Women in Higher Education

Review by Shweta Tripathi

India Higher Education Report 2022: Women in Higher Education, edited by N.V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal, publisher: Routledge publication Year: 2024 ISBN: 9781032458786 (hardcover), 9781032542546 (paperback), 9781003415916 (e-book).

India Higher Education Report 2022: Women in Higher Education, edited by N.V. Varghese and Nidhi S. Sabharwal, publisher: Routledge publication Year: 2024 ISBN: 9781032458786 (hardcover), 9781032542546 (paperback), 9781003415916 (e-book) offers a comprehensive examination of the persistent gender inequalities in India’s higher education system, focusing on the complexities surrounding women’s access to education, career progression, and under representation in leadership roles. While the report brings valuable insights to the table, it falters in certain areas. The volume takes a critical feminist perspective, exploring how intersec-tionality, particularly caste, class, and regional disparities, affects women’s educational experiences, but its treatment of these intersections often remains surface-level. For instance, while the book acknowledges that women from marginalized groups like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Muslims face additional barriers, the exploration of these issues is not as in-depth as it could be. There is a lack of detailed case studies that could have better highlighted how caste and economic status intersect to limit women’s access to higher education, especially in rural areas. Additionally, while the volume discusses the “leaky pipeline” phenomenon, it focuses mostly on women’s educational enrolment and their slow but steady climb through the academic ranks. However, the analysis fails to capture the nuances of how these women, as active agents of change, navigate these systemic barriers. The book often frames women as passive victims rather than as individuals who continuously challenge or negotiate their environments.

India Higher Education Report 2022: Women in Higher Education (Routledge, 2024)

The contributions are well-researched and largely empirical, but the language used can be overly academic and difficult to access for a broader audience. The frequent use of acronyms, statistical jargon, and specialized terms can be alienating, especially for those outside the fields of gender studies or education policy. Although the statistical data provided is valuable, the reliance on such data, while necessary, risks presenting the issues in overly abstract terms without offering enough real-world, actionable solutions. Furthermore, the focus on policy recommendations often lacks concrete examples of successful interventions or case studies, which weakens its practical utility. For example, the chapter on gender-responsive policies outlines high-level recommendations but falls short in offering detailed instances of institutions that have successfully implemented such policies.

In its discussions of leadership, the book compellingly argues that despite the increase in women’s participation in higher education, women remain vastly underrepresented in decision-making roles such as vice-chancellors or deans. The report identifies crucial factors like gender biases in recruitment and promotion processes, but it does not delve deeply enough into institutional resistance to change or the specific challenges these barriers present in Indian higher education contexts. Additionally, although the book acknowledges the significant progress women have made in various academic fields, it points to the overrepresentation of women in non-professional, non-market-oriented courses such as the humanities, arts, and education, while they remain significantly underrepresented in technical, engineering, and STEM disciplines. This division of fields is said to be a big problem for women’s career advancement, but the report doesn’t go into enough detail about the structural factors that keep this separation going, like how women aren’t encouraged to study STEM subjects or how technical skills are seen as gendered.

In certain places, the wording in the book could have been more straightforward to keep it interesting. The book is well-organized into several parts that deal with women’s access, professional paths, and institutional initiatives. However, the degree of detail in each part might often be too much. The book’s overall message is less powerful because the same points are made in different chapters. Also, the book’s flow is sometimes slowed down by too much focus on statistical trends. The chapters offer essential and necessary analysis; yet, their dependence on substantial datasets and the lack of personal accounts from women in academia hinder a genuine engagement with the real-world implications of these hurdles.

There is a missed chance to show more points of view, especially from women who work in places other than affluent urban centres. These voices would have given us a better understanding of what it was like for women to go to college in India. Another problem with the paper is that it doesn’t completely explain how male-dominated academic networks keep gender inequalities going. The influence of networks that predominantly offer mentorship and leadership chances to men necessitates greater investigation, since they remain a substantial barrier for women seeking leadership positions. Lastly, the report calls for policies that would put more women in leadership roles, like mentorship programs and gender-sensitive hiring practices. However, it doesn’t go into enough detail on the political and institutional problems that make these changes hard to make.

The book assumes that changing policies will lead to gender equality, but it doesn’t properly deal with the deeply rooted patriarchal systems that make it hard for such changes to happen at the institutional level. In this way, the study doesn’t do a good job of giving a clear path to true, dramatic change. The India Higher Education Report 2022 is very thorough and intellectual when it comes to women’s difficulties in higher education. However, it sometimes focuses too much on problems and not enough on practical, in-depth solutions. The proposals at the top level are good, but they need more information, especially about how to put them into action and how institutions may adjust to them. Additionally, the use of complex academic terminology and jargon, along with a narrow focus on elite academic contexts, makes it harder for a wider audience to understand and apply.

The book accomplishes its objective of highlighting the significant challenges confronting women in higher education; but, it would have been enhanced by a more intersectional, pragmatic, and contextualized examination of the intricate obstacles women encounter in India’s academic environment. The India Higher Education Report 2022 is a useful addition to research on gender and education in India, but it won’t have much of an effect on the real world because it doesn’t go into enough detail about how the suggested changes will be put into place, doesn’t include enough case studies, and relies too much on abstract theoretical frameworks.

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[Shweta Tripathi is currently a Research Scholar at Banaras Hindu University, Email- shwetasocio@bhu.ac.in]