, insight and analysis, and advocacy
through meetings and events. With a gender lens:
• all research and analysis conducted, or
commissioned through external agencies or
partners, will require explicit gendered analysis
• those commissioned to conduct research and
analysis will be able to demonstrate competence
in gendered analysis
• global and local gender specialists will be
engaged to advise throughout project cycles
• gender-balanced project teams will be recruited
• communications from country offices will
showcase their approach to gender equality.
Outputs
Research and insight that works for women and girls,
and supports their equality and empowerment, will
be produced.
2.2.6 Outcomes
By undertaking these activities, governments, HEIs
and all partners will understand the value placed by
the UK on gender equality. Policy and system
change will be gender sensitive, to the benefit of all
genders. Women students, educators and
researchers from the UK and other countries will be
less at risk from violence, and there will be increased
accountability. International students and alumni will
be less likely to be perpetrators of sexual
harassment, violence or discrimination. There will be
increased gender sensitivity in research content and
application, to the benefit of all genders. Better
gender balance in fields of work and study will
improve the quality of future research and its
application. Progress will be achieved towards
equality and empowerment of women students,
educators, researchers, policymakers and leaders,
as well as more broadly in society. Participants will
be ambassadors for gender equality.
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2.3 Case studies
This section of the report provides an illustrative
selection of case studies looking at the work of the
British Council and others (including individual HEIs,
national governments and civil society
organisations) in HE globally. Some give examples of
how the objective to promote gender equality has
been operationalised through specific, dedicated
projects, while others show how considerations of
gender (in)equality have been mainstreamed. There
are reflections on gaps that have been identified in
gender analysis and reflections on what could have
been done better. The case studies cover a range of
interventions from policies, systems and frameworks
to action with individual students or teachers,
providing food for thought and accessible
inspiration for effective ways to address gender
inequalities in HE.
2. 3 .1 Sco p e
The range of large-scale and individual programmes
relating to HE, managed by teams and grantees in
the British Council, is enormous. A recent semi-
systematic analysis conducted by a team of
researchers over a six-month period began with a
longlist of 50 programmes/countries and looked in
depth at 24 HE programmes, including multiple
forms of documentation and interviews with over 20
individuals and teams as well as surveys with over
100 partners (IFF, 2019). That review did not bring to
light a focus on gender other than to say that very
few programmes expressed a rationale that included
addressing inequalities.
The review produced seven thematic categories by
which ‘the vast majority of stated programme
objectives’ that they researched in HE could be
categorised – and addressing inequalities of any
form did not make the list. None of the objectives or
outcomes summarised as case studies in the review
included any focus on gender, nor was gender
mentioned in any of the longer in-depth case
studies.
The relatively small scale of this current scoping
project on gender and HE has meant that it cannot
begin to claim a systematic or similarly semi-
systematic analysis of programmes, although the
content of the 2019 review strongly indicated from
the outset that programmes focusing on gender/an
explicit gender focus within programmes would not
be widespread. There is no single repository for
documentation of programmes and partnerships in
HE at the British Council, although internal reports,
as well as the IFF report and conversations with
colleagues, have been helpful for signposting.
Limited information about programmes and
partnerships is available online, and so looking for
projects that have a gender focus – or examining the
documentation of projects so as to examine the
extent of gender focus – has not been a
straightforward activity.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on
the lives, ways of working and day-to-day priorities
of those working in HE within and outside of the
British Council. This has brought additional
challenges regarding the availability and capacity of
project leads and other potential interlocutors to
respond to requests for information and interviews.
It has also resulted in an ethical research obligation
not to be unduly persistent in the quest for
information.
This is not a comprehensive review: there may be
any number of current and recent high-quality
gender-focused activities and outcomes that have
not been recorded as case studies or highlighted
within the text of this report. There is more work to
do to showcase such initiatives online, and a move
towards a more systematic global programme
approach with an emphasis on programme
documentation will enhance the capability of the
British Council to enumerate and evaluate its work
for gender impact in the future. The case studies
presented here are exemplars, and they draw on
activities and programmes that are led by a range of
HE actors from individual HEIs to NGOs, sector
bodies and government departments.
80
104. The other two SPHEIR consortium partners are PwC and UUKi.
Case study 1: SPHEIR – TESCEA
and gender-responsive
pedagogy, a project led by INASP
(UK) within the FCDO-funded
SPHEIR programme managed by
the British Council and
partners
104
Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania
The TESCEA project (Transforming Employability
for Social Change in East Africa) is developing a
scalable pedagogical model to help universities
across East Africa to produce graduates with the
critical-thinking and problem-solving skills they
need to address real-world challenges. It works
by helping university staf f to align curricula with
employer needs, rethink pedagogies to develop
students’ skills, and build stronger links between
universities and employers. The partners in the
project are committed to ensuring gender-
responsive pedagogy in the course redesign
process that underpins the TESCEA approach.
Gender has been a central consideration in the
TESCEA project since it started, and the
partnership agreed on a vision of gender at a
meeting of all partners in April 2019. In
workshops, the partners worked on a definition
of gender-responsive pedagogy, as well as a
teaching and learning approach that takes into
account the various needs of men and women to
enhance their individual learning, including
opportunities for women to take the lead in
group activities.
In addition to considering delivery (how content
is delivered and by/to whom) course content will
be redesigned to be more gender-inclusive
through a well-planned process and strategy.
Teachers, learners and the wider community-
based advisory group will all benefit from taking
up gender responsiveness as a core value.
Indicators for meeting the vision of gender-
responsive pedagogy are:
• all courses redesigned by TESCEA will have
clear evidence of gender responsiveness
• implementers and the instructors will
demonstrate evidence of being gender
responsive
• university frameworks will be revised to
support and enable gender responsiveness
• students on the selected courses will be more
gender aware and responsive
• TESCEA will communicate clearly to its
stakeholders and to employers its
commitment to gender responsiveness.
Across TESCEA, three or four lecturers from each
of the four partner universities were trained as
gender multipliers in July 2019 using elements of
INASP’s Gender Mainstreaming in Higher
Education Toolkit. They are now running gender
awareness sessions at their institutions, as well
as acting as focal points for gender in their
universities.
In TESCEA’s course redesign workshops, faculty
are supported to think through gender as it
relates to their:
• teaching and learning methodologies and
activities
• teaching and learning materials
• classroom interactions
• classroom management and set-up
• language
• learning spaces and campus life.
81
An impor tant area of focus has also been on
students as future gender-responsive
professionals and the link this creates to industry.
At the policy level, the recently established
Institute of Development Studies at the University
of Dodoma in Tanzania plans to set aside a
budget for trained staff to train other faculty
members in teaching for critical thinking,
problem solving and gender-responsive
pedagogy. At Gulu University, policies have been
reviewed and updated in line with learning from
TESCEA. This has included the launch of a gender
policy and implementation manual, and the
creation of a gender help desk following a
TESCEA project discussion to share practice
across the four participating universities. TESCEA
continues to analyse university policies that have
an impact on gender in more depth to consider
how these affect gender responsiveness.
TESCEA’s work to improve university engagement
with employers and the wider community has
also had a gender angle. The project is surveying
companies engaged in the joint advisory groups
(JAGs) established through the project at each of
the four TESCEA university partners to enable
this engagement, in order to capture the state of
their gender policies and practice. Although the
project may not have a direct influence on
employers’ policies, the focus on gender in the
JAG meetings – including through the involvement
of gender experts external to the university in
several groups – ensures that the topic is firmly on
the agenda. Additionally, a survey about gender-
based barriers to employment is in progress
at all four universities. This survey takes into
consideration the various gendered aspects that
university graduates encounter during the hiring
process and in the workplace.
What could have been done differently?
Unlike some other projects, the mainstreaming of
gender from the start of the TESCEA project and
across the planning cycle is likely to contribute to
the successful achievement of its aims. The
project partners continue to review and learn
from the gender mainstreaming activities.
For further information
See this blog by Mai Skovgaard of INASP on the
SPHEIR website (November 2020), this blog for
INASP by Aloysius Tenywa Malagala of Gulu
University, Uganda (May 2019), and this blog for
INASP by Jennifer Chapin (April 2019).
Fi g u r e 13: A gender exercise at Uganda Martyrs University during the second round of Course
Redesign workshops in the TESCEA project
Source: Tabitha Buchner, INASP
82
Case study 2: National policy and
strategy for gender equality in HE
in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has been recognised for having an
effective and politically influential gender unit, with a
well-staffed gender directorate in the Ministry of
Education, holding expertise in training and capacity
building on gender mainstreaming, planning,
monitoring and evaluation (UNGEI, 2017). The
Ministry of Science and HE is headed by a woman,
Professor Hirut Woldemariam, who came to the role
having been vice-president of the University of Addis
Ababa and having held a number of ministerial
portfolios. She demonstrates visible leadership, and
progress is positive with the adoption of new laws,
policies, indicators and strategies within a
framework of good governance, monitoring and
gender expertise.
Data on gender and HE in Ethiopia shows much
room for progress: the gender gap is marked, with
only five per cent of women versus 11 per cent of
men enrolling in HE (World Economic Forum, 2020).
However, there is a tradition of women’s political
power that predated the European colonial era. The
resurgence of women’s political power in Ethiopia
means that the country is now a high performer in
league tables, ranked 16th in the world in 2020 with
over 38 per cent of parliamentary seats held by
women. In 2018 the country’s Cabinet was fully
gender balanced, and the first female president was
appointed.
The country’s Education Sector Development
Programme V (2015) identifies gender as a cross-
cutting issue and describes initiatives in universities
to support female students’ achievements, including
with tutorials and high-level forums on women’s
education. It states that increased participation in
HE by female students and greater involvement of
female staff in teaching, research, leadership and
management are core policy objectives. There are
targets to increase the numbers of women who are
students, teachers, researchers and leaders, as well
as special emphasis on training and professional
development for gender-responsive instruction. All
relevant indicators are to be gender-disaggregated.
Specific indicators include increasing female
researchers’ journal publications, and minimum
participation of women in lower, middle and top
leadership positions as well as university boards.
Targets are accompanied by actions to address the
range of barriers such as:
• providing special support to female students to
qualify and succeed in HE at all levels
• developing summer and weekend outreach
programmes to provide academic support to
female students in secondary schools
• providing institutionalised and sustained
academic, economic and psychosocial supports
to enrolled female students
• implementing female scholarship schemes for
postgraduate and doctorate programmes
• designing and implementing a female talent
cultivation centre for assisting and inspiring
females to participate and succeed in leadership
and management at all levels.
Sexual harassment remains prevalent in Ethiopian
universities (Mamaru et al., 2015; Bezabah, 2016).
There is a national code of conduct aimed at
preventing GBV in schools ( 2014), although this does
not extend to universities, who develop their own
codes, and there is a new Labour Proclamation
(2019) outlawing the sexual harassment of workers
and making employers vicariously liable.
A new Higher Education Proclamation (2019)
dictated that every HEI should have a strategic plan
agreed with the ministry to include social goals such
as to increase the proportion of senior positions
held by women, and assistance to disadvantaged
student groups.
What could have been done differently?
Commentary in University World News (December
2019) suggested that the ministry should also focus
on recognising or rewarding those HEIs that are
responding positively to the task of promoting
gender equality, and also suggested that research
should be conducted into the experiences of women
leaders in the sector so as to identify the most
promising intervention strategies.
For further information
• Education Sector Development Programme V
(2015): planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/
files/ressources/ethiopia_esdp_v.pdf
• Higher Education Proclamation 2019: www.ilo.
org/dyn/natlex/docs/
EL E C T R O N I C /10 9311/135 557/F-1372 3219 6 2 /
E T H 10 9 311 . p d f
• Blog by INASP on supporting ‘gender alliances’ in
HE and the role of political support: blog.inasp.
info/joining-redress-university-gender-
imbalances/
83
• Commentary by Professor Wondwosen Tamrat in
University World News (2019): www.
universityworldnews.com/post.
php?story=20191209065455348
• UNESCO’s por tal of education plans and policies:
planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/en
Other country examples
South Africa’s National Plan for Higher Education
(2 001) states: ‘Institutions will ... be expected to
develop employment equity plans with clear targets
for rectifying race and gender inequities. The
Ministry will use planning and funding as the primary
levers for ensuring that race and gender inequities
are eradicated’ (p. 47).
Afghanistan’s National Education Strategic Plan
2017– 21 has equitable access as one of its three
sector goals, defined as ‘increased equitable and
inclusive access to relevant, safe and quality
learning opportunities for children, youth and adults
in Afghanistan, especially women and girls’.
Spain’s Equality Law 3/2007 requires central,
regional and local governments to further teaching
and research on the significance and scope of
equality between women and men in HE, including
by ensuring the subject is on the curriculum, can be
studied at postgraduate level, and for the provision
of specialist research in the field.
Uganda’s Gender in Education Sector Policy (2016)
and its National Strategy for Girls’ Education 2015–
2019 (2013) stress the importance of developing and
implementing a gender-responsive education and
training curriculum for teacher educators, including
gender responsiveness in performance review, but
research suggests that implementation remains
patchy.
105
See also
The Universal Declaration of Balanced and Inclusive
Education, led by the nations of the Global South,
affirms the role of education in transforming
societies to eradicate poverty, inequality and
marginalisation. See educationrelief.org/wp-
content/uploads/2020/02/UDBIE-final-EN.pdf
105. UNESCO (2019), p. 32.
Case study 3: The London
Statement: national
governments, the British
Council and global HE partners
UK/Global
The London Statement is a policy framework
and statement of principles underpinning
training for education agents and consultants,
for the ethical recruitment of international
students and the services provided to them. It
is an example of a framework that does not
specifically recognise or address the gender
dimensions of international HE study.
In 2010, representatives from the governments
of the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand and the USA formed a Roundtable on
the Integrity of International Education, mindful
that with the proliferation of international
educational opportunities, growing numbers of
educational agents and consultants were
entering the market to provide services to
international students.
In 2012, the member countries signed up to a
high-level statement of principles for recruiting
and providing services to international
students.
Principle 1 – Agents and consultants practise
responsible business ethics.
Principle 2 – Agents and consultants provide
current, accurate and honest information in an
ethical manner.
Principle 3 – Agents and consultants develop
transparent business relationships with
students and providers through the use of
written agreements.
Principle 4 – Agents and consultants protect
the interests of minors.
Principle 5 – Agents and consultants provide
current and up-to-date information that enables
international students to make informed choices
when selecting which agent or consultant to
employ.
Principle 6 – Agents and consultants act
professionally.
Principle 7 – Agents and consultants work with
destination countries and providers to raise
ethical standards and best practice.
The British Council offers a practical and
professional online training programme
(revised in 2019) for agents and counsellors in
84
agencies, colleges and schools to enable them to
recommend the UK as a study destination to
international students. The aim is also to improve
the quality of agents and counsellors.
106 In other
countries, similar training is offered (e.g. by EATC
in Australia and ICEF in Canada. The British
Council training provides facts and details about
student life in the UK and compliance with
relevant UK legislation such as data protection
laws. The training also reflects the London
Statement’s framework and promotes
understanding of professionalism and ethical
behaviour, including, specifically, child
safeguarding based on the British Council’s child
protection policy.
What could be done differently?
Rightly, there is an emphasis on business ethics
and protecting the financial interests of students
in the text of the London Statement and its
supporting attachment. Financial propriety is
also the main focus in the notes concerning the
interests of minors (those aged under 18). While
the new British Council training has an enhanced
focus on child protection in the round, including
the risks of harm and exploitation, the text of the
London Statement could benefit from being
refreshed to reflect increased awareness and
concern about the potential for exploitation and
abuse of children as well as of adult students in
the international education sphere.
In the post-#MeToo world, and specifically
following the significant awareness shift in the
past decade that has brought to light the extent
of sexual violence and harassment in HE –
together with concerns about the use of student
visas for trafficking, including sex trafficking (e.g.
PIE, 2020) – it would benefit students if their
agents and counsellors received specific training
on identifying and reporting concerns as well as
handling disclosures sensitively and
appropriately. This training would ensure that the
obligation to provide ‘current, accurate and
honest information’ in an ethical manner
(Principle 2) and the requirement to ‘act in the
best interests of the student at all times’ (a factor
under Principle 1) are fulfilled. There are baked-in
disincentives for agents to raise concerns that
may be brought to them regarding abuse or
exploitation of students in HE by other parties,
and this should be recognised in policy and
training, particularly as agents may be the only
trusted contact available to students in some
circumstances.
