Imbalance in Higher Education: The gender imbalance in favour of women appears to be universal

 

 Imbalance in Higher Education

By

Inam Khawaja

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The statements in the media both in Pakistan and internationally about the lack of women’s education in Pakistan are not based on facts. In fact Pakistan is faced with a serious shortage of educated men. The statistics of the male and female students in the universities indicate that most of the co-educational universities are fast becoming women universities.

In Lahore in the University of the Punjab during several visits to both the old Campus and the huge Quaid-i-Azam Campus I got the impression that it was a women’s university which had recently been made co-educational. The University of Punjab has a total of five campuses having a total of over 30,000 on campus and 442,000 off campus students. The statistics on the official website show that the male female ratios for 2012 are:-

1)    Total students  50:50

2)    4-year degree   50:54

3)    MA & MSc      42:58

4)    MS  & MPhil   38:62

5)    PhD                  47:53

The trend of the historical record indicates that the University of the Punjab probably is already a female majority university likeKarachi University in which there are about 30,000 students out of which there are about 22,000 girls that is 73 percent. There are several departments in which there were hardly any male students. Driving in the Karachi University campus I hardly saw any men. There were girls everywhere in designer jeans, modestly dressed or in full Hijab sitting on the lawns, walking on the roads and chatting in the verandas.

 

The statistics of Peshawar University on their website for 2013 are:-  

 

Percentage of Women            41%           43%                           32%                  30%

The above statistics show that even in the highly conservative culture of KPK in the Peshawar University over all there are 41 percent female students. It is significant that in the faculties of Arts/Humanities and Management/Information Technology women outnumber men furthermore, there are seventeen (17) women doing PhD. in Management/Info.Sc. compared to only one male.

The statistics show that even in the male dominated field of engineering women are entering in increasing numbers. In NED Engineering University Karachi there are 8993 students out of which there are 2695 women or about 30 percent.

 

 

The detailed statistics for NED are:-

                            Men        Women       Female %

Degree Course:   5046         2318                31

Masters:              1244            372                23

PhD:                          8                5                38

The University of Engineering and Technology Lahore however, is still male dominated; there are 11,088 students out of which there are 1,852 female students that is about 17 percent. However, if the present trend persists it too will become a female majority university in a few years.

In the Aga Medical University Karachi in the final year MBBS there are a total of a hundred students having an equal number of males and females.

For the past several years women have been the position holders in most High School and university examinations. Since entrance to colleges, universities, professional colleges and all institutions of higher learning is on merit, mostly through an entrance examination women are entering these institutions in increasing numbers. As stated above women already account for 73 percent in Karachi University and reached the 50 percent mark in 2012 in Punjab University. The above statistics are only for some of the well known institutions and do not include the figures for women’s universities and women’s colleges.  The statistics published by the Higher Education Commission show that on   national basis women already outnumber men in institutions of higher learning (HEC annual report 2010-11).

In some areas of the country there certainly has been some reduction in the enrollment of girls in primary schools. However, it is significant that the recent (2013) district wise statistics for KPK show that though there has been some reduction in enrollment of girls in a few districts, there has been significant increase in the primary school enrolment of girls in many districts of KPK.

 

 

 

In 2013 total enrolment of girls is 997,534 compared to 998,386 in 2012; a reduction of just 852 that is only 0.08 percent.  In light of the actual statistics it can be safely stated that the press and the media have exaggerated the matter out of proportion.

The gender imbalance in favour of women appears to be universal. My limited research shows that it exists in UK, EU, Canada and USA. UN statistics show that internationally 50 percent of men and 62 percent women enter universities. Furthermore in countries like Japan, India and Malaysia where the imbalance is in favour of men the gap is fast shrinking.

Fifty years ago in Pakistan one saw hardly any women working in offices with the exception of telephone operators, secretaries in multinationals and preventive officers in the Customs. The progressive increase in the percentage of Pakistani women obtaining higher education has resulted in an equivalent increase in the number of women in every field in Pakistan. Today there is hardly any field in which women have not entered. The results of the 2013 CSS written examination announced by the Public Services Commission show that 238 applicants passed out of which 66 were women i. e. 28 percent.

Those who talk of the lack of women’s education in Pakistan should visit the universities and look at the actual facts and statistics. In fact the country needs to investigate the reason for the continuous decline in the percentage of male students entering the institutions of higher learning and professional education institutions. If steps are not taken to rectify the impending increase in this imbalance it would result in increasing numbers of uneducated young men looking for jobs. The country has already been hit by the tip of this iceberg of uneducated unemployed young men.

Punjab and Sindh are now highly urbanised (over 50%) as a result the problem is acute in the cities. This is one of the main causes of the increase in crime particularly petty crime like cell phone snatching by young men on motor cycles.

 

 

It is deplorable that both the Musharraf and the PPP governments were oblivious of the problem. According to the statistics published by the Higher Education Commission in 2001-02 there were about 275,000 female and about 150,000 male students enrolled in universities; the gender ratio being 65:35 in favour of women.  Musharraf government in their superior wisdom cancelled the youth support program introduced the PML(N) government. The following graph clearly illustrates the increase in the rate of disparity in favour of women during Musharraf and PPP governments resulting in the gender ratio in favour of women increasing to about 70:30 by 2010.

 

4.17. Increase in Enrollment in Universities over the years (Gender wise)
(Source: HEC annual report 2010-11)

 

 

The recently announced Prime Minister’s Youth Support Scheme of giving loans to young men for self employment is a timely recognition of the problem and a step in the right direction. In fact the problem is so acute that the Government needs to examine all the aspects of problem of the increase in uneducated and consequently unemployed young men. Means need to be devised not only to find employment for young men but to also reduce the gender gap.

December 16, 201