Invisible Barriers, Undeclared Wars

The increase in popularity of higher education has improved the talent competitiveness of China on the global stage and highlighted the function of higher education in fostering social prosperity and development. But, as higher education has continued to advance, other issues have surfaced. Although enrollment chances have risen, there is still inequity in the distribution of opportunities, particularly across genders. The gender disparity in the growth of Chinese higher education is therefore examined and discussed in this article. The analysis and comparison approach is used to explain the causes and solutions to gender inequality in Hong Kong and Mainland China's higher education stages. It is discovered that there are gender bias-causing similarities and differences between Hong Kong and Mainland China. The study's findings are that traditional Chinese beliefs have an impact on gender inequality in higher education in Hong Kong and Mainland China. In several professions and textbooks in Hong Kong, there are very serious gender stereotypes, whereas, in Mainland China, gender inequality is greatly influenced by the urban-rural divide. The remedies for gender disparity examined in this research have a mitigating impact but do not actually solve the issue. China should establish policies in the future that are better suited to its own national circumstances and guarantee that the policies are implemented effectively.

This study examines the impact of leadership styles on faculty job satisfaction, with a focus on the moderating role of gender inequality in higher education. Findings reveal a strong correlation between leadership styles, job satisfaction, and gender inequality, highlighting the significant influence of gender disparities on workplace dynamics. Transformative leadership is positively associated with higher job satisfaction, whereas transactional leadership also plays a substantial role in influencing satisfaction levels. However, gender inequality diminishes the positive effects of these leadership styles on job satisfaction. The study underscores that gender discrimination in hiring, compensation, promotion, leadership opportunities, and performance evaluations negatively impacts female employees’ job satisfaction. Women facing systemic barriers, such as glass ceilings and sticky floors, experience stunted career growth, reduced motivation, and dissatisfaction. This, in turn, lowers their productivity, adversely affecting organizational performance. The findings emphasize the need for equitable workplace policies to enhance job satisfaction 126and maximize organizational outcomes. Addressing gender inequality can foster a more inclusive work environment, enabling organizations to benefit from the full potential of their workforce while improving employee satisfaction and productivity. This study contributes to understanding the critical interplay between leadership, gender equality, and job satisfaction in higher education institutions.

Digital text has become the dominant medium for participation in higher education. Yet little is known about the consequences from the shift to digital text usage on the academic reading practices of specific groups of students. Using a unique data set of higher education students, we analyse differences in digital reading skills, practices, perception, and experience for female students and male students. Then we explain these differences by social inequality related to gendered reading practices and artifacts and reveal that the digitisation of academic reading is reproducing gender inequality in higher education.

This chapter examines gender inequality (unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender) in education, with a particular focus on higher education. Data presented within this chapter is drawn from my doctoral work. Analysis is offered to this presented data. In the current educational system, gender inequality makes it difficult for girls and women to persist. Yet many girls and women have managed to manoeuvre the difficult landscape and succeed. Why? How did they do it? These are questions that phenomenology can help answer. Phenomenology offers a means for uncovering the meaning of a phenomenon related to gender inequality. By understanding the strategies and resources these girls and women utilized, we can inform educators, board members, policy makers, and society in general to bring about change. Change that allows the same opportunities for girls and women that boys and men experience in education.

In this article, the authors find that, during financial crises, the wage gap between female and male accounting professionals declines and gender inequality in higher education is affected. In addition, less support and lower wages for disabled accounting professionals demotivate disabled students in accounting higher education. Because of budget cuts during financial crises, universities limit their support to women and the disabled. The authors consider 104 universities from the database of the United Kingdom’s Higher Education Statistics Agency for 2005–2011. Their theoretical and empirical findings establish that there was a growth in female students and a decline in disabled accounting students during the recent financial crisis. The established link between the higher education and the accounting profession enriches the accounting literature and may help policymakers to identifying better ways of enhancing equality and the inclusion of disabled students in accounting higher education to address inequality and non-inclusivity in the profession, especially during periods of financial crisis.

Under the premise of Gender Stereotyping in education, the difference between males and females at the stage of higher education somewhat restricts the future employment development of females. Throughout this paper, it develops a series of studies on the future employment development of females around the gender inequality existing in the higher education stage. By reviewing existing literature and data, it examines the current situation of women in higher education and how it affects them. This paper analyses the impact on women's future employment choices by looking at the gender stereotypes of women in higher education, the curriculum and choices of higher education, and the representation and lack of gender equality in higher education. Therefore, this passage will discover the requirements of women’s educational expectations and the influence of factors on women’s employment, the consciousness of gender inequality through the teaching process of higher education, and the analysis and suggestions on the status quo of gender equality education in colleges.

The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the experience of gender inequality in higher education by Australian female Heads of Social Work. This exploratory study is significant as it builds upon previous studies of gender inequality that have focused on reasons why women are under-represented in senior positions, pay gaps, leave provisions, and training. The findings provide new information on the experiences of gender inequality of female Australian Heads of Social Work and include recommendations for change.