The current requirements for agents and
consultants to behave professionally, responsibly
and ethically do not make specific reference to
sexual exploitation and abuse, nor to an
injunction on intimate or romantic relationships
between students and all those engaged in
recruiting or providing services to them. In
safeguarding terms, contact with minors and with
at-risk female students is far less regulated than
in educational environments within the UK where
disclosure and barring checks are undertaken
and where legislation, as well as policy, is
increasingly clear to proscribe exploitation and
abuse. In the London Statement, and therefore in
training rooted in its principles, there is the sense
of an accountability gap when it comes to good
practice in protecting students from the
foreseeable harm of sexual harassment or
violence, which is no less important than
protecting them from financial abuse. Relatedly,
it is not clear that employees of UK HEIs who
enable the travel of UK students or professionals
to other countries are trained to risk-assess or
monitor/report incidence of VAW, or to support in
the event of disclosure.
Applying a gender lens when developing policies
and frameworks, and making gender dimensions
explicit within those policies and frameworks,
provides the basis for ensuring that appropriate
and necessary gender-sensitive actions are taken.
For further information
• Text of the London Statement: www.
britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/london_
statement.pdf
• Attachment to the London Statement: see pp.
3–4 as published by New Zealand Education:
enz.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/ENZ-Agents-
London-Statement.pdf
• The British Council’s page on training for
agents and counsellors: www.britishcouncil.
org/education/education-agents/training-
agents
• British Council database of agents: agent-
training.britishcouncil.org/GAL?_
ga=2.188404776 .1417379827.1598103046-
392022332.1597914673
• PIE report on traffickers exploiting student
visas (2020): thepienews.com/news/
traffickers-exploiting-student-visas-at-global-
level-repor ts-reveal/
• US government report on trafficking in
persons (2019): www.state.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2019/06/2019-Trafficking-in-
Persons-Report.pdf
• British Council Agent and Counsellor Training
Suite: Frequently Asked Questions: www.
britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/faq-
agent-counsellor-training.pdf
106. See www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/faq-agent-counsellor-training.pdf
85
Case study 4: Gender-sensitive
pedagogy through British Council
Active Citizens, facilitated by
Kudirat Initiative for Democracy
(KIND) and YMCA
Nigeria
Through DFID’s Voices for Change programme,
Active Citizens training was incorporated into
training sessions for student volunteers at Lagos
State Polytechnic in 2015. Active Citizens is a
longstanding and highly successful social leadership
programme created by the British Council, helping
to empower people to take action on social issues
and help to strengthen civil society. Gender equality
issues have always been woven through the Active
Citizens programme.
In focus group discussions, both male and female
students at Lagos State Polytechnic shared how they
felt that the gender-sensitive pedagogy in the Active
Citizens training programme increased their
knowledge about gender equality issues, and fuelled
their activism to tackle gender stereotypes and
promote women’s leadership.
What could have been done differently?
An impact assessment reflected that gender
indicators (for example, an increase in women’s
leadership in student activism, or an increase in
women’s employment through the creation of
student-led programmes) had not been set or
measured. It also showed that there was evidence
that while the students were inspired to address
practical gender needs, stereotypes about women’s
role in domestic life persisted.
Since this training was delivered in 2015, Active
Citizens has been updated so that gender equality
and empowerment themes are fully mainstreamed
throughout the programme. The facilitator’s
handbook contains a chapter on gender equality
and women’s empowerment, demonstrating how to
apply a gender lens throughout the learning journey
and including gender-sensitive (and sex-
disaggregated) monitoring and evaluation.
For further information
• See page 44 of the British Council’s report
Women and Girls: Making a Lasting Difference
(2 017).
• The British Council’s Active Citizens global toolkit
for facilitators, updated in 2017 with gender
mainstreamed throughout the programme and
including a themed chapter on gender equality
and women’s empowerment: active-citizens.
britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/active_
citizens_global_toolkit_2017-18.pdf
86
Case study 5: Violence Against
Women and Girls Free Campuses
– British Council and Cairo
University supported by the EU
Egypt
This project is building the capacity of the first
campus-based Anti-VAW Unit in the MENA region,
established at Cairo University in 2014.
Supported by a grant from the EU i n 2018 ,
academics from the unit together with gender
experts from the British Council have taken part
in two country visits to the UK, visiting centres of
good practice for addressing VAW in universities,
and have hosted an inward assessment visit from
a UK-based expert in VAW prevention in
universities.
During the visits, partners have learned from
each other about policies and international legal
frameworks, staffing structures, strategic
planning, volunteer management, data collection,
online reporting mechanisms, investigation
procedures, and theories of change for
prevention. The project has created links
between UK universities and Cairo University,
with hopes for collaborative working and
possibilities for hosting Egyptian PhD or master’s
students in the UK in the future.
As a result of the project, the organisational
structure of the unit at Cairo University has
become more efficient, and a new case
management system is being implemented.
Violence prevention through attitude and
behavioural change, using the bystander
intervention framework developed in UK
universities, has been adapted for the Egyptian
context and training has been rolled out.
What could have been done differently?
The project is not yet complete. The opportunity
to strengthen international research and
collaboration networks through an international
conference has been affected by the Covid-19
pandemic, and alternative options for online
collaboration are being explored.
For further information
Contact the Head of Society Programmes at the
British Council Cairo Office, Egypt: yosr.gado@
britishcouncil.org.eg
Figure 14 Cairo University lit up in orange as part of the ‘Orange the World’ activities during the 16
Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, culminating each year in the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women (#IDEVAW) on 25 November
Cairo University, Anti-VAW Unit
87
Case study 6: The Creative Sector
and British Council Creative Spark
Wider Europe
Highlighting the value of gender
mainstreaming in a project
The absence of a gender lens in the analysis and
design of interventions to support the creative
sector is a common issue. Through the Creative
Spark programme, the British Council has
recognised this gap and introduced a proactive
approach to addressing gender inequalities.
The Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise
Programme gives the next generation opportunities
to develop their skills to compete in a global job
market and to start their own businesses. This is
achieved through partnerships between HE and
creative institutions in the UK and overseas which
develop entrepreneurship skills among students,
graduates and young entrepreneurs. The
programme funded 50 new international
partnerships between the UK and Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The programme includes a digital video pitch
competition, producing 500 new business ideas,
voted on by over 80,000 people, national policy
forums and an annual conference. Partners include
UNESCO and Santander Bank, and women make up
58 per cent of the programme’s beneficiaries.
Partnerships have specific reporting measures on
steps taken to enable greater participation of
women and/or disadvantaged individuals.
The Creative Spark programme works with the HE
sector to support creative enterprise; therefore the
gender equality issues in both HE and enterprise are
relevant context. Gender disparities in enterprise
has consistently been a focus for the UK
government, and was highlighted as a priority area
for the Government Equalities Office by the
Secretary of State for International Trade and
President of the Board of Trade, and Minister for
Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, in April 2020. In
2013, women in the UK were setting up and running
new businesses at half the rate of men, with a
commensurate loss to the economy (Women’s
Business Council, 2013). Venture capital investment
teams and their networks are extremely male
dominated, and they reproduce gender disparities
by making the vast majority of investments, most of
which are made through network contacts, to
all-male entrepreneur teams (83 per cent in 2018).
For every £1 of venture capital investment, one
penny goes to female founders (British Business
Bank, 2019).
There is also a body of UK-based literature
describing gender inequalities in the creative
industries (for example, a recent analysis of how
women in the creative industries are portrayed
differently – less professionally – in the media than
men (Sleeman, 2019)). This is in addition to literature
making recommendations for how gender
inequalities might be addressed (e.g. making
changes to strenuous working cultures, promoting
female role models, building soft skills such as
self-promotion, and addressing unsafe working
environments (Hobson, 2019)).
In 2018, the UK-based global innovation foundation
Nesta published a report examining how the creative
industries are powering the UK’s nations and
regions, and recognising the productivity and
contribution to growth of these industries. Gendered
analysis is completely absent from this report (the
words ‘gender’ or ‘women’ are completely absent
too). The UK-based Centre for Entrepreneurs
published a report in 2017 on the role of universities
in supporting high-growth graduate start-ups. It
contains only two paragraphs
107 that mention
gender: noting that incubation could play a part in
remedying the gender imbalance in graduate
entrepreneurship, but without describing the gender
imbalance or examining how or why incubation
could address it.
Both these reports are referenced in IFF Research’s
Creative Spark report (2018), commissioned by the
British Council. The core purpose of this research
was to understand the range of models for how HEIs
in the UK support enterprise and entrepreneurship
education (EEE), not programme design. It does not
contain a gender analysis nor discussion of gender,
other than to mention that one funding competition,
run by Imperial College London, is open to women
only.
108 The report does, however, use gendered
language to refer to engagement with ‘successful
businessmen’
109 as a benefit for students in another
university funding competition model. There is no
sex-disaggregated data provided, either of
entrepreneurship in global/regional or national
context, or of student participation in the EEE
models. The repor t does include the views of women
through numerous quotes.
107. Both mentions of gender are on p. 39.
108. Page 35.
109. Page 35.
88
In the first iteration of the programme design there
was little evidence of gender analysis, although the
theory of change included a series of planning
assumptions, one of which stated the ‘programme
works in a way that promotes gender equality,
women’s economic empowerment and social
inclusion’. Further iterations of the theory of change
and evaluation frameworks have been strengthened
to address gender issues more explicitly.
The report commissioned by the British Council
(British Council & PPV Knowledge Networks, 2018)
highlighted gender inequalities in the creative and
cultural industries in four states of the Eastern
Partnership Region of Europe (Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Ukraine). It identified a wide range of
opportunities for the British Council and its partners
to promote gender equality and empowerment in
the creative industries in the region, a number of
which are relevant to programming in the region.
These include:
• awareness raising
• gender-sensitive training and confidence-
building training
• role models
• quotas and incentives for funding
• expectations for gender equality policies
• prizes and competitions for women
• networks for women.
Of note, the educational systems were described as
encouraging gender-biased thinking. Another
important finding was that a third of creative
industry professionals surveyed in Armenia, Georgia
and Ukraine agreed that ‘innovative ideas are more
easily supported when they are suggested by
men’.
110
The Creative Spark team has strengthened the
gender aspects in the following ways.
• The outputs and outcomes in the theory of
change now make reference to ‘individuals,
including women and disadvantaged individuals’,
and there is reference to a long-term impact of
‘improved life prospects for the youth, including
women and disadvantaged individuals, reducing
the risk that they fall into violence’.
• Grant proposals – and partnerships in their
reports – are required to identify activities,
interventions and steps for enabling greater
participation for women and disadvantaged
groups.
• Courses are delivered online to enable access
for women and other disadvantaged groups, and
are advertised through channels and activities
designed to target those groups.
• Gender-sensitive language is used during
trainings.
• In the analytical framework some of the outputs
now specifically make reference to ‘women and
disadvantaged individuals’. For example, one of
the outputs measures the number of young
people, including women and disadvantaged
individuals, trained in enterprise skills through
the end-of-year survey which collects
information by sex of participating young person
and by activity type. This enables the project to
monitor and report on access and impact: in year
one 58 per cent of all people involved in the
project activities were women and 55 per cent of
the 24,409 competition participants were
women. Women reported more impact than men
in the measures for increased self-confidence,
increased leadership skills and improved
entrepreneurial capacity.
• The programme launch activities addressed
gender inequalities, including the London
Creative Spark exhibition launched in January
2020.
• National ‘roadmap’ meetings for the creative
sector which took part in each country explored
issues of gender equality.
• The annual conference holds sessions on gender
parity in the creative economy sector, with
specific reference to Ukraine.
• Each partnership in Creative Spark has to
complete mid-year and end-of-year reports
(including the data related to gender equality
identified in the Analytical Framework) and
record specific measures taken to enable the
greater participation of women and/or
disadvantaged individuals in Creative Spark
activities.
• Facebook Live sessions: women
entrepreneurship is being highlighted throughout
these series. Sixty-five per cent of speakers
featured successful women role models to share
their entrepreneurship journey.
Through these initiatives, the Creative Spark
programme has shown how HE programmes can
proactively address gender equality issues.
110. Page 46.
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What could have been done differently?
There are undoubtedly opportunities to further
strengthen the approach, e.g. strengthening gender
analysis at the systemic level, including long-term
improved life prospects for female youth who
participate, and ensuring that sessions for the
training of trainers in the par tner institutions are
using gender-sensitive curriculum content.
There is a body of research and policy in the field
which fails the most basic tests of gender sensitivity,
including some research commissioned directly by
the British Council. This has functioned as a
backdrop against which programmes are designed.
Methods for ensuring gender analysis which might
be part of a programme planning process include:
• making sure that all project templates and
proformas explicitly invite discussion of the ways
in which sex/gender analysis may be relevant to
the project
• ensuring that external agencies or partners are
competent to conduct gender analysis and
understand gender analysis as a required
element of every commissioned piece of work.
For further information
• Creative Spark Higher Education Enterprise
Programme: www.britishcouncil.org/education/
ihe/what-we-do/international-partnerships/
creative-spark-higher-education-enterprise-
programme
• IFF Research report on the Creative Spark
programme commissioned by the British Council
(2018): www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/
files/3667_bc_creative_enterprise_education_
report_03_red2.pdf
• Nesta Creative Nation report (2018): media.nesta.
org.uk/documents/creative_nation-2018.pdf
• Centre for Entrepreneurs report: Putting the Uni
in Unicorn (2017 ) : centreforentrepreneurs.org/
wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CFE-University-
Entrepreneurs-Report-WEB.pdf
• Case study 7: Athena Swan
process and framework
UK
An externally assured process and framework
that provides external accreditation for
successful work on gender issues to HE
departments.
Originally developed to address the careers of
women in STEMM (science, technology,
engineering, mathematics and medicine) fields
in UK HEIs, the Athena Swan framework was
founded in 2005 by the UK’s Equality Challenge
Unit, which later merged to become Advance
HE, the charitable agency dedicated to the
enhancement of teaching and learning, equality
and diversity, and leadership and governance
in HE. From the outset, Athena Swan was widely
taken up in institutions across the UK. It was
expanded in 2015 to recognise work
undertaken in the arts, humanities, social
sciences, business and law, in professional and
support roles, and for trans staff and students.
Institutions who sign up to the Athena Swan
Charter are eligible to apply for the Athena
Swan award at levels of Bronze, Silver or Gold.
The charter is based on ten core principles.
Athena Swan institutions commit to adopting
these principles within their policies, practices,
action plans and culture.
1. We acknowledge that academia cannot
reach its full potential unless it can benefit
from the talents of all.
2. We commit to advancing gender equality in
academia, in particular, addressing the loss
of women across the career pipeline and
the absence of women from senior
academic, professional and support roles.
3. We commit to addressing unequal gender
representation across academic disciplines
and professional and support functions. In
this we recognise disciplinary differences,
including:
a. the relative under-representation of
women in senior roles in arts,
humanities, social sciences, business
and law
b. the particularly high loss rate of women
in science, technology, engineering,
mathematics and medicine.
4. We commit to tackling the gender pay gap.
90
5. We commit to removing the obstacles faced
by women, in particular, at major points of
career development and progression,
including the transition from PhD into a
sustainable academic career.
6. We commit to addressing the negative
consequences of using short-term contracts
for the retention and progression of staff in
academia, particularly women.
7. We commit to tackling the discriminatory
treatment often experienced by trans people.
8. We acknowledge that advancing gender
equality demands commitment and action
from all levels of the organisation and in
particular active leadership from those in
senior roles.
9. We commit to making and mainstreaming
sustainable structural and cultural changes to
advance gender equality, recognising that
initiatives and actions that support individuals
alone will not sufficiently advance equality.
10. All individuals have identities shaped by
several different factors. We commit to
considering the intersection of gender and
other factors wherever possible.
Athena Swan membership is open to both HEIs
and research institutes. It is now being adopted
in Ireland, Australia and Canada.
An independent assessment found considerable
evidence that staff career satisfaction,
opportunities for training and development,
knowledge of promotion processes, and fairness
in the allocation of workload were improved by
Athena Swan membership and award status. The
data-collection processes enabled the
identification of relevant challenges. Changes
appeared to be sustainable. An impact evaluation
of the charter found strong evidence that the
process and methodologies had supported
cultural and behavioural change as well as
attitude change.
What could have been done differently?
The 2014 assessment found little evidence of
positive impact on students in participating
organisations, as opposed to staff. A review
published in 2020 found that institutional culture
should be better considered, including through
culture surveys. The administrative burden of the
application process for the award – falling
particularly on women – was a serious concern.
The steering group recommended a broadening
of scope to reflect gender as a spectrum and
that intersectionality should be addressed more
fully.
