Gender Issues within Higher Education
Author: European Students' Union (ESU) (Belgium)
Date: 2008-12-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Females,Higher Education,Foreign Countries,Student Unions,Gender Issues,Tuition,Equal Education,Social Justice,Womens Education,At Risk Students,Disproportionate Representation,Guides,Educational History,Feminism,Legal Responsibility,Politics of Education,Questionnaires,Best Practices,Gender Bias,Student Mobility,Paying for College

This handbook functions as a crown on the European Students' Union's work on gender equality over the past two years. Since the establishment of the Gender Equality Committee, a lot of work has been done to improve gender equality in higher education generally, and in student unions more particularly. This handbook gathers the experiences and lessons learned from that period of time, covering the most important political concerns as well as internal work for student unions. Politically, it has become mainstream to say that the age of feminism is over, that women have entered into higher education successfully and that it is a matter of time until the labour market follows suit. Indeed, this has been the position of European universities within the Bologna Process. This view is, however, not only naive but also dangerous. While the road to equality has never been obvious or automatic, there are worrying signs of women increasingly dropping out of higher education before reaching the doctoral stage, women are highly underrepresented in natural sciences and suffer disproportionately from tuition fees and loans which are on the rise all across Europe. The fight for gender equality therefore still needs a lot more effort, in particular by universities which are often conservative in their strategies to tackle the problem. This handbook, which is naturally focused on student unions, aims to change that picture. Student unions have always been at the forefront of combating inequality, while breeding young and untypical leaders. Within ESU, the female network, the different seminars on equality and its gender mainstreaming strategy are helping to prepare a generation of men and women who can play a leading role in universities and politics in the near future and change these realities. The following contributions are included: (1) Gender Equality--Why Does Gender Matter (Alma Joensen); (2) A Short History of the Women's Movement (Milica Popovic); (3) Legal and Political Frameworks for Gender Equality (Milica Popovic); (4) Gender Equality in the Student Movement--About the Gender Equality Committee (Ligia Deca); (5) Gender Equality Questionnaire Results (Maris Malzer); (6) Student Unions and Gender Equality--Best Practices (Pascal Hartmann); (7) Gender Mainstreaming Strategy--Future Actions (Alma Joensen); (8) Gender Equality in Higher Education: HE through Gender Lenses in Europe (Keynote Article) (Vanja Ivosevic); (9) Gender Segregation in Higher Education--Focus on Europe (Pascal Hartmann); (10) Mobility and Gender Equality--A Few Facts (Ligia Deca); (11) Is Money Neutral?--Tuition Fees and Gender Equality (Maris Malzer); (12) Glass Ceiling within University (Regina Weber); and (13) Gender Equality in Higher Education--A Dream or a Real Possibility? (Milica Popovic). Appended are: (1) Authors Biographies; and (2) Policy Paper on Gender Equality in Higher Education. (Contains 4 tables, 14 online resources, and 53 footnotes.)