Global Trends in Gender Inequality in Higher Education: A Bibliometric Analysis (1993–2024)

In the context of rapid economic development and social transformation in China, this article, based on Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, explores the phenomena of inequality in China's higher education and their impact on the reproduction of social strata. It first analyzes the inequalities in educational opportunities, processes, and outcomes, identifying family background, uneven distribution of educational resources, and deficiencies in the educational assessment system as the main factors contributing to these inequalities. Through empirical data, the article demonstrates how cultural capital is transmitted and accumulated within the education system, thereby affecting individuals' social mobility. Finally, the article proposes a series of policy recommendations, including optimizing the distribution of educational resources, reforming educational training and management systems, and improving educational assessment mechanisms, to reduce educational inequality. It also provides guidance for future research directions. These measures aim to promote educational equity, break the solidification of social strata, and achieve social harmony and progress.

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.

PurposeThe study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the existing literature on women’s leadership in academia by identifying the existing challenges for their underrepresentation, and proposing a new-age leadership interventions to address the inherent systemic biases and develop foster an equitable academic climate.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed bibliometric analysis to map the literature by investigating publication and geographical trends. Techniques like citation, co-citation, bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis identified seminal research and emerging themes, providing insights into research developments and facilitating identification of avenues for future research.FindingsOur study highlights how social, organizational and individual barriers disadvantage women academic leaders. Existing enablers for women in leadership, like mentorship, leadership development and family friendly policies, focus on bringing change within the prevailing academic culture, reinforcing the notion “women need support”, overlooking the influence of systemic barriers. Such interventions are often ineffective in bringing sustainable change. We propose integrating AI/machine learning (ML) technologies in leadership selection to reduce bias arising from subjectivity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the discourse on gender inequality in academic leadership by offering a robust understanding of the research topic and informing avenues for future research.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and higher education institutions can use the findings of the study to aid the formulation of policies, initiatives and institutional procedures to mitigate the prevalent gender bias in academia and cultivate an inclusive culture for growth of women.Originality/valueThe paper analyses women’s under-representation as academic leaders and proposes a novel data-driven intervention using gamification, AI and ML, aiming to reshape gender dynamics in academic leadership.

This article seeks to re-invigorate debate about how we theorise inequalities in higher education. The work of sociologist Basil Bernstein has not yet been brought to bear in this area, despite the affordances it brings in teasing out the implicit rules that perpetuate inequalities in higher education. Drawing on empirical findings from a qualitative study into the impact of university-led ‘outreach’ work in the UK context, the article applies and tests the work of Bernstein. It is argued that his framework offers the analytical precision to expose the implicit rules and principles that underlie young people’s encounters with higher education.

Gender Equity in Dental Academics

Women across the world bear a disproportionate burden of poverty in terms of material deprivation, discrimination, and denial of their basic rights. This means they often have little opportunity to influence the processes and institutions which shape their lives. The under-representation of women's voices in decision-making and agenda-setting at all levels mean that their interests tend to be under-represented in critical policy-making fora, and their skills, experience, and knowledge under-utilized. This entrenches both gender inequality and the poverty confronted by women and their communities on a daily basis. There are, however, many examples where women have found the courage and the opportunities to challenge the status quo and become active citizens and successful leaders in political, economic and civil institutions, with inspiring results. This book brings together lessons and experience in building up women's involvement from Oxfam GB and its partners. Women's Leadership and Participation illustrates methodological approaches and learning points, covering a range of issues, from women's participation in national elections to female decision-making in community livelihood initiatives. It asks the questions: what are the structural barriers to women's leadership and participation? How can women be encouraged to take up leadership positions? Once they are leading, how can women (and men) be supported to carry out their roles effectively and for progressive purposes? The case studies in this book are also available as individual papers.

The quickly growth of the (quasi-)experimental literature on policy interventions in higher education provides an opportunity to identify the causal effects of these interventions on disadvantaged students. We selected 71 studies and rigorously gathered and compared more than 200 causal effects of outreach and financial aid interventions on access and completion rates of disadvantaged students in higher education. We find that outreach policies are broadly effective in raising access of disadvantaged students when they include active counselling or simplify the university application process, but not when they only provide general information on higher education. In terms of financial aid, we find that need-based grants do not systematically raise enrolment rates but only lead to improvements when they provide enough money to cover unmet need and/or include an early commitment during high school. Still, need-based grants quite consistently appear to improve completion rates of disadvantaged students. In contrast, the evidence indicate that merit-based grants only rarely improve outcomes of disadvantaged students. Finally, interventions combining outreach and financial aid have brought promising results although more research on these mixed-interventions is still needed. We also discuss the theoretical implications of these findings for our understanding of the mechanisms driving social inequalities in higher education.