For further information
• The independent assessment of the impact
and benefit of the Athena Swan Charter,
published in 2014: www.advance-he.ac.uk/
knowledge-hub/advancing-womens-careers-
stemm-evaluating-effectiveness-and-impact-
athena-swan
• The report of the Athena Swan Charter
Review Independent Steering Group,
published in 2020: www.ecu.ac.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/Future-of-Athena-
SWAN_Report-1.pdf
• Resources for HEIs and research institutes
are only provided for members of Advance
HE (note: new resources will follow the review
published in 2020): www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-
charters/athena-swan/athena-swan-
resources/
• Examples of good practice initiatives,
searchable by theme, are published by
Advance HE, although fuller detail is only
available to subscribing institutions: www.ecu.
ac.uk/athena-swan-good-practice-initiatives/
• Contact the Athena Swan Charters Team at
Athena.SWAN@Advance-HE.ac.uk
91
Case study 8: Institutional action
to address the gender pay gap
in academia
UK
In the UK, although it is against the law for
employers to pay women less than men for work of
equal value, the gender pay gap persists. It has
narrowed over time to 8.9 per cent for full-time
workers and 17.3 per cent for all workers (2019
data). But the pace of change is unacceptably slow.
Legislation enacted in 2017 required all employers
with 250 or more employees to publish and report
specific figures about gender pay gaps. Enhanced
scrutiny of the gender pay gap in academia as the
result of the legislation and the publication of survey
data has resulted in a number of UK HEIs taking
focused action.
The University of Bristol has reached a collective
agreement with its union branch including the
following actions:
• training: all managers involved in shortlisting,
recruitment and promotion panels are to attend
training to tackle cultural biases and practices
that disadvantage women, ensuring that they
have a clear understanding of issues, including
part-time and flexible working, and implicit bias
• training: manager training packages ensure that
the default position in recruitment is for
managers to support and enable part-time,
job-share, job-split and flexible working requests
• targets: 100 per cent for gender-balanced
recruitment panels and 85 per cent for gender-
balanced shortlists; 33 per cent for women
professors
• data collection: number of requests for flexible
working, including approval rates and breakdown
by gender. Part-time working by gender for each
pathway and in each school
• redevelopment of criteria for promotion
frameworks, to include fuller recognition for
leadership and citizenship alongside teaching
and research
• review and recommendations to improve the
existing scheme for returning carers
• a bridging funding scheme for retaining research
staff (more often women) between grants
• a pilot scheme for transferring research staff
(more often women) into core funded pathways
that offer more opportunities for promotion and
progression
• advertising: all advertisements for vacancies
will explicitly invite candidates to discuss
opportunities for flexible working, job shares
and job splits.
A critical part of the process, for sustainability,
included the nomination of the women union
members who had been instrumental in developing
the agreement onto the university’s academic
career management board. Some of the outcomes
of the agreement were written into the terms of
reference of that board, meaning that reporting on
progress happens at the regular board meetings and
the issues remain on the agenda through continuing
dialogue and accountability.
Another UK university, the University of Essex, found
in 2016 that it had a pay gap at the professorial level.
In addition to its ongoing strategic work, it took the
decision to immediately close the pay gap by
awarding an uplift to female professors’ pay, bringing
them to parity with the pay of male professors.
What could have been done differently?
The Bristol agreement shows many elements of
good practice, from its co-creation between the HEI
and union to the attention paid to multiple factors
that affect progress towards pay equality. The
importance of transparency and accountability in
recruitment, management and promotion
procedures, as well as practical action to address
structural barriers, reflect what is known from the
literature.
The agreement is specifically focused on women
academic staf f: given what is known about racial
discrimination in academia and the particular
challenges faced by Black women in academia,
commitments to address the experience of Black
women are notably absent. The agreement includes
specific funding to faculties for female professors,
but while it should result in accelerated progress
towards pay equality, this will be incremental in
contrast to the immediate reparative action taken by
the University of Essex.
For further information
• University of Bristol and Bristol UCU collective
agreement: cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.
bristol.ac.uk/dist/4/295/files/2020/01/UoB-
BUCU-Collective-Agreement-to-address-the-GPG.
pdf
• University of Bristol Academic Promotion
Procedure: www.bristol.ac.uk/hr/policies/
promotion/
• University of Essex press release on closing the
gender pay gap for female professors: www1.
essex.ac.uk/news/event.aspx?e_id=10552
92
Case study 10: Research study on
gender parity in higher education
India
The British Council is currently working with
the government of Andhra Pradesh through
Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalam Women’s
University on a research study on gender parity
in HE. The research aims to:
• understand factors that influence enrolment and
retention of women and girls in HE
• inform and, where possible, positively influence
existing and future state policies for women
• strengthen research capacity and capability
through international collaboration between
Andhra Pradesh and UK universities
• develop a set of programme-based intervention
strategies to bring gender parity and equal
participation of women in education and work.
It is also anticipated that the research will feed into a
larger research study on gender, HE and India’s
National Education Policy 2020.
What could have been done differently?
The project is in its early stages and will be
evaluated against a range of criteria over time.
For further information
Please contact Deepa Sundara Rajan, lead on
gender mainstreaming for the British Council in
India: deepa.sundararajan@britishcouncil.org
Case study 9: Teaching a
spatial vocabulary of equality
to architecture students
USA
Integrating gender into the
curriculum
A research paper by Dr Karen Keddy of Ball
State University describes some teaching of
cultural and social issues to both
undergraduate and postgraduate
architecture students. Students were asked to
work collaboratively to conduct a socio-
spatial analysis of their campus in order to
design a safe and secure built environment,
learning about women’s experiences of public
spaces through reading lists and direct
research.
Most students said they had not considered
safety and security issues in their designs
before, nor thought about them as social
justice issues. Many male students had not
realised that there was a difference between
men and women in terms of perception of
fear on campus. The assignment provided a
space for learning and discussion about VAW
in public spaces, as well as the transferability
of the issues to other populations who are
vulnerable to acts of violence or hate crimes.
What could have been done differently?
Keddy describes some of the disadvantages
of this method. One challenge is that there is
the potential for reinforcement of unhelpful
stereotypes and paternalistic beliefs about
women being weak or in need of protection,
on learning for the first time about the
realities of GBV. These interpretations should
be anticipated and worked through.
For further information
See Keddy, K (2015) ‘Safety is Just a Thing
Men Take for Granted’: Teaching a Spatial
Vocabulary of Equality to Architecture
Students. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender,
Culture and Social Justice 37/1: pp. 39–53.
Available online at: journals.msvu.ca/index.
php/atlantis/article/download/2871/pdf_16
93
Case study 11: Scholarships for
Indian women to study master’s
programmes in STEM in the UK
India
As a part of the British Council in India’s 70th
anniversary, 100 Indian women and girls received
scholarships to study a master’s programme in STEM
subjects at 43 UK institutions for the academic year
2018–19. The success of this programme led to a
second cohort of women being supported with the
scholarship in 2019–20, bringing the total number of
beneficiaries to 166. Ten per cent of the total value
of the scholarship was contributed by UK HEIs.
Through this scholarship the British Council aimed to
support SDGs 4 and 5 to achieve gender equality
and empower women and girls, and to expand
scholarship opportunities in HE. The women
benefiting from the scholarships are likely to
become leaders in their fields over the next 20 years
and to become ambassadors for the educational
relationship between the UK and India.
A tracer study of the beneficiaries in the first year
indicated an extremely positive experience overall,
with high average scores (all above 8/10) for:
• experience of being independent and self-reliant
• experience of safety
• social experience with other international and
home students
• academic course
• pedagogy.
Over 90 per cent of the respondents in the follow-up
survey said that the scholarship had helped improve
their future education and employment prospects,
and the great majority reported that they had been
able to build strong personal and professional
networks as a result of the experience. One-hundred
per cent also reported feeling more confident to
make decisions in their personal and professional life.
What could have been done differently?
Boarding, living and other on-campus expenses
were not covered by the scholarship scheme, which
effectively limited its availability to women from
relatively wealthy backgrounds. That does not
support the central promise of the SDGs, to ‘leave no
one behind’ when implementing the agenda.
Although the average rating for ‘safety’ in the UK
was 9 out of 10, the range of responses was from 6
to 10. No further information about safety was
solicited, which is the current norm across
international HE programmes. The pre-travel
preparations for the students were primarily focused
on logistics. All international HE programmes should
include risk-assessments, preparation and follow-up
addressing the known risks of sexual and gender-
based violence and harassment.
While a programme of continuing engagement with
the British Council on return from the UK was
planned, the scholars may have also benefited from
an alumni network enabling them to keep in touch
with each other and support each other through
their developing careers, and as alumni advocates,
encouraging more women to further their education
in STEM fields.
For further information
• Information about the 2018–19 programme and
its participants: www.britishcouncil.in/
programmes/inspired-by-india/british-council-
70years-scholarships
94
Output
166 women in India
have received STEM
scholarships to
study in UK
Output
Improved networking
among scholars
Goal
Young people and
institutions in India
benefit from
opportunities and
connections with the
UK which contribute
to shared prosperity
and development and
increased attraction
to the UK
Outcome
Women and girls in
India benefit from
increased educational
and employment
opportunities through
scholarships
Global ToC for
women and girls
Fairer access
to resources and
opportunities
Fi g u r e 15: Goals and outcomes for the project, including reference to the British Council’s theory of change
for women and girls’ empowerment
95
Case study 12: Newton–Bhabha
Women in Science workshops
India
Through the Newton–Bhabha Fund (managed by
the UK Department for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy), the British Council in
partnership with the IISER (Indian Institute of
Science Education and Research) Pune, has
delivered workshops for women scientists on
opportunities for widening their participation in
science and developing women’s representation
in science leadership.
The workshops, including inspirational addresses
from senior women in the field, have provided
access to training and professional development
in science administration and management,
science policy, and science journalism for over
300 women scientists. The workshops have
helped alumni to secure new jobs and
opportunities. Participants have created
networks (e.g. a Science Policy Forum) through
which they continue to share knowledge and
experience.
What could have been done differently?
Reactions to the programme on social media
were not always positive, with some
commentators questioning why women were
being targeted for training (i.e. a ‘fix the women’
approach) when the challenge is one of
institutional and systemic discrimination. A
clearer communications message about the role
of the workshops in addressing those forms of
discrimination would have helped to allay those
concerns, supported by a theory of change and
evaluation framework rooted in a needs analysis.
The perception that selecting only women for the
workshops was somehow reinforcing gender
binaries or stereotypes could also have been
addressed with clearer communications, as it is
undisputed that there are benefits which derive
from initiatives that are specifically dedicated to
women. This does not negate the need for other
initiatives that are designed for mixed groups
and for men as change-makers. The team
identified the need for male champions to be
more visible.
The content of the science policy workshop did
not specifically address gender inequalities in
the world of science policy, focusing on building
skills for participatory and inclusive
policymaking. Given the under-representation of
women in science policy leadership, some
content directly addressing this issue is likely to
have been helpful.
One unanticipated challenge experienced by the
team was a lack of uptake from women mid-level
policymakers. The five-day format of the course
was reported by some participants who did
attend to be too lengthy and not suited to their
professional responsibilities. Participants were
not asked about potential issues with travel or
about caring responsibilities.
Recognising the value of instructing men in
gender-inclusive policymaking, in order to meet
the target numbers this training was then opened
to men as well as to women, resulting in a small
number of men (12 per cent) taking part.
However, the design of training content and
delivery for mixed groups will be different from
training designed for all-women, and so while this
approach achieved full attendance on the
training, in future an analysis of the barriers to
women’s uptake should be conducted so as to
anticipate and address those barriers in advance.
The cost of needs analysis surveys should be met
by funders as an integral part of project funding.
The team also identified a need to build in more
equitable recruitment methods to ensure benefit
for the maximum number of participants,
including women from a wider geographical area.
For further information
• See the British Council page on the Newton–
Bhabha Fund: www.britishcouncil.in/
programmes/higher-education/newton-fund
• See the British Council’s descriptions of the
science workshop programme: www.
britishcouncil.org/education/he-science/
newton-fund/success-stories/empowering-
women-science-and-technology-india and
www.britishcouncil.org/education/he-
science/newton-fund/success-stories/
diversifying-indias-workforce
See also INASP’s page on Women in Science:
Inspiring the Next Generation, which includes
stories from women taking part in the online
course on research writing in the sciences with
AuthorAID: www.inasp.info/womeninscience
96
Case study 13: Leadership and
governance for women in Pakistan
universities
Pakistan
The British Council in Pakistan has regularly
integrated gendered analysis into its work in HE. In
Pakistan, women achieving seniority in HE tend to do
so with significant support from family and other
social networks. Other factors that have been found
to contribute to their success are role models,
mentoring, a supportive workplace environment,
including male colleagues, and study abroad (Rab,
2010).
The British Council in Pakistan commissioned
research in response to concerns about the under-
representation of women in senior leadership
positions in HE in South Asia, to inform high-level
strategic policy dialogues. This research (Morley &
Crossouard, 2015) led to a number of
recommendations:
• gender to be mainstreamed into HE policy, with
equality seen as a central constituent in quality
• policies and strategic action plans to be
introduced, accompanied by resourcing and
reporting, informed by accessible, regularly
updated gender-disaggregated statistics
• policies on senior recruitment and selection to
be reviewed to improve transparency and
accountability
• investment in women’s capacity building
• socio-cultural challenges to be addressed via the
curriculum and professional development
programmes, including making ‘leadership’ more
attractive and hospitable to both women and
men.
A national research study was conducted through
the British Council in Pakistan on women’s careers in
HE in Pakistan, feeding into the development of a
large-scale programme by the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) of Pakistan to develop the
academic community. The research found that
interventions by the HEC have increased the number
of young, PhD-qualified academic staff in public
universities.
However, a lack of mentoring and professional
development opportunities has hindered the
development of this new academic intake, and there
are significant recruitment and retention issues.
Pronounced gender gaps were found to be evident
in academic promotions at all stages of career
progression, reflecting an urgent need for more
tailored programming to support women in
academia to reach their full potential.
The report (based on a multi-method approach
taking account of literature, surveys and interviews)
found that extensive traditional practices
maintaining that men should occupy leadership
roles, and the assumption that women lack decision-
making skills, hold women back beyond the strong
cultural assumption that domestic care and work is
(only, ever, always) women’s responsibility. Women
were also concerned for their physical safety and
security.
The results of the research indicated that support
and mentoring programmes could be encouraged,
including by giving formal recognition to the role of
mentor in promotion criteria for senior academics.
Research networks (including online presence and
networks) and research centres could be developed,
as these can build research capacity as well as
confidence, collegiality and impact.
What could have been done differently?
This is a thorough and wide-ranging series of useful
observations and recommendations. While safety
and security were not a strong emerging theme in
the research, there is an absence of practical
recommendations to address the concerns
expressed by some of the female participants, which
could be an area that needs to be explored more.
For further information
• British Council in Pakistan repor t (2017):
Understanding Academic Careers – Developing
Strategies for Gender Sensitive Academic Career
Development for the Higher Education
Commission: www.britishcouncil.pk/sites/default/
files/understanding_academic_careers-_
british_council_2017_2.pdf
• Contact the British Council in Pakistan Research,
Evaluation and Monitoring Unit: Maryam.rab@
britishcouncil.org.uk
97
111 . Information from EIGE: eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/gear/legislative-policy-backgrounds/spain
Case study 14:
ACU gender grants
The Commonwealth
The tendency towards gender bias by individuals
and institutions, that is demonstrated in data, can
be mitigated by initiatives that focus on gender.
Such initiatives can also encourage those who do
the work of promoting gender equality in their
institutions, and signal to them that their work is
valued. Grants do not have to be for very large
sums of money (smaller grants mean sums can
be distributed to more recipients) to have
significant positive impact.
The Association of Commonwealth Universities
(ACU) has been working for more than 30 years
to empower women in HE, supporting universities
to promote gender equality and equity as an
integral institutional goal. The ACU Gender
Programme addresses gender issues such as
championing women in leadership and
combatting sexual violence on campus, in
partnership with its member universities.
The ACU has an extremely popular annual
programme of ‘gender grants’, which are
awarded annually to ten member universities to
support initiatives that will boost gender equity
and equality. Since the grants were launched in
2016, 39 universities in 20 countries have
benefited, and at least 600 beneficiaries have
participated in workshops supported by the
grants. The grants can be used for a diverse
range of projects, workshops and other
initiatives.
Grants in 2019 included:
• capacity building and mentoring for female
scholars, e.g. Birla Institute of Technology,
India, and Midlands State University,
Zimbabwe
• responding to and preventing sexual
harassment, e.g. training at City University
London, UK and at Heriot-Watt University, UK,
developing an anti-violence app at Kenyatta
University, Kenya, and developing training
videos for student orientation and staff
induction at the University of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka
• gender sensitisation and mainstreaming in
the curriculum and among administrative
staff, e.g. the University of Ibadan, Nigeria
• participatory methods for policy
development, e.g. the Universiti Sains
Malaysia.
