Gender Disparity and Its Impact on Higher Education

Abstract

Educational research on gender has expanded beyond biological differences to the study of social interactions, during which individuals construct gender-related achievement differences. The issue of gender disparity is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. This paper “Gender Disparity and Its Impact on Higher Education” reviews a diverse literature on gender and higher education. Gender inequality is more pronounced in some aspects of the educational systems than in others. Explanations of gender inequality in higher education should distinguish between these different aspects of education and should explain those contexts in which women have attained parity as well as those in which they continue to lag behind. The methodology followed will be qualitative interpretative where the focus will be on the correlation between gender disparity and its impact on higher education i.e. What aspects of education exhibit the most pronounced gender disparities?, Has the educational system merely reflected developments in the rest of society? This paper will also deal with what is being done to solve this problem and what kind of remedial measures would be employed.

Key words: Gender, inequality, education, challenges, opportunities, remedial measures