‘Complacency’ holding back gender equality in senior Asian jobs

A sense of complacency among richer Asian countries may be holding back gender equality in higher education leadership, according to representatives from the British Council. 

A report published by the organisation earlier this year found that, while rates of female participation in higher education are improving across much of East and South-east Asia, women are often not seen as “viable leaders” within academia. 

Across the region – the study examined 11 countries where the British Council has offices – there is a positive correlation between income per capita and female enrolment in tertiary education, with Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan experiencing the greatest expansion between 1990 and 2021. 

However, when looking at female academic staff, South Korea, Japan and Singapore were among the least gender diverse, with “little improvement” over the past decade. 

In contrast, countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, China and the Philippines have “closer” to equal representation. 

However, these figures may not show the whole picture, according to Leighton Ernsberger, director of education and English for East Asia at the British Council. 

“Participation and representation are only part of the story,” he said. For example, in some countries women are well represented as vice-chancellors, but only in rural regions, he added. 

Similarly in Myanmar, which is politically turbulent and suffering economically, the percentage of female academic staff in tertiary education is the highest out of all countries analysed, at over 80 per cent in 2021. However, according to the report’s authors, this is due to a cultural view of academia as “a poor career choice”. 

“Participation has been taken seriously, but I think outcomes is the gap,” Mr Ernsberger said. “The focus on outcomes is maybe harder to quantify than participation, but there is progress to be made, and I think the UK suffers from this too.”

The British Council is working with academics and policymakers from the region to try to improve gender parity in higher education leadership. 

However, Mr Ernsberger said, in some countries there was still “discomfort around addressing issues around gender” or a lack of understanding about the need for change. 

“Sometimes when you have a high-income economy, if gender is looked at only from a development perspective, then they’ll think it’s not an issue, and that’s not true,” he said. 

Where governments are engaging with programmes like the ones the British Council facilitates, they are doing so “because they recognise there’s a problem, not because they think they’re brilliant”, he continued. “We get less engagement where I think the country isn’t necessarily acknowledging the outcomes issue.”

Deepa Sunandra Rajan, senior consultant on gender and inclusion at the British Council, added that, as countries succeed in addressing one measure, they must be prepared to start tackling others. 

“In India, if you look at [female] STEM enrolments, it is among the highest in the world,” she said. “But if you look at the progression from STEM education into STEM careers, there is a steep drop.

“So I think the milestone keeps changing, and as you peel, it’s like an onion. You keep peeling off the layers and, you know, you discover something else.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com