What could have been done differently?
The scheme is an effective model that
emphasises institutional ownership and local
leadership and solutions, and rewards an organic
approach led by interested groups within
member universities. Such interested groups,
however, are not active in every university, and
the grants programme only reaches ten
universities per year. It is therefore impor tant
that the programme is seen as one element of
the wider commitment and strategy to address
gender inequalities among member institutions.
For further information
• ACU website on gender grants: www.acu.ac.
uk/funding-opportunities/for-university-staff/
gender-grants/
• Fearless Edinburgh multi-agency approach to
tackle sexual violence: www.napier.ac.uk/
about-us/news/fearless-edinburgh
• Kenyatta University mobile app to enhance
sexual and gender-based violence reporting,
awareness raising and access to support:
www.ku.ac.ke/gender/44-news-events
• Gender Mainstreaming Office at the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria: www.gmo.ui.
edu.ng/
See also the introduction of awards and prizes
for outstanding research projects and teaching
practices that are gender responsive or gender
transformative, such as the Gender Perspective
Award run since 2015 by the University of
Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Six prizes are
awarded annually: three for teaching
experiences and three for research projects.
Despite the sums being small the award has
many applicants every year. Award recipients
present at conferences, and conduct workshops
and courses to share their experiences and
achievements.
111
98
Case study 15: Women In STEM:
holistic gender mainstreaming
Brazil and the Americas
The British Council in the Americas has worked for a
number of years on increasing the number and
diversity of women in STEM research communities.
Having identified the under-representation of Black
women in science in Brazil, a Masters Scholarship
Programme for Underrepresented Groups in Science
was initiated, with support from the Newton Fund.
Over the years the Brazil office has built excellent
relationships with a wide range of interested
partners and agencies, including museums,
universities in the region and in the UK, and the third
sector UK-based organisation for women in science
Portia. The office’s commitment to work on gender
equality across the board means it has good links
with the gender equality movement more broadly,
which has enabled it to build a strong platform for
the work, including by showcasing at the Women of
the World Festival in Rio de Janeiro.
The most recent iteration of its programme is
Women in Science – Science Communities (WIS),
which developed from research that identified the
need to take a lifecycle approach – from schools
through college, university and career paths, all
framed by social norms, attitudes and beliefs about
gender. The benefits of taking a lifecycle approach
include joining up with existing programmes (e.g. on
coding for girls) in the region.
In Brazil the UK FCDO – who are also a par tner in
Brazil for the Newton Fund – and the BEIS
Department have assisted with funding. The team
will be consolidating the programme at the regional
level by expanding the work to Peru and Mexico
and potentially to other countries.
The British Council HE Team in the Americas has
completed a systematic revision of each one of its
HE programmes in order to embed gender
mainstreaming indicators across them all, to meet at
least a minimum requirement of gender sensitivity.
Overarching indicators within the regional HE
partnerships monitoring and evaluation plan
explicitly include gender-disaggregated data,
indicators for HEIs that include gender-sensitive
actions and for partnerships that address gender
equality.
At the same time, the team has looked internally at
its own gender norms and practices, with each team
member identifying objectives to create a more
gender-equal workplace. The HE Team lead has
identified direct dialogue with beneficiaries of
gender-transformative projects, and space for
reflection and discussion among the team members
in dialogue with gender experts, as critical factors in
the process of adopting a committed gender-
sensitive approach. The team makes use of calendar
opportunities such as International Women’s Day to
promote gender equality, for example with a
celebration of women from the Americas who
travelled to the UK for HE and research
opportunities (British Council Americas, n.d.).
Fi g ure 16: Slide from a stakeholder presentation, illustrating research into the social norms affecting
study choices
99
The WIS programme is ambitious in seeking to reach
beyond the immediate goals of increased
participation and improved career paths for diverse
women in STEM, to influencing national and
institutional policies on science and diversity.
Building and strengthening the networks of local
civil society women’s rights movements is also an
explicit aim. The project has identified particular
problems with limited career pathways for women in
STEM, particularly at leadership and strategic levels,
hampered by few role models or networks and
unsupportive institutional structures. The
programme, steered by an expert working group,
includes the following multiple elements:
• a high-level Gender Summit
• policy dialogues and workshops
• development of evidence-based mentoring
models
• delivery of capacity-building equality, diversity
and inclusion training
• skills training and training for teachers of STEM
subjects in schools.
The programme’s engagement with culture and with
communities beyond HEIs themselves is
demonstrable, for example through the publication
of the appealing Women in Science magazine (British
Council Brazil, 2019).
What could have been done differently?
This iteration of the project is in its early stages but
robust planning, including for a project lessons
review process, will enable further reflection.
Although Black women are especially under-
represented in STEM, this is not particularly explicit
in the project plan, reflecting sensitivities around
race and gender in HE.
For the future, the intention is to consolidate the
programme at the regional level and create spaces
and ways to engage globally with other regions
through stronger participation, involvement and
facilitation from the global HE and Science Team,
resulting in wider presence, visibility and influence
on the science and diversity agenda.
For further information
• WIS programme (Mulheres na Ciencia): www.
britishcouncil.org.br/mulheres-na-ciencia
• Portia: Women in Science based at Imperial
College London: www.portiaweb.org.uk
• Outstanding Women: video webinar series with
women from the Americas who have studied in
the UK: americas.britishcouncil.org/programmes/
outstanding-women
100
Case study 16: Scotland Pakistan
Scholarships for Young Women
and Girls
Pakistan
Daughters are less likely than sons to be
sponsored by their families to attend university in
Pakistan. Since 2013 more than 900 young
women have benefited from the Scotland
Pakistan Scholarships for Young Women and
Girls. Funded by the Scottish government, these
scholarships assist ambitious women from
disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue master’s
and bachelor’s degrees at accredited universities
in Pakistan, in fields that are of critical
importance to the overall development of the
country: education, sustainable energy,
agriculture and food security, health sciences,
and STEM.
For 2019–20 the scheme was advertised in
high-circulation Urdu newspapers, and
supported by communications with admissions
offices and financial aid offices in accredited
universities in Pakistan who shared information
and put up posters advertising the opportunity.
Advertisements were shared on university
websites and social media sites, primarily
Facebook.
Almost 9,000 applications were received for the
master’s degrees and close to 10,000 for the
undergraduate stream which was new in 2019.
After shortlisting, British Council staff
interviewed over 300 applicants and 156
students were selected.
Monitoring and evaluation visits are carried out
to all participating universities including
engagement with the scholars, to monitor their
welfare and reported achievements. After
certification and graduation, all participants are
invited to join the Scotland Pakistan Alumni
Network, where they can share experiences,
exchange knowledge and identify areas of
professional collaboration.
What could have been done differently?
Since the scheme was first introduced, it has
become more gender responsive. For example,
2019 –20 was the first year in which responsibility
for interviews was assigned to British Council staff
rather than university staff. This increased the
accountability of the British Council and mitigated
the level of risk – always present in HE settings –
of exploitation (see, for example, the section in
this report on gendered violence and harm).
For further information
• See the website at: www.britishcouncil.pk/
programmes/education/scholarships
• Impact video describing the direct benefits of
the scheme: youtu.be/zOR8nzb8KRI
101
Case study 17: Girls into Global
STEM
UK, Poland, Cyprus and Sweden
This Erasmus+ ‘good practice example’, co-ordinated
by the University of Hull in the UK, involved
universities and NGOs in four countries, each
working with a partner secondary school. The
objectives were to increase the interest and
engagement of young Europeans, particularly girls,
in STEM linked with wider awareness of global issues
and enabled through digital skills. Teachers were
supported to embed digital skills and global learning
methodologies into their STEM teaching, referencing
the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms for
Global Learning project with FCDO.
The project resulted in production of a toolkit which
includes an online course (for in-service and
pre-service teacher training) to build teachers’
confidence and skills to increase girls’ engagement
in STEM subjects in secondary schools. The
methodology includes the development of a series
of Global STEM Challenges, each linked to one of the
SDGs. These were shown through surveys and
interviews to have inspired girls to find out more
about how science and technology can address
important global issues. The project also found that
younger students enjoyed and benefited from
receiving mentoring from older students. The
participating HEIs and schools both felt that they had
gained much from working together.
What could have been done differently?
The external evaluation repor t did not identify any
areas for improvement.
For further information
• Erasmus+ programme report: ec.europa.eu/
programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-
project-details/#project/2016-1-UK01-
KA201-02436 0
• Project website: www.gigsproject.eu/
• GIGS toolkit including e-books created by
students, curriculum maps, classroom resources
and training courses for in-service and pre-
service training: www.gigstoolkit.com/
• Facilitators’ handbook for teacher training:
http://www.gigstoolkit.com/guide-for-course-
facilitators.html
• Baseline and follow-up survey to assess interest
and awareness in STEM, global issues and gender
bias: http://www.gigstoolkit.com/gigs-surveys.
html
• UK-based NGO Practical Action, who developed
the core resources for the global STEM
challenges: practicalaction.org/
2.4 Resources and examples to
assist with gender mainstreaming
This section of the report will be helpful to those
seeking ideas, examples, and up-to-date information
102
and guidance concerning the integration of gender
equality and empowerment principles into all areas
of work in HE. While it will be useful for anyone
working in the HE and policy space, the format of the
resource has been designed around the British
Council’s five portfolio intervention areas for HE and
science.
Following a resource list of global HE data, five
tables are presented, each covering one of the five
portfolio intervention areas:
1. policy and systems development
2. institutional partnerships
3. professional development
4. student mobility
5. insight, analysis and advocacy.
Positive case study examples that illustrate the
activities, outputs and outcomes for gender equality
are listed, together with suggestions for how
success can be measured (‘What can monitoring
look like?’). Also included are references to case
studies which show how some opportunities to
promote gender equality have been missed, and
which include suggestions for improvements where
relevant. Finally, each table has a section listing a
wide range of resources, most of which are publicly
available, that can help programme and project
teams to research, design, monitor and evaluate for
gender equality impact.
2.4.1 Country and regional data
resources
Local data on gender inequalities always needs to
be researched, mapped and discussed in workshops
with participants and local women’s organisations. It
is of course essential to be responsive to local
issues and needs when planning gender-responsive
and gender-transformative actions. Often, data on
gender and education can be predominantly
focused on primary and secondary education. This
can lead to an unhelpful focus on participation
numbers (counting women and men) at the expense
of indicators which are better placed to support
action in HE towards gender equality and
empowerment, e.g. subject selection, pedagogy,
safety and career pathways. Limited global data is
available of specific relevance to HE. Below are two
major resources for up-to-date information on
gender inequality in education, including HE.
• UNESCO e-atlas of gender inequality in
education: www.tellmaps.com/uis/gender/ (no
longer accessible) and also reproduced in tables
in the GEM repor t: unesdoc.unesco.org/
ark:/48223/pf0000374514
• World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report
2020: www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_
GGGR_2020.pdf
103
2.4.2 Policy and systems development
Portfolio intervention area: policy and systems development
Focus: policymakers and HE leaders
Activities:
• Policy dialogue and conferences
• High-level delegation visits
• Technical assistance
• Consultancy
• Gender-focused activities
• Improving HE policy,
legislation and systems to
deliver on advancing gender
equality and eliminating
discrimination
• Promoting high-profile women
leaders, speakers and
discussants, women delegates
and gender-sensitive
communication content
• Carer-friendly and safe
conference arrangements
• Gender analysis, policy and
action plans on the agenda
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and
learning
• System and regulatory
improvements that are
explicitly designed to assure
gender equality
• Governments and HEIs
understand the value placed
by the British Council and the
UK on gender equality
• Women students and
researchers from the UK and
internationally are less at risk
from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• Improved gender sensitivity in
research content
• Progress towards equality and
empowerment of women
students, researchers,
policymakers and leaders
Case study examples
Case study 2: Ethiopia HE declaration and other country examples
Case study 3: The London Statement of Principles for recruiting and providing services to
international students
Case study 5: Cairo University, improving sector practices on sexual harassment
Case study 7: The UK example of the Athena Swan process and framework for advancing
gender equality in academia
Case study 10: Research to develop policy with the government of Andhra Pradesh in
India
Case study 13: Research and strategies to inform gender-sensitive academic career
development for the HE Commission, Pakistan
Case study 15: Women in Science policy dialogues and workshops in the Americas
Resources
• British Council Guide to Addressing Gender Equality with Annexes (O’Flynn, 2018)
• EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality) Toolkit for Gender Equality in Academia and Research, including speaking notes to
support advocacy for gender equality and guide to setting up and implementing a Gender Equality Plan (EIGE, 2016)
• European Council Conclusions on Advancing Gender Equality in the European Research Area (EC , 2015 )
• Guidance for Developing Gender-Responsive Education Sector Plans (GP E , 2017) – while primarily concerned with primary and
secondary education, helpful tools on gender analysis, institutional capacity, costing and budgeting
• SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) searchable international database of policies and instruments focused on gender
equality in science, technology and innovation. Searchable by ministries, HEIs and other organisations (SAGA, n.d.)
• UNESCO’s portal of education plans and policies (Planipolis, n.d.)
• Gender Curricula searchable database (in English and German) of guidance to bring gender mainstreaming for quality
assurance across 55 academic degree subjects (Gender Curricula, n.d.)
• Framework with indicators, standards and guidance to incorporate gender into HE degree programmes (AQU Catalunya, 2019),
also published in Catalan
• Guidelines for Structural Transformation to Achieve Gender Equality in Science (applicable across all fields in HE) (EC & Italian
Government, 2015)
• Toolkit and templates for self-assessing institutional gender action plans in HE and research. Surveys, spreadsheets, guidance
– in English, French, Lithuanian (Integer, n.d.)
• LIBRA activities to achieve gender equality in academia – Assess Gender Equality, Support Career Development, Tailor Gender
Equalit y Plans, Improve Work–Life Balance in Academia, Recruit without Gender Bias, Integrate Sex and Gender Dimension in
Research (LIBRA, n.d.)
• Manuals with guidelines on the integration of sex and gender analysis into research contents, recommendations for curricula
development and indicators (GENDER-NET, 2016)
• Repor t on structural changes in research institutions (European Commission, 2012a), identifying good practice for structural change
• Practical Guide to Improving Gender Equality in Research Organisations (Science Europe, 2017), including gender indicators and
guidance on improving grant management practices
• Equalit y, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Innovation: UK Review (Guyan & Douglas Oloyede, 2019) and International Review
(Moody & Aldercotte, 2019), including work on gender and recommendations for what works; evaluation but minimal on VAW
• Gender Issues in Recruitment, Appointment & Promotion Processes: recommendations for gender sensitive application of
excellence criteria (FESTA , 2015)
• Global Research Council Statement of Principles and Actions Promoting the Equality and Status of Women in Research (Global
Research Council, 2016)
• Athena Swan good practice initiatives that have had real impact on gender equality in HEIs – searchable by theme (Advance HE, n.d.)
• THE Universities Global Impact Rankings for SDG 5 (but note omission of sexual harassment/VAW/GBV) (THE, 2020)
• Guidance and standard questions on Enhanced Due Diligence: Safeguarding for External Partners (DFID, 2020)
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• Preventing Harm (Safeguarding) in Research and Innovation Policy (UKRI, 2020), but note this requires expertise from partners
and funders to understand whether risk assessments and mitigations are adequate
• Sector Guidance to Address Staf f Sexual Misconduct in UK HE (1752 Group & McAllister Olivarius, 2020) (UK )
• Online Harassment and Hate Crime in HEIs – repor t with recommendations (UK ) (Phippen & Bond, 2020)
• Toolkit for a self-assessment framework to address sexual misconduct in UK universities (AVA, forthcoming)
• Guidance note on campus violence prevention and response (UN Women, 2019)
• Saksham: Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campus (UG C, 2 013 ) (India)
What can monitoring look like?
• Definition and indicators for ‘quality’ include accessibility and equality for female
students and researchers
• Definition and indicators for ‘quality’ include gender equality in all curricula
• Budgets include proportionate resources for gender mainstreaming actions
• Interviews with representatives of HEIs and governments show their understanding
of the value placed by UK on gender equality
• Number of new policies and regulations that require transparent criteria and targets
for female representation (in decision-making bodies, recruitment, promotion and
evaluation committees, senior leadership and professorial roles) to be set, monitored
and met
• Gender equality training and dissemination events are delivered
104
2.4.2 Policy and systems development
Portfolio intervention area: policy and systems development
Focus: policymakers and HE leaders
Activities:
• Policy dialogue and conferences
• High-level delegation visits
• Technical assistance
• Consultancy
• Gender-focused activities
• Improving HE policy,
legislation and systems to
deliver on advancing gender
equality and eliminating
discrimination
• Promoting high-profile women
leaders, speakers and
discussants, women delegates
and gender-sensitive
communication content
• Carer-friendly and safe
conference arrangements
• Gender analysis, policy and
action plans on the agenda
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and
learning
• System and regulatory
improvements that are
explicitly designed to assure
gender equality
• Governments and HEIs
understand the value placed
by the British Council and the
UK on gender equality
• Women students and
researchers from the UK and
internationally are less at risk
from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• Improved gender sensitivity in
research content
• Progress towards equality and
empowerment of women
students, researchers,
policymakers and leaders
Case study examples
Case study 2: Ethiopia HE declaration and other country examples
Case study 3: The London Statement of Principles for recruiting and providing services to
international students
Case study 5: Cairo University, improving sector practices on sexual harassment
Case study 7: The UK example of the Athena Swan process and framework for advancing
gender equality in academia
Case study 10: Research to develop policy with the government of Andhra Pradesh in
India
Case study 13: Research and strategies to inform gender-sensitive academic career
development for the HE Commission, Pakistan
Case study 15: Women in Science policy dialogues and workshops in the Americas
Resources
• British Council Guide to Addressing Gender Equality with Annexes (O’Flynn, 2018)
• EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality) Toolkit for Gender Equality in Academia and Research, including speaking notes to
support advocacy for gender equality and guide to setting up and implementing a Gender Equality Plan (EIGE, 2016)
• European Council Conclusions on Advancing Gender Equality in the European Research Area (EC , 2015 )
• Guidance for Developing Gender-Responsive Education Sector Plans (GP E , 2017) – while primarily concerned with primary and
secondary education, helpful tools on gender analysis, institutional capacity, costing and budgeting
• SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) searchable international database of policies and instruments focused on gender
equality in science, technology and innovation. Searchable by ministries, HEIs and other organisations (SAGA, n.d.)
• UNESCO’s portal of education plans and policies (Planipolis, n.d.)
• Gender Curricula searchable database (in English and German) of guidance to bring gender mainstreaming for quality
assurance across 55 academic degree subjects (Gender Curricula, n.d.)
• Framework with indicators, standards and guidance to incorporate gender into HE degree programmes (AQU Catalunya, 2019),
also published in Catalan
• Guidelines for Structural Transformation to Achieve Gender Equality in Science (applicable across all fields in HE) (EC & Italian
Government, 2015)
• Toolkit and templates for self-assessing institutional gender action plans in HE and research. Surveys, spreadsheets, guidance
– in English, French, Lithuanian (Integer, n.d.)
• LIBRA activities to achieve gender equality in academia – Assess Gender Equality, Support Career Development, Tailor Gender
Equalit y Plans, Improve Work–Life Balance in Academia, Recruit without Gender Bias, Integrate Sex and Gender Dimension in
Research (LIBRA, n.d.)
• Manuals with guidelines on the integration of sex and gender analysis into research contents, recommendations for curricula
development and indicators (GENDER-NET, 2016)
• Repor t on structural changes in research institutions (European Commission, 2012a), identifying good practice for structural change
• Practical Guide to Improving Gender Equality in Research Organisations (Science Europe, 2017), including gender indicators and
guidance on improving grant management practices
• Equalit y, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Innovation: UK Review (Guyan & Douglas Oloyede, 2019) and International Review
(Moody & Aldercotte, 2019), including work on gender and recommendations for what works; evaluation but minimal on VAW
• Gender Issues in Recruitment, Appointment & Promotion Processes: recommendations for gender sensitive application of
excellence criteria (FESTA , 2015)
• Global Research Council Statement of Principles and Actions Promoting the Equality and Status of Women in Research (Global
Research Council, 2016)
• Athena Swan good practice initiatives that have had real impact on gender equality in HEIs – searchable by theme (Advance HE, n.d.)
• THE Universities Global Impact Rankings for SDG 5 (but note omission of sexual harassment/VAW/GBV) (THE, 2020)
• Guidance and standard questions on Enhanced Due Diligence: Safeguarding for External Partners (DFID, 2020)
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• Preventing Harm (Safeguarding) in Research and Innovation Policy (UKRI, 2020), but note this requires expertise from partners
and funders to understand whether risk assessments and mitigations are adequate
• Sector Guidance to Address Staf f Sexual Misconduct in UK HE (1752 Group & McAllister Olivarius, 2020) (UK )
• Online Harassment and Hate Crime in HEIs – repor t with recommendations (UK ) (Phippen & Bond, 2020)
• Toolkit for a self-assessment framework to address sexual misconduct in UK universities (AVA, forthcoming)
• Guidance note on campus violence prevention and response (UN Women, 2019)
• Saksham: Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campus (UG C, 2 013 ) (India)
What can monitoring look like?
• Definition and indicators for ‘quality’ include accessibility and equality for female
students and researchers
• Definition and indicators for ‘quality’ include gender equality in all curricula
• Budgets include proportionate resources for gender mainstreaming actions
• Interviews with representatives of HEIs and governments show their understanding
of the value placed by UK on gender equality
• Number of new policies and regulations that require transparent criteria and targets
for female representation (in decision-making bodies, recruitment, promotion and
evaluation committees, senior leadership and professorial roles) to be set, monitored
and met
• Gender equality training and dissemination events are delivered
105
2.4.3 Institutional partnerships
Portfolio intervention area: institutional partnerships
Focus: institutions
Activities:
• Support for partnerships enabling collaboration in teaching/transnational education/research/reciprocal mobility
• Paid consultancy for UK HEIs
• Gender-focused activities
• Integration of minimum standards on
gender into accreditation processes
• Develop minimum standards
on protection from and response
to GBV, to include addressing
data collection and monitoring,
contracts, screening of students
and staff, policies on supervision,
disciplinary and investigation
procedures, services and
infrastructure
• Introduce clarity and accountability
for introduction and audit of robust
policies and measures addressing
gender inequalities and VAW
• Evaluation of research proposals for
sex and gender analysis
• Promotion of partnerships and
collaborations with a gender focus
• Promoting gender-transformative
pedagogy in teaching and
teacher training
• Promoting excellence in gender
mainstreaming activities
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and learning
• Increase in partnerships and
collaborations with a gender focus
• Increase in research outputs that
have a gender focus
• Improved quality (gender
sensitivity) in teaching and research
• Partners understand the value
placed by UK on gender equality
• Women educators, students and
researchers from the UK and
internationally are less at risk from
VAW and there is improved
accountability
• Progress towards equality
and empowerment of women,
including as educators,
students and researchers
Case study examples
Case study 1: TESCEA – partnership working on gender-responsive pedagogy
Case study 5: knowledge exchange between Cairo and UK universities on VAW in HE
Case study 6: opportunities for advancement of gender equality in Creative Spark
partnerships
Case study 14: ACU ‘gender grants’ and prizes supporting international partnerships
Case study 15: Women in Science institutional partnerships in the Americas
Case study 16: Scotland–Pakistan scholarships in Pakistan universities
Case study 17: Girls into Global STEM promoting international and secondary HE
partnerships
Resources
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• UN Women Guidance Note on Campus Violence Prevention and Response (UN Women, 2019)
• Addressing Student Sexual Violence in HE (Humphreys & Towl, 2020) (UK)
• Strategy for addressing sexual and domestic violence in universities (Fenton & Mot t, 2015) (UK)
• Measures to ensure safety and programmes for sensitisation (UGC , 2013 ) (India)
• Guidance on Safeguarding in International Development Research, including impor tant questions for research funders, HEIs
and others (UKCDR, 2020)
• Sex and gender analysis examples and case studies by the Gendered Innovations Expert Group (European Commission,
2013), including methodology and critical questions for rethinking research priorities, outcomes, concepts and theories,
building teams and designing research
• Analysis and examples of approaches to tackling subject-level gender imbalances in tertiar y education in Scotland
(Hanesworth, 2016)
• Report on structural changes in research institutions (European Commission, 2012a), identifying problems and solutions:
lack of transparency; biased institutional practices; unconscious bias in assessment; wasted opportunities; the gendered
structuring of work life
• Gender Issues in Recruitment, Appointment & Promotion Processes: recommendations for gender sensitive application of
excellence criteria (FESTA , 2015)
• Comprehensive guidance on data collection and indicator calculation for gender equality in science and research: Europe
– She Figures Handbook (2019 )
What can monitoring look like?
• All-women participation and minimum (stretch) participation by women at all
levels (programme teams, management and beneficiaries) is an indicator but
not on its own
• Number of gender-sensitive and gender-transformative procedures adopted
and taken up in partner institutions
• Improved access to and take-up of flexible working, childcare, support and
satisfactory disciplinary processes against violence, harassment and abuse
• For programme partners: checklist incorporating contract with students and
disciplinary procedures; standards for hosting institutions on VAW prevention
and response
• Improved satisfaction of women in teams via climate surveys or focus groups
• Number of partnerships and collaborations that have an explicit gender focus
• Number of research outputs that have an explicit gender focus
• Number of journal articles from partnership projects where authors/lead
authors are women researchers
• Marketing materials representing women equally and in their diversity
• Targets of 40% of ‘each under-represented sex’ in scholarships, advisory
groups, assessment panels and monitoring panels
106
2.4.3 Institutional partnerships
Portfolio intervention area: institutional partnerships
Focus: institutions
Activities:
• Support for partnerships enabling collaboration in teaching/transnational education/research/reciprocal mobility
• Paid consultancy for UK HEIs
• Gender-focused activities
• Integration of minimum standards on
gender into accreditation processes
• Develop minimum standards
on protection from and response
to GBV, to include addressing
data collection and monitoring,
contracts, screening of students
and staff, policies on supervision,
disciplinary and investigation
procedures, services and
infrastructure
• Introduce clarity and accountability
for introduction and audit of robust
policies and measures addressing
gender inequalities and VAW
• Evaluation of research proposals for
sex and gender analysis
• Promotion of partnerships and
collaborations with a gender focus
• Promoting gender-transformative
pedagogy in teaching and
teacher training
• Promoting excellence in gender
mainstreaming activities
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and learning
• Increase in partnerships and
collaborations with a gender focus
• Increase in research outputs that
have a gender focus
• Improved quality (gender
sensitivity) in teaching and research
• Partners understand the value
placed by UK on gender equality
• Women educators, students and
researchers from the UK and
internationally are less at risk from
VAW and there is improved
accountability
• Progress towards equality
and empowerment of women,
including as educators,
students and researchers
Case study examples
Case study 1: TESCEA – partnership working on gender-responsive pedagogy
Case study 5: knowledge exchange between Cairo and UK universities on VAW in HE
Case study 6: opportunities for advancement of gender equality in Creative Spark
partnerships
Case study 14: ACU ‘gender grants’ and prizes supporting international partnerships
Case study 15: Women in Science institutional partnerships in the Americas
Case study 16: Scotland–Pakistan scholarships in Pakistan universities
Case study 17: Girls into Global STEM promoting international and secondary HE
partnerships
Resources
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• UN Women Guidance Note on Campus Violence Prevention and Response (UN Women, 2019)
• Addressing Student Sexual Violence in HE (Humphreys & Towl, 2020) (UK)
• Strategy for addressing sexual and domestic violence in universities (Fenton & Mot t, 2015) (UK)
• Measures to ensure safety and programmes for sensitisation (UGC , 2013 ) (India)
• Guidance on Safeguarding in International Development Research, including impor tant questions for research funders, HEIs
and others (UKCDR, 2020)
• Sex and gender analysis examples and case studies by the Gendered Innovations Expert Group (European Commission,
2013), including methodology and critical questions for rethinking research priorities, outcomes, concepts and theories,
building teams and designing research
• Analysis and examples of approaches to tackling subject-level gender imbalances in tertiar y education in Scotland
(Hanesworth, 2016)
• Report on structural changes in research institutions (European Commission, 2012a), identifying problems and solutions:
lack of transparency; biased institutional practices; unconscious bias in assessment; wasted opportunities; the gendered
structuring of work life
• Gender Issues in Recruitment, Appointment & Promotion Processes: recommendations for gender sensitive application of
excellence criteria (FESTA , 2015)
• Comprehensive guidance on data collection and indicator calculation for gender equality in science and research: Europe
– She Figures Handbook (2019 )
What can monitoring look like?
• All-women participation and minimum (stretch) participation by women at all
levels (programme teams, management and beneficiaries) is an indicator but
not on its own
• Number of gender-sensitive and gender-transformative procedures adopted
and taken up in partner institutions
• Improved access to and take-up of flexible working, childcare, support and
satisfactory disciplinary processes against violence, harassment and abuse
• For programme partners: checklist incorporating contract with students and
disciplinary procedures; standards for hosting institutions on VAW prevention
and response
• Improved satisfaction of women in teams via climate surveys or focus groups
• Number of partnerships and collaborations that have an explicit gender focus
• Number of research outputs that have an explicit gender focus
• Number of journal articles from partnership projects where authors/lead
authors are women researchers
• Marketing materials representing women equally and in their diversity
• Targets of 40% of ‘each under-represented sex’ in scholarships, advisory
groups, assessment panels and monitoring panels
107
2.4.4 Professional development
Portfolio intervention area: professional development
Focus: educators and researchers
Activities:
• Short-term work/research placements in another country
• Professional training
• Platforms for science comms and outreach
• Gender-focused activities
• Professional training – including
all primary, secondary and tertiary
teacher training – includes
competencies in gender
• Promoting the representation of
women and gender-sensitive content
in comms platforms
• Build and support research networks
on gender and gender equality
• Capacity building and leadership
development for women
• Introducing clarity and accountability
for addressing VAW risk among
women educators and researchers
• Address gendered barriers to
participation opportunities
• Gender focused outputs and outcomes
to incorporate into monitoring,
evaluation and learning
• All data are sex-disaggregated with
appropriate targets, for example where
subject fields are imbalanced
• Placement and participation agreements
include accountability for VAW and
incidence is specifically measured
• Increased participation of women
for whom barriers such as caring
responsibilities have been identified
• Gender-responsive pedagogy is
integral to professional training
• Improved gender balance in science
communications content and delivery
• Partners understand the value placed
by UK on gender equality
• Participants are ambassadors for
gender equality
• Improved gender sensitivity in research
content and application
• Less stratification by gender improves
the quality of research and its application
• Women educators and researchers
from the UK and internationally are
less at risk from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• Progress towards equality and
empowerment of women teachers,
students and researchers
Case study examples
Case study 1: TESCEA – training teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy
Case study 5: upskilling of HE staff at Cairo/UK universities on VAW prevention
and response
Case study 9: integrating gender into the architecture curriculum
Case study 12: India – Newton-Bhabha Women in Science Workshops
Case study 13: Leadership and governance for women in Pakistan universities
Case study 14: ACU ‘gender grants’ and prizes supporting professional training
and development
Case study 15: Women in Science capacity building and skills training in the
Americas
Case study 17: Girls into Global STEM teacher training
Resources
• Gender Responsive Pedagogy: a Teacher’s Handbook (FAWE, 2005) (designed for schools: Africa)
• Teacher training: Commonwealth of Learning Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for Teachers and Teacher Educators (Frei &
Leowinata, 2014)
• Teacher training: Module 4 on pre-service and in-service teacher training and teacher standards, in supporting gender-
sensitive STEM curricula and gender-responsive pedagogies (IBE-UNESCO & Malaysian MOE, 2017)
• Teacher training: STING toolkit for STEM teacher professional development to encourage girls (Europe) (Bronzwaer et al.,
2017)
• Teacher training: Gender Equality in Stem open access online course for teachers of late primary and early secondary
pupils (Scotland) (Openlearn, n.d.)
• Gendered Research in Health: A Training Manual (Khanna for SAHAJ & WOHTRAC, 2020) (India): a shor t course in 3 modules
for graduates and mid-career professionals working in health
• The ALIGN guide on Education and Gender Norm Change (Marcus, 2018)
• UN E S C O (2 015 ) Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices
• UK-based partners in Women in Science (Brazil): Portia network for Women in Science at Imperial College London who have
also produced a wealth of resources: www.portiaweb.org.uk Resources include a workshop for early-career female
researchers (P o r t ia, 2015 )
• Toolkit (running an introductory workshop) for Gender Mainstreaming in HE by INASP, lead par tner in SPHEIR-funded
TESCEA project (Gollifer & Gorman, 2018)
• Professor Virginia Valian’s four online gender Tutorials for Change: Gender Schemas and Science Careers (presentations,
transcripts, bibliography – USA-based and last updated in 2006): www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial/index.html
• Data, research and recommendations on women in HE leadership in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka) (Morley & Crossouard, 2015)
• TransEdu resources and information for supporting trans, non-binary & gender diverse applicants, students and staff in FE
and HE (Scotland): www.trans.ac.uk/Home/tabid/6323/Default.aspx
• Guidance on Safeguarding in International Development Research, including important questions for research funders, HEIs
and others (UKCDR, 2020)
• Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harm Implementation Quick Reference Handbook (CHSAlliance, 2020) –
handbook of resources including for developing policies and practices to prevent, and respond appropriately to, sexual
misconduct
What can monitoring look like?
• Record the active women members of alumni networks and ensure equal
representation on network executive committees
• Gender audit of communications materials
• Record female par ticipant numbers in ratio to existing country norms
• Teacher training: applicant feedback
• Teacher training: student focus group feedback
• Number of courses adapted for gender responsiveness and delivered
• Number of research networks supported
• Baseline and continuing data collection (surveys, not formal institutional
reports) for incidence of sexual harassment or violence and satisfaction
with institutional response
• Follow-up research with attendees of programmes and training to record
positive outcomes such as enhanced career progression
• Comprehensive guidance on data collection and quantitative indicator
calculation for gender equality in science and research: Europe – She
Figures Handbook (2019)
108
2.4.4 Professional development
Portfolio intervention area: professional development
Focus: educators and researchers
Activities:
• Short-term work/research placements in another country
• Professional training
• Platforms for science comms and outreach
• Gender-focused activities
• Professional training – including
all primary, secondary and tertiary
teacher training – includes
competencies in gender
• Promoting the representation of
women and gender-sensitive content
in comms platforms
• Build and support research networks
on gender and gender equality
• Capacity building and leadership
development for women
• Introducing clarity and accountability
for addressing VAW risk among
women educators and researchers
• Address gendered barriers to
participation opportunities
• Gender focused outputs and outcomes
to incorporate into monitoring,
evaluation and learning
• All data are sex-disaggregated with
appropriate targets, for example where
subject fields are imbalanced
• Placement and participation agreements
include accountability for VAW and
incidence is specifically measured
• Increased participation of women
for whom barriers such as caring
responsibilities have been identified
• Gender-responsive pedagogy is
integral to professional training
• Improved gender balance in science
communications content and delivery
• Partners understand the value placed
by UK on gender equality
• Participants are ambassadors for
gender equality
• Improved gender sensitivity in research
content and application
• Less stratification by gender improves
the quality of research and its application
• Women educators and researchers
from the UK and internationally are
less at risk from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• Progress towards equality and
empowerment of women teachers,
students and researchers
Case study examples
Case study 1: TESCEA – training teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy
Case study 5: upskilling of HE staff at Cairo/UK universities on VAW prevention
and response
Case study 9: integrating gender into the architecture curriculum
Case study 12: India – Newton-Bhabha Women in Science Workshops
Case study 13: Leadership and governance for women in Pakistan universities
Case study 14: ACU ‘gender grants’ and prizes supporting professional training
and development
Case study 15: Women in Science capacity building and skills training in the
Americas
Case study 17: Girls into Global STEM teacher training
Resources
• Gender Responsive Pedagogy: a Teacher’s Handbook (FAWE, 2005) (designed for schools: Africa)
• Teacher training: Commonwealth of Learning Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for Teachers and Teacher Educators (Frei &
Leowinata, 2014)
• Teacher training: Module 4 on pre-service and in-service teacher training and teacher standards, in supporting gender-
sensitive STEM curricula and gender-responsive pedagogies (IBE-UNESCO & Malaysian MOE, 2017)
• Teacher training: STING toolkit for STEM teacher professional development to encourage girls (Europe) (Bronzwaer et al.,
2017)
• Teacher training: Gender Equality in Stem open access online course for teachers of late primary and early secondary
pupils (Scotland) (Openlearn, n.d.)
• Gendered Research in Health: A Training Manual (Khanna for SAHAJ & WOHTRAC, 2020) (India): a shor t course in 3 modules
for graduates and mid-career professionals working in health
• The ALIGN guide on Education and Gender Norm Change (Marcus, 2018)
• UN E S C O (2 015 ) Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices
• UK-based partners in Women in Science (Brazil): Portia network for Women in Science at Imperial College London who have
also produced a wealth of resources: www.portiaweb.org.uk Resources include a workshop for early-career female
researchers (P o r t ia, 2015 )
• Toolkit (running an introductory workshop) for Gender Mainstreaming in HE by INASP, lead par tner in SPHEIR-funded
TESCEA project (Gollifer & Gorman, 2018)
• Professor Virginia Valian’s four online gender Tutorials for Change: Gender Schemas and Science Careers (presentations,
transcripts, bibliography – USA-based and last updated in 2006): www.hunter.cuny.edu/gendertutorial/index.html
• Data, research and recommendations on women in HE leadership in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka) (Morley & Crossouard, 2015)
• TransEdu resources and information for supporting trans, non-binary & gender diverse applicants, students and staff in FE
and HE (Scotland): www.trans.ac.uk/Home/tabid/6323/Default.aspx
• Guidance on Safeguarding in International Development Research, including important questions for research funders, HEIs
and others (UKCDR, 2020)
• Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harm Implementation Quick Reference Handbook (CHSAlliance, 2020) –
handbook of resources including for developing policies and practices to prevent, and respond appropriately to, sexual
misconduct
What can monitoring look like?
• Record the active women members of alumni networks and ensure equal
representation on network executive committees
• Gender audit of communications materials
• Record female par ticipant numbers in ratio to existing country norms
• Teacher training: applicant feedback
• Teacher training: student focus group feedback
• Number of courses adapted for gender responsiveness and delivered
• Number of research networks supported
• Baseline and continuing data collection (surveys, not formal institutional
reports) for incidence of sexual harassment or violence and satisfaction
with institutional response
• Follow-up research with attendees of programmes and training to record
positive outcomes such as enhanced career progression
• Comprehensive guidance on data collection and quantitative indicator
calculation for gender equality in science and research: Europe – She
Figures Handbook (2019)
109
2.4.5 Student mobility
Portfolio intervention area: student mobility
Focus: students
Activities:
• Study/work placements abroad
• Scholarships to UK
• Study UK campaign
• Paid services to support HEI student recruitment
• Alumni networks and support
• Gender-focused activities
• Introducing minimum standards
for gender-transformative and
VAW prevention education
and guidance (male and female
students) in preparation
to travel
• Introducing clarity and
accountability for introduction
and audit of robust policies and
measures addressing gender
inequalities and VAW in student
experience and curriculum
• Targeted programmes and
gender-sensitive recruitment
to improve gender balance/
increase women’s participation
• Creating women’s alumni
networks and support
• Gender-focused outputs
and outcomes to incorporate
into monitoring, evaluation
and learning
• Improved gender
representation in
imbalanced fields
• Women students from the UK
and internationally are less at
risk from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• UK and international students
and alumni are less likely to be
perpetrators of VAW
• Increased trust in the British
Council’s and UK /UK HEIs’
leadership on gender equality
in HE
• Better gender balance
improves the quality of future
research and its application
• Students and alumni
are ambassadors for
gender equality
• Progress is made towards
gender equality and
empowerment for women
as students and workers
and in society
Case study examples
Case study 3: The London Statement of Principles for recruiting and providing services to
international students
Case study 11: Scholarships for Indian women to study STEM in the UK
Case study 16: Scotland–Pakistan scholarships building networks and promoting
international connections
Resources
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• Developing minimum standards on protection from and response to GBV will include addressing data collection and
monitoring, contracts, screening of students and staff, policies on supervision, disciplinary and investigation procedures,
services and infrastructure. Resources to assist with this: UN Women Guidance Note on Campus Violence Prevention and
Response (UN Women, 2018); Addressing Student Sexual Violence in HE (Humphreys & Towl, 2020) (UK); Toolkit for prevention
programmes (Fenton, Mott et al., 2014) (UK); Measures to ensure safety and programmes for sensitisation (UGC , 2013) (India). See
also Know Before You Go (Student Minds, 2018) (UK)
• TransEdu resources and information for supporting trans, non-binary and gender diverse applicants, students and staff in FE
and HE (Scotland): www.trans.ac.uk/Home/tabid/6323/Default.aspx
What can monitoring look like?
• Record and disaggregate sex /gender data for all initial applicants as well as
successful applicants; monitor patterns of drop-out from point of inquiry and follow
up with exit interviews
• Monitor retention and completion rates by sex/gender; qualitative feedback on
student experience by sex/gender
• Record female par ticipant numbers in ratio to existing country norms
• Record the active female members of alumni networks and ensure equal
representation on network executive committees
• For programme management: audit contract with students and disciplinary
procedures; standards for hosting institutions on VAW prevention and response
• Number of participants by sex/gender completing gender sensitive education; pre
and post measures: attitudes and gender norms including backlash measures;
increased agency; qualitative feedback on impact
• Establish baselines; sur veys (not formal institutional reports) of all students on VAW
incidence, response, reporting and impact; evidence of decisive action against
perpetrators and institutional failures; projected social benefits. These measures go
on to inform evaluation of VAW prevention activities
• Survey/interview research student participants on gendered aspects of their
research
• Use alumni networks for medium- and longer-term follow-up and interviews;
qualitative measures including activism for gender equality
110
2.4.5 Student mobility
Portfolio intervention area: student mobility
Focus: students
Activities:
• Study/work placements abroad
• Scholarships to UK
• Study UK campaign
• Paid services to support HEI student recruitment
• Alumni networks and support
• Gender-focused activities
• Introducing minimum standards
for gender-transformative and
VAW prevention education
and guidance (male and female
students) in preparation
to travel
• Introducing clarity and
accountability for introduction
and audit of robust policies and
measures addressing gender
inequalities and VAW in student
experience and curriculum
• Targeted programmes and
gender-sensitive recruitment
to improve gender balance/
increase women’s participation
• Creating women’s alumni
networks and support
• Gender-focused outputs
and outcomes to incorporate
into monitoring, evaluation
and learning
• Improved gender
representation in
imbalanced fields
• Women students from the UK
and internationally are less at
risk from VAW and there is
improved accountability
• UK and international students
and alumni are less likely to be
perpetrators of VAW
• Increased trust in the British
Council’s and UK /UK HEIs’
leadership on gender equality
in HE
• Better gender balance
improves the quality of future
research and its application
• Students and alumni
are ambassadors for
gender equality
• Progress is made towards
gender equality and
empowerment for women
as students and workers
and in society
Case study examples
Case study 3: The London Statement of Principles for recruiting and providing services to
international students
Case study 11: Scholarships for Indian women to study STEM in the UK
Case study 16: Scotland–Pakistan scholarships building networks and promoting
international connections
Resources
• Code of Practice: Making Tertiary Education Safe to Learn (FCDO, forthcoming)
• Developing minimum standards on protection from and response to GBV will include addressing data collection and
monitoring, contracts, screening of students and staff, policies on supervision, disciplinary and investigation procedures,
services and infrastructure. Resources to assist with this: UN Women Guidance Note on Campus Violence Prevention and
Response (UN Women, 2018); Addressing Student Sexual Violence in HE (Humphreys & Towl, 2020) (UK); Toolkit for prevention
programmes (Fenton, Mott et al., 2014) (UK); Measures to ensure safety and programmes for sensitisation (UGC , 2013) (India). See
also Know Before You Go (Student Minds, 2018) (UK)
• TransEdu resources and information for supporting trans, non-binary and gender diverse applicants, students and staff in FE
and HE (Scotland): www.trans.ac.uk/Home/tabid/6323/Default.aspx
What can monitoring look like?
• Record and disaggregate sex /gender data for all initial applicants as well as
successful applicants; monitor patterns of drop-out from point of inquiry and follow
up with exit interviews
• Monitor retention and completion rates by sex/gender; qualitative feedback on
student experience by sex/gender
• Record female par ticipant numbers in ratio to existing country norms
• Record the active female members of alumni networks and ensure equal
representation on network executive committees
• For programme management: audit contract with students and disciplinary
procedures; standards for hosting institutions on VAW prevention and response
• Number of participants by sex/gender completing gender sensitive education; pre
and post measures: attitudes and gender norms including backlash measures;
increased agency; qualitative feedback on impact
• Establish baselines; sur veys (not formal institutional reports) of all students on VAW
incidence, response, reporting and impact; evidence of decisive action against
perpetrators and institutional failures; projected social benefits. These measures go
on to inform evaluation of VAW prevention activities
• Survey/interview research student participants on gendered aspects of their
research
• Use alumni networks for medium- and longer-term follow-up and interviews;
qualitative measures including activism for gender equality
111
2.4.6 Insight, analysis and advocacy
Portfolio intervention area: insight, analysis and advocacy
Focus: policymakers, institutions, academics, researchers, wider sector
Activities:
• Study/work placements abroad
• Research into priority themes
• Insight and analysis
• Advocacy through meetings and events
• Gender-focused activities
• Insight, analysis and advocacy
always include relevant gender
themes and are conducted by
parties competent in gender
analysis
• Regional and local gender
specialists are engaged to
advise throughout project
cycles
• Recruiting and showcasing
project teams that are gender
balanced
• Communications from country
offices will showcase their
approach to gender equality
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and
learning
• Research and insight products
that are gender sensitive,
enabling policy and
programmes that work better
for women and girls
• Research and insight products
that enable gender-
transformative policy and
programmes to actively
advance equality for women
and girls
• Insight, analysis and advocacy
influence gender-sensitive
system change
• Partners understand the value
placed by UK on gender
equality
Case study examples
Case study 5: UK /British Council with the University of Cairo, providing insight on VAW
prevention and response
Case study 6: Insight from British Council and PPV Knowledge Networks on gender
inequalities in creative and cultural industries of Eastern Europe
Case study 7: Advance HE’s sector leading Athena Swan process and framework for
advancing gender equality in academia
Case study 10: British Council as a partner in research to inform and influence policy and
practice for women in HE, with the Government of Andhra Pradesh in India
Case study 13: research on leadership and governance for women in Pakistan universities
Case study 15: Women in Science research-led programme in the Americas
Resources
• UKRI/GCRF/Newton Fund Things to Consider: incorporating gender equality into international development research and
innovation (UKRI, n.d.)
• UKRI/GCRF/Newton Fund International Development (Gender Equality) Act: How to incorporate gender equality in research
and innovation (UKRI, n.d.)
• Gender advocacy: Module 10 in UNESCO (2015) Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices
• EIGE Toolkit for Gender Equality in Academia and Research, including speaking notes to support advocacy for gender
equality and guide to setting up and implementing a gender equality plan (EIGE, 2016)
• Vademecum on Gender Equality in Horizon 2020 – practical guidance on implementation (European Commission, 2014)
• SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) website and Gender Objectives List for Science, Technology and Innovation
(UNESCO, 2016)
• And see resources itemised for policy and systems development
What can monitoring look like?
• Increased agreement among women staf f that there is top-level political and
administrative support for gender equality
112
• Regional and country targets for standalone events and products focused on
gender equality
• Annual audit of research and insight outputs for gender focus
• External stakeholder interviews to assess understanding of British Council’s
leadership on and commitment to gender equality
112. Identified as a critical criterion for successful, lasting gender-aware changes (e.g. see Marchetti & Raudma, p. 142).
112
2.4.6 Insight, analysis and advocacy
Portfolio intervention area: insight, analysis and advocacy
Focus: policymakers, institutions, academics, researchers, wider sector
Activities:
• Study/work placements abroad
• Research into priority themes
• Insight and analysis
• Advocacy through meetings and events
• Gender-focused activities
• Insight, analysis and advocacy
always include relevant gender
themes and are conducted by
parties competent in gender
analysis
• Regional and local gender
specialists are engaged to
advise throughout project
cycles
• Recruiting and showcasing
project teams that are gender
balanced
• Communications from country
offices will showcase their
approach to gender equality
• Gender-focused outputs and
outcomes to incorporate into
monitoring, evaluation and
learning
• Research and insight products
that are gender sensitive,
enabling policy and
programmes that work better
for women and girls
• Research and insight products
that enable gender-
transformative policy and
programmes to actively
advance equality for women
and girls
• Insight, analysis and advocacy
influence gender-sensitive
system change
• Partners understand the value
placed by UK on gender
equality
Case study examples
Case study 5: UK /British Council with the University of Cairo, providing insight on VAW
prevention and response
Case study 6: Insight from British Council and PPV Knowledge Networks on gender
inequalities in creative and cultural industries of Eastern Europe
Case study 7: Advance HE’s sector leading Athena Swan process and framework for
advancing gender equality in academia
Case study 10: British Council as a partner in research to inform and influence policy and
practice for women in HE, with the Government of Andhra Pradesh in India
Case study 13: research on leadership and governance for women in Pakistan universities
Case study 15: Women in Science research-led programme in the Americas
Resources
• UKRI/GCRF/Newton Fund Things to Consider: incorporating gender equality into international development research and
innovation (UKRI, n.d.)
• UKRI/GCRF/Newton Fund International Development (Gender Equality) Act: How to incorporate gender equality in research
and innovation (UKRI, n.d.)
• Gender advocacy: Module 10 in UNESCO (2015) Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices
• EIGE Toolkit for Gender Equality in Academia and Research, including speaking notes to support advocacy for gender
equality and guide to setting up and implementing a gender equality plan (EIGE, 2016)
• Vademecum on Gender Equality in Horizon 2020 – practical guidance on implementation (European Commission, 2014)
• SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) website and Gender Objectives List for Science, Technology and Innovation
(UNESCO, 2016)
• And see resources itemised for policy and systems development
What can monitoring look like?
• Increased agreement among women staf f that there is top-level political and
administrative support for gender equality
112
• Regional and country targets for standalone events and products focused on
gender equality
• Annual audit of research and insight outputs for gender focus
• External stakeholder interviews to assess understanding of British Council’s
leadership on and commitment to gender equality
113
2.5 Concluding reflections and
recommendations
The recommendations included in this report are
aimed at the British Council. However, they also have
relevance to other institutions, including
government departments, regulatory and oversight
bodies as well as HEIs and research bodies.
2.5.1 Prioritise gender mainstreaming
In the course of researching this report, it became
clear that the British Council’s core value of
promoting gender equality and the empowerment of
women and girls is not always evident to staff or to
external agencies commissioned to deliver research
or programming for the British Council. This is then
reflected in the lack of gender analysis in the work
done by those staff or agencies. This report has also
shown a lack of gender analysis in general in
research commissioned by other bodies, including
government departments, regarding education,
research and innovation. Where gender is missing in
analysis, we can be sure that action to address
gender inequality is unlikely to follow. Opportunities
are not being equally provided for women and girls
where the barriers to their participation and
achievement are not being acknowledged or
addressed.
Returning to the British Council, there is
considerable variability across programmes and
regions, but also in analysis – for example, the IFF’s
British Council partnership model analysis of 2019
which took no account of gender in any of its
analysis or recommendations
113 but could have been
used as a building block to develop future activity. It
is known that progress towards gender equality and
the empowerment of women and girls is not
achieved without intentional focus. Yet that
intentional focus is sometimes entirely missing from
the picture. It cannot be assumed that activities to
support or enhance ‘people’ in general will by
default assist women – understood as a group or
more accurately as belonging to a number of
differently disadvantaged groups.
It is also not right to assume that every assuredly
well-intentioned pattern of activity believed to be
productive and positive could not actively harm
women or the place of women. For example,
high-level, high-profile events focusing on STEM in
HE are likely to reproduce and reinforce the
dominance of men in STEM and HE leadership,
unless diverse women are proactively recruited to
take part. The message that paying no attention to
gender reproduces the status quo of gender
disadvantage is not universally heard or acted
upon.
For this reason it is important that quality and
efficacy indicators in monitoring and evaluation
frameworks are specific about sex/gender rather
than positioning gender as a separate issue from
quality or efficacy. Gender audits in teams and
country offices – such as the brief on the British
Council’s female engagement footprint in women’s
and girls’ education in Pakistan, compiled in 2018
– are not routinely conducted or disseminated. The
move towards a more centralised approach to HE
programmes and partnerships will help create the
conditions in which targets for gender indicators –
such as the number of partnership projects and
outputs focused on addressing gender inequalities
– can be increased.
Within the centralised framework, it is very
important that regional- and country-level analysis is
conducted so as to be clear about what the
opportunities are for addressing gender inequalities,
in each specific local context. It is also important to
conduct local analysis of ‘what works’ within cultural
contexts. For example, it is known that single-sex/
gender environments and initiatives to promote
gender equality work well in many training and
education contexts, and are symbolically important.
There are also benefits from working in mixed-sex/
gender groups. In some cultural contexts, positive-
action or single-sex initiatives can be resisted or
interpreted as insulting by prospective participants
and others (Moody & Aldercotte, 2019); therefore,
skilfully designed communications and/or alternative
methods may be indicated. When single-sex
initiatives are delivered they should be tailored to
women (including accessibility) and should include
content of specific relevance to gender inequalities
in the lives of those women.
• Ensure that gender equality objectives and
outcomes, which relate to the British Council’s
theory of change for gender equality and
empowerment, are explicit and not assumed, at
every stage of project cycles and their
associated documentation.
• Ensure that country and programme teams
conduct in-depth local analysis (building on the
analysis provided in this report and other
sources) to ensure a good understanding of the
specific country-level gender issues at play.
• Conduct gender audits of current and planned
projects systematically across teams.
113. Gender is mentioned in the report once, together with all other forms of inequalities in HE, as a relatively uncommon rationale for some
programmes (p. 29).
114
• Ensure that teams take up and build on training in
gender equality.
• Incorporate the mainstreaming of gender
equality into management reviews.
• Ensure that systems are designed to analyse the
gender inequalities that cannot be captured by
‘counting’ participation, access or completion
rates by sex/gender, refining and replacing
default indicators in monitoring and evaluation
plans that currently require information about
relative numbers of male or female participants.
• Ensure there is curiosity about analysing and
ameliorating ‘hidden’ gender inequalities,
including sexual harassment and violence.
• Ensure that data collection enables the analysis
of layers of disadvantage, including intersecting
inequalities.
• Following the good practice of a growing number
of research institutes worldwide, and the
principles of gender mainstreaming more
broadly, ensure that templates and proformas
explicitly invite discussion of the ways in which
sex and gender analysis is (or is not) relevant to,
and reflected in, the work at hand. The discussion
should apply an intersectional analysis. This
needs to be embedded across the standard
documentation for use by internal staf f teams as
they develop their programmes and activities.
• All research and analysis commissioned through
external agencies or partners must require
explicit gendered analysis (beyond ‘counting
women’), and those commissioned should be
able to demonstrate competence in this area.
• Ensure sufficient resource is available from
independent (local or international) gender
specialists and the British Council’s own
dedicated international and regional gender
specialists, to inform appropriate gender analysis
of current and future activities as well as project
monitoring and evaluation with costs factored
into planning.
• Encourage each country office to support its HE
team to develop and promote materials
showcasing their approach to gender equality.
This is a year-round commitment, but activities
can be pinned to calendar events such as
International Women’s Day (8 March: see case
study 15), 16 Days of Activism against Gender-
based Violence (25 November – 10 December;
see case study 5), International Day of Women and
Girls in Science (11 February) and International
Women in Engineering Day (23 June).
2.5.2 Develop gender expertise
Throughout this report, the success of many of the
proposed solutions to gender inequalities in
research and in the lives of women in HEIs has been
predicated on the existence of a knowledge base
about gender which, in reality, is not widespread in
the general HE community. For example, the
evaluation of research proposals designed to
address gender inequality should be carried out by
someone with expertise in the field. Likewise, the
assessment of risk and of appropriate support for
GBV in a situation needs to be carried out by
someone who has good knowledge about the
subject. Gender equality is currently not
mainstreamed (as discussed above) and neither is
expertise on gender inequality regularly sought out
where it is needed.
There are significant consultancy opportunities that
the British Council should consider, in supporting
HEIs and policymakers to undertake actions to
promote gender equality. The British Council has a
number of gender experts in-house, supporting its
internal work, and access to networks of gender
consultants globally. International NGOs focusing on
gender and education tend not to work in HE
spaces. As more leaders in HE and in research and
innovation organisations worldwide have come to
state the importance of integrating gender equality
considerations into their work, the British Council is
potentially well placed to advise them on this work,
sensitively integrating its cultural relations expertise
at country and regional level with its gender
expertise and its many years’ experience in the HE
field. As UK HEIs continue to invest in building
satellite campuses around the world, consultancy
that offers or harnesses culturally sensitive
expertise on gender, including how to maximise the
safety of women students and staf f, would be a
valuable service.
• Consider supporting or growing opportunities for
UK and international experts to be able to market
gender expertise in HE.
115
2.5.3 Ensure an intersectional approach
In reviewing the materials for this report it became
clear that, while a wealth of resources and good
practice for enhancing gender equality in HE is
available, the vast majority of initiatives in this field
have in the past taken ‘women’ as the only category
of analysis. For example, the majority of accounts of
initiatives on ‘women in science’ did not reflect on or
target the great disparity by ethnicity of women who
do currently succeed in maintaining science careers.
Most accounts of communications drives to promote
images or stories of women in research do not
mention whether care was taken to represent
minoritised women or women with visible disabilities.
Initiatives such as the British Council’s Women in
Science programme in Brazil (case study 15), which
responds to the lack of Black women in science, is
the exception more than the rule. Sometimes
programmes and initiatives led by the British Council
do not use gender-sensitive indicators, and
sometimes data collection – and therefore
monitoring and evaluation – is not disaggregated by
sex of participant or beneficiary. It appears rare for
intersectional analysis, which is critical for effective
and inclusive interventions, to be enabled through
data collection.
• Always consider whether programmes could
have more impact by being targeted at specific
groups of women and girls.
• Ensure that differential impacts on women and
girls with intersecting identities are theorised,
monitored and evaluated in the gender analysis
process.
2.5.4 Put a greater focus on violence
against women
UN Women and others have identified VAW in HE as
an urgent global predicament. The British Council is
exceptionally well placed both to influence others to
take effective action and to advise and support them
in doing so, in collaboration with local women’s
organisations around the world and to advance the
promotion of gender equality in HE.
To meet the ambition for the UK to be seen as a
trusted partner and provider of inclusive HE, a step
up for accountability and safeguarding will be
necessary not only from the British Council but also
from partners such as Universities UK International,
the Office for Students, HEIs, agents and
government departments. Government departments
and UK-based university regulators and societies are
rightly determined to make the UK the top
destination of choice for the international student
community, and have the quality of the student
experience as a core strategic focus. They therefore
must be alive to the reputational risks and moral
imperatives inherent in the current dear th of
evidence-based policy and assurance frameworks to
address sexual harassment and violence against
students and staff in transnational HE contexts.
Openly demonstrating that this problem is being
addressed is an effective way to build trust, as the
universities of Cambridge and Durham among
others have demonstrated in the UK.
It is important to note that education and training for
the prevention of VAW should not be frightening for
women or hostile to men; the most successful
prevention efforts are grounded in the principles of
positivity, inclusion and empowerment, and include
men and women.
The British Council takes a ‘do no harm’ approach
(Guide to Addressing Gender Equality, 2018). This
means there should be no unintended negative
outcomes from the activities conducted in the
pursuit of its aims and the promotion of its values.
International student mobility is a core portfolio
activity for the British Council and, at the same time,
international students appear to be at even more
risk of VAW than home students in many cases. They
are also likely to be at increased risk for subsequent
or continued distress such as PTSD. While research
evidence is lacking on the risks to HE professionals
who travel internationally, it is likely that they are
also at increased risk.
Therefore, for all international students and others,
whether travelling to or from the UK, it is important
for the British Council and its partners to establish
responses (including support to report, and
independent specialist advocacy and counselling)
that meet or surpass the standards set out in the
guidance note issued by UN Women (2018), paying
particular attention to the provision of essential
services for survivors. Guidance for students should
give specific advice about the risks of GBV. For
example, the Safety first guidance (2013) produced
by Education UK and managed by the British Council
is currently largely ‘gender blind’. The advice on laws
in the UK does not cover VAW, and while hate crimes
and racial discrimination and harassment are
specifically addressed, VAW is not – although it is
implicit in warnings about drink spiking and safety
while outside the home. The advice on safety in the
home is largely geared towards preventing burglary
or fire.
116
Action is of ten driven by accountability, so there
must be clear accountability and rigorously applied
standards across all partner institutions, agents and
consultants involved in student and professional
mobility. International students may also pose an
increased risk to fellow international students from
the same home country, when abroad. There is an
urgent imperative for the British Council and other
parties to collect and analyse data on the incidence
of unwanted sexual experiences of international
students – whether they are studying abroad for the
duration of their degree or on shorter exchange
programmes.
Students who have experienced sexual harassment
or violence during international study are highly
unlikely to volunteer this information as ‘feedback’
unless specifically asked: it is time to do so in order
to maximise effective prevention and response.
Survey questions must be developed in consultation
with gender equality specialists and with academics
who are familiar with the psychological and
methodological challenges in the field of sexual
violence. Surveys must be accompanied by
information about where to find specialist support.
• Ensure the integration of VAW as a risk, concern
and critical challenge into all HE projects with
appropriate planning, resourcing and specialist
input. Work with partners to develop
methodologies and implement research; develop
guidelines and standards for country-level
response, including media; and develop guidance
for those at risk.
• Collect data, and require partners to collect data,
on VAW prevalence and institutional response
among internationally mobile students and
professionals in all contexts.
• Use the power, platform and authority of the
British Council to press for sustained action to
address VAW in HE, from policy and practice at
the highest levels to every programme on the
ground.
• Enable, harness and showcase best practice on
preventing VAW in UK HEIs, so that the UK
becomes a ‘safe to study’ destination of choice.
• It was beyond the scope of this project to
conduct in-depth analyses of the integration of
VAW concerns in all the British Council’s HE
programmes, but there are concerns which merit
urgent assessment by the British Council and
their funders in light of a general vacuum of
information in this area. UKRI’s recent
commentary on the Newton Fund sets out
criteria for applicants to provide a Gender
Equality Statement ensuring that they meet the
requirements of the International Development
(Gender Equality) Act 2014 following the ICAI
review
114 in 2019. However, the specific and
gendered contextual threat of sexual violence
for women participants was not addressed by
UKRI.
2.5.5 Address women’s under-
representation in HE leadership
Research shows two clear findings about leadership:
that committed leadership is critical for supporting
progress towards gender equality (see later Section
2.5.8); and that women are significantly under-
represented in HE leadership worldwide. This
under-representation is observed whether or not
women hold the majority, or minority, of jobs in HE
by country or by subject area. The most senior
academic, research and governance roles are
disproportionately held by men, and leadership
remains culturally identified with masculinity. It is
fundamentally unfair that women in HE who are
equally as talented as men are deprived of
equivalent opportunities to rise to better-rewarded
positions of leadership and influence.
Furthermore, given that so many of the most
successful and enduring programmes for gender
equality in HE have been championed by women
leaders, it is likely that a focus on achieving equality
for diverse women in leadership roles will also boost
the reach of efforts to address gender inequalities in
other areas of HE. Leadership programmes alone
cannot deliver everything needed to progress
gender equality in HE settings, but evidence-based
programmes to support women’s leadership,
adapted to meet cultural context, hold great promise
as part of a portfolio of gender equality actions.
• Commit to long-term action to address the leaky
pipeline, glass ceiling, sticky floor and other
known patterns of impediment to women’s equal
leadership in HE.
• Take action to address practices and policies for
recruitment and promotion, and other
institutional norms, that conflate good leadership
with masculinity. At the same time, advance and
reward excellence in inclusive leadership.
114. Recommendation 2 of the ICAI review: the Newton Fund should ensure it meaningfully considers options for reducing gender inequality and
reports against its progress
117
2.5.6 Tackle subject segregation,
particularly in STEM
STEM remains a priority focus area globally for HEIs
and at the same time is a male-dominated arena in
HE and research.
• When setting and responding to priorities,
ensure that other less male-dominated subject
areas within or outside of the STEM tradition, with
comparable benefits to societies and economies
(e.g. climate geography, nursing studies), are not
overlooked.
• Make use of the differences by country and
region found in STEM subject areas between
women and men (e.g. computer science: UK
women 20 per cent; Omani women 76 per cent)
to forge mutual learning partnerships or
exchanges and placements to address cultural
gendered assumptions.
• Ensure that interventions to increase the
participation of women in STEM (e.g. events with
STEM women as role models; in films or texts)
represent women in all their diversity.
2.5.7 Take a gendered approach to online
learning and collaboration
Online learning programmes and tools are a core
feature of the British Council’s work in education and
are set to take an increasingly prominent role in HE,
both as ICT continues to expand its global reach and
in response to the global challenges of climate
change and pandemic disease which mediate the
usefulness of international exchanges and learning
that require physical travel. There is surprisingly
little research on gender differences or inequalities
as they relate to online learning and collaboration in
HE. More evidence of gender differences or
similarities in the qualitative experience of different
online or blended learning approaches would be
welcome.
• Ensure that online learning projects are assessed
and designed for equality of access and
outcomes for women and men participants in
terms of their content, delivery and assessment,
being alert to the unintended consequences of
algorithms for access. A handbook or toolkit for
designing gender-responsive online learning
projects would be a valuable resource for all
partners.
• Ensure that the differential gender benefits of
online learning or collaboration projects to
women (alongside any disbenefits) are accounted
for in decision-making processes where online
and face-to-face learning or collaboration are
both options for investment.
• Maintain opportunities for women researchers,
such as those in the early phases of their
careers, to work with and learn from experts
around the world by generating the means to
collaborate online.
• Protect and enhance projects’ engagement with
women in local communities, such as businesses
and community organisations, by enabling online
activities which can be recorded and published
to increase their visibility.
• Make the most of the British Council’s expertise
and capability in e-learning to develop online
guidance and e-learning programmes with
gender content. This will assist project partners
and applicants to strengthen their own work from
proposal stage to implementation and evaluation.
• Make the most of the British Council’s expertise
and capability in e-learning to develop e-learning
programmes and modules that address gender
inequality in HEIs, including sexual harassment
and violence.
2.5.8 Strengthen organisational
leadership and commitment to address
gender inequality in strategy, policy,
quality assurance and delivery
The evidence from evaluations of HE initiatives (e.g.
Athena Swan
115 and see EC , 2012) mirrors similar
research in HE and on gender equality more broadly,
as well as comments from interviewees in the
research for this report: the buy-in and commitment
of senior leadership is critical to the advancement of
gender equality in institutions. Therefore, the British
Council should ensure, in par ticular, that in its
exchanges with ministers and with senior leaders in
HEIs, messaging about the importance of the
agenda to promote gender equality is consistent
and strong.
The British Council is a trusted and respected
partner worldwide: it could use its power to great
effect. Sometimes and in some contexts it might feel
easier to avoid having the conversation about
gender equality, perhaps where donors or other
partners appear not to have interest in the agenda,
or where paying clients are perceived to be ‘calling
the shots’. But each conversation is an opportunity
to emphasise the commitment of the British Council
to gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls, and to help shape norms towards the
acceptance of gender equality as a fundamental
goal that underpins the definition of ‘quality’ in all HE
contexts. Men in leadership positions have an
important role to play in taking a lead on gender
equality.
115. Athena Swan evaluation, ibid., Munir et al. (2014)
118
Discrimination and discriminatory violence, such as
the sexual harassment and VAW that are widespread
within the HE sector worldwide, are not only
experienced as an injury to the self. Often these
harms are compounded by the sense that
institutions have ‘turned a blind eye’ or are
otherwise seeking to avoid accountability for their
role in preventing and responding to what has
happened. The experience of this additional harm is
known as ‘institutional betrayal’ (Freyd, 2008).
116 Its
opposite, institutional courage, is ‘an institution’s
commitment to seek the truth and engage in moral
action’. The British Council has the opportunity to
model institutional courage in the face of gender
inequality, and to show that it encourages
institutional courage in others.
• Ensure that partners in countries worldwide
know that seeking to restrict women’s access to
HE, or seeking to restrict access to education
about gender and gender discrimination, would
not be compatible with the values of any
institutions in the UK working in global HE.
• Ensure that organisational leaders are using
every opportunity to proactively raise and
include gender equality in strategy, policy,
quality assurance and delivery.
• Include specific gender competencies in
management training and frameworks.
• Consider investing in ‘leadership for gender
equality’ training.
2.5.9 Recognise and promote gender
studies and women’s HEIs
Research shows that gender studies programmes,
and HEIs that are for women, can significantly
enhance the experience and outcomes of HE for
women. They are fruitful centres for the
development of knowledge and action to promote
gender equality in wider society. They also provide
supportive context for the development of expert
knowledge communities and leadership
opportunities.
• Strategically support and champion programmes
and modules that involve gender studies.
• Strategically support, and make the most of
connections with, HEIs that are for women which
can be models for women-friendly STEM learning,
research and leadership.
2.5.10 Take a lifecycle approach
Research shows the importance of taking a holistic
lifecycle approach to the nature of women’s
engagement in HE. The success of programmes
focused on secondary education is amplified when
their transition to HE is also considered. The
pathways for further study, employment
opportunities and personal growth opportunities for
girls and women are deeply connected to each
other and to the wider gender equality agenda. If the
opportunities are not there for the onward journey
into HE, the appeal of completing even secondary
education may not be clear to girls and their
families. Action to tackle stereotypes and harmful
gender norms in HE environments is bolstered by
action in the wider society. Programmes that help to
promote gender equality in wider society, such as
the British Council’s Active Citizens programme, can
be delivered to HE students (as in Nigeria: case
study 4). HE programmes benefit from dialogue with
programmes that are focused on other areas such
as primary or secondary education, or society, as
the examples from LEAP, Women in Science (case
study 15) and Girls into Global STEM (case study 17)
have shown.
The impact of gender-transformative interventions is
also felt over the long term – as well as
communicated to others through the examples set,
and conversations initiated, by programme
beneficiaries. Long-term follow-up with participants
and beneficiaries of British Council projects is
currently rare. When taking a lifecycle approach, and
when aiming to make a difference in the area of
changes to social norms, only a long-term approach
to monitoring and evaluation can bear fruit. This is
recognised by the British Council – and the new
global alumni strategy will assist with evaluation over
the longer term: staying in touch with programme
alumni over the longer term gives the British Council
opportunities to measure and monitor many
indicators, from retention and progression in HE or
research roles to wider contributions to society,
including as ambassadors for gender equality.
• Ensure that HE programmes actively seek
synergy with extant programmes at other
lifecycle points so that they complement and
enhance one another.
• Ensure that the long-term impact of programmes
for gender equality over the lifecycle, and in
terms of attitudes supportive of gender equality,
is captured, for example through the alumni
strategy and by asking participants to identify
multiplier effects such as their influence on
others.
116. Cited along with the term ‘institutional courage’ at dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/institutionalbetrayal/
119
2.5.11 Assert the centrality of equality
and inclusion to the definition of quality
and excellence in HE
Funding and research bodies, policymakers and
others working on global HE systems do not have a
strong enough focus on gender and other equality
issues. The concept of quality is absolutely central to
the internationalisation agenda in HE. Methods and
practices that reinforce social inequalities or that
only work well for one half of the population cannot
be considered to be delivering or representing
quality: only gender-sensitive education systems in
HE can be regarded as high quality, and only
classroom environments and teaching practices that
are free from sexism can be regarded as high
quality. Yet there is a disconnect between these
concepts of quality, evidenced by rankings that
show the universities who are judged to do well for
‘gender equality’ are not the universities who are top
rated according to generic standards. This reflects
the fact that those generic standards are not gender
sensitive.
In 2013 the British Council launched its Manifesto for
Change, which called for gender equality to be
understood as fundamental to quality.
117 It must be
the mission of the British Council in its global work
on HE to drive forward a system of standards and
practices where gender equality is a necessary
condition for quality. The British Council is involved
at scale in the training of primary and secondary
school teachers, and university teachers, both at
policy level and on the ground, worldwide. Training
for teachers to avoid sex discrimination and develop
their own good practice for gender equality and
empowerment should be a fundamental element of
any scheme to drive up standards in pedagogy.
• Ensure that the British Council upholds and
champions a definition of ‘quality’ and a definition
of ‘excellence’ that are underpinned by gender
equality standards, whether in curriculum
content, pedagogy, programming, candidate
selection or policy.
• Support the development and implementation of
curricula – including teacher-training curricula
– that are gender sensitive and gender
transformative, at policy level and at programme
level, and monitor as an indicator of success.
• Quantify and measure the British Council’s
influence towards other gender-sensitive and
gender-transformative improvements to HE
systems as a success indicator.
2.5.12 Act at scale
The British Council runs impressive individual
programmes in HE that make profound positive
change in the lives of women, for example the
scholarship programmes for women in India and
Pakistan (case studies 11 and 16 ) and the
implementation of gender-responsive pedagogy in
TESCEA (case study 1). Every woman empowered
goes on to be a role model and empower others.
Every revised university framework creates a more
gender-sensitive experience for future generations
of students. At the same time, if the concepts of
scholarship programmes for women or gender-
responsive pedagogy can be advocated for and
incorporated into national HE plans and frameworks,
the multiplier effect is greatly enhanced.
The British Council’s strategic move towards global
HE partnership programmes and to a global mobility
framework also gives the British Council scope to
introduce gender equality interventions at scale,
albeit tailored to country and regional contexts. This
is also an opportunity to develop and implement
appropriate baseline and other measures to survey
programme participants and gain valuable insights
about gender equality and empowerment across
large (multinational) participant populations, data
which will be of use both internally and externally.
• Introduce a strategic priority to influence
national HE plans for gender equality.
• Embed specific gender equality plans, policies
and monitoring systems into the global mobility
framework and global partnership programmes.
This will enable transparency and enhance the
quality and power of gender-sensitive data
collection and monitoring practices.
117. Reported in the Guardian, 6 March 2013: www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2013/mar/06/gender-equality-universities-
global-issue
120
This report benefited from the expert insight of a
range of British Council staff, led by Gill Cowell, Anna
O’Flynn and Fariha Tahanin in the Gender and
Inclusion Team. Steering Group members included
Jessica Bull, Susanna Carmody, Liz Dempsey, Brenda
Giles, Michael Peak and Christine Wilson. Interviews
and follow-up conversations provided breadth and
depth. Interviewees included Salvador Lopez, Helga
Stellmacher, Leighton Ernsberger, Kate Joyce, Lara
Blagojevic, Evelina Vardanyan, Linda McCourt and a
representative from the FCDO.
Acknowledgements
121
GBV: gender-based violence – see VAW.
Gender and sex: the boundaries between sex and
gender are not always distinct. This report
specifically focuses on the range of unequal
treatment and life experience that occurs because
of the perceived sex (most often male/female) and/
or gender (most often man/woman, boy/girl) of
individuals. ‘Sex’ is used where the main issues
under discussion are concerned mostly with
physiological or reproductive differences between
men and women. ‘Gender’ is used where the focus is
more upon roles and stereotypes (but see also
‘gender equality’). ‘Sex/gender’ is used in discussion
where both may be more or less equally at play.
Discrimination and unequal treatment based on
sexual orientation (sexuality) and gender identity
(trans or non-binary, gender non-conforming or
‘cisgender’ and other identities) are, with other
forms of discrimination, subjects of analysis in their
own right, as well as intersecting with sex and
gender as discussed in this report. ‘Gender’ is used
in this context to refer to socially imposed,
hierarchical different roles and expectations
associated with men/boys or with women/girls by
others. ‘Gender identity’ is used to refer to the
internal sense of gender which individuals may have
regardless of their recorded sex at birth, and which
is used as a basis for prejudice and discrimination
when a person’s identity and expression fall outside
narrow socially defined norms for men and women,
girls and boys. ‘Gender expression’ refers to a
person’s conscious behaviour (how they act) and
presentation (how they look) which might align with
or challenge social norms and stereotypes related to
gender.
Gender equality: the widely used umbrella term
referring to the desirable outcomes of equal
treatment, opportunities and rights for males and
females and for men/women and boys/girls, applied
in practice to address both sex inequalities and
gender inequalities. Gender inequality is the
converse widely used umbrella term.
Gender-responsive pedagogy: teaching practices
that take into account the gendered context of
teaching and learning environments and bias in the
curriculum, seeking to meet the needs of learners of
different genders equally.
Gender-sensitive pedagogy: an umbrella term for
pedagogical practices ranging from responsive to
transformative.
Gender-transformative pedagogy: teaching
practices that include awareness-raising activities
concerning sex/gender inequalities and
discrimination, and that encourage reflection and
the motivation of learners to challenge harmful
attitudes, norms and discriminatory practices.
HE: higher education
HEI: higher education institution (such as a
university)
Intersectionality: the Global Research Council’s
definition is: ‘the interconnected nature of social
categorisations such as race, class, and gender as
they apply to a given individual or group, regarded
as creating overlapping and interdependent systems
of discrimination or disadvantage’. Intersectionality
is a framework developed by K Crenshawe for
understanding how there are unique and specific
experiences of discrimination for people who have
multiple characteristics of structural social
disadvantage, such as Black women.
Acronyms
and glossary
122
UKRI: UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s
independent research and innovation body,
primarily funded by the UK government to create an
enabling environment for research and innovation.
VAW: violence against women (see also VAWG, which
stands for violence against women and girls). This is
an umbrella term for the range of acts ‘that results
in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental
harm or suffering to women, including threats of
such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’
(UN). The term captures the close relationship of
structural inequality with women’s disproportionate
experience of certain forms of violence.
Naming VAW as a social problem rooted in gender
inequality is not to deny that men and boys can also
be victims of sexual and domestic abuse, or that
women and girls can be perpetrators. Strategies to
prevent VAW are rooted in understanding its
relationship to structural inequality but also would
be expected to be inclusive of all forms of sexual
and domestic violence.
The term ‘gender-based violence’ (GBV) is often
used interchangeably with VAW, and is inclusive of
violence against sexual minorities and those with
gender non-conforming identities, forms of violence
that are often related to adherence to rigid social
norms about sex and gender.
123
Index of countries
and regions
Afghanistan 47 53 66 84
Africa 10 19 29 35 36 38 47 48 50 66 68 81 109
Algeria 26
Americas 29 68 99 100 10 4 106 10 8 112
Arab States 50
Argentina 35 36 71
Asia 18 19 26 29 35 50 59 69 97
Asia and the Pacific 29 50
Australia 23 35 36 46 53 68 69 71 84 85 91
Bangladesh 36 109
Belgium 39
Brazil 23 35 36 38 62 71 99 10 0 109 116
Canada 23 35 36 57 84 85 91
Caribbean 29 61
Central Asia 29
Chad 29
Chile 23 36
China 36 41 56 58 59 67
Cyprus 36 38 102
Denmark 38
Ecuador 23
Egypt 26 31 58 67 71 87
Ethiopia 25 58 59 83 104 130
EU 32 44 46 87
Europe 18 23 24 29 31 32 35 37 38 39 44 45 46 49 53 56 57 59 75 83 88
89 102 105 107 108 109 112
Finland 39
France 36
Gambia 38
Germany 29 36 43 68
Ghana 27 66
Hong Kong 56 58
Hungary 41
Iceland 29
India 27 31 33 36 38 46 49 53 61 71 74 93 94 96 98 104 10 5 107 108
109 110 111 112 12 0
124
Indonesia 23 36
Iran 23 26
Ireland 23 36 55 60 71 84 91
Italy 23 41 68
Japan 28 29 35 36 56 58
Jordan 26 29 50 51 63
Kenya 36 65 66 81 98
Korea 23 36 49 67
Latin America 18 19 29 35 71
Lebanon 50 51 63 67
Liberia 38
Malaysia 23 43 59 60 98 109
MENA 26 67 87
Mexico 23 35 38 71 99
Mozambique 38
Myanmar 29 30 39
Nepal 36 109
Netherlands 31 54
New Zealand 23 36 56 84 85
Nigeria 51 66 86 98 119
North America 23 35 38 68
North Macedonia 29
Norway 36 39
OECD 18 19 28
Oman 31 36 38 39
Pacific Rim 58
Pakistan 20 23 25 38 49 50 55 70 75 97 101 104 10 6 108 10 9 110 120 112 114
Peru 29 36 99
Poland 36 68 102
Qatar 39
Romania 41 51 55
Russian Federation 23 38
Saudi Arabia 36 58
Scotland 36 101 106 107 109 110 111
Senegal 36 56
Singapore 58
125
South Africa 10 23 35 36 44 47 53 58 61 84
South Asia 18 59 97 109
South Korea 23 36 49
Soviet Union (former) 29
Spain 36 41 54 68 84 98
Sri Lanka 36 98 109
Sub-Saharan Africa 18 35 38 63 65
Sweden 26 29 36 39 102
Switzerland 36 44 58
Tanzania 27 66 81 82
Tunisia 26 29 39
Tur key 43 44 60
Uganda 84 81 82
UK 5 14 19 22 23 24 31 32 33 36 39 34 44 46 47 50 52 55 57 58 60
61 63 64 65 67 69 70 71 74 75 76 78 79 81 84 87 88 90 92 93 94
95 98 99 102 104 105 106 108 109 110 111 112
USA 36 39 44 47 49 50 53 57 60 61 64 68 69 71 75 84 93 109
Venezuela 29
Western Africa 66
Zambia 36
Zimbabwe 66 98
126
Over 300 research documents were reviewed for
this study. Throughout the document, hyperlinks in
the text direct readers to online sources and
resources for further information. A searchable
comprehensive bibliography, including hyperlinks
and other identifying information about resources,
has been published online by the British Council and
is available to download from: https://www.
britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/sources_
database.xlsx
References and
bibliography
127
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Working closely with governments, donors and businesses, we deliver value for
money international development solutions that are both effective and sustainable.
Find out more:
enquiries.development@britishcouncil.org
www.britishcouncil.org
