GENDER GAP IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Although we are slowly advancing towards a more equitable platform, in terms of gender equality in the “working world”, it could be argued that the current pace is not fast enough.

Despite constituting a substantial portion of employees within the higher education sector, women are still occupying the most menial jobs. Some attribute this discrepancy to the power gap in such environments where women feel intimidated to apply for management jobs – due to the fact that their male counterparts often get chosen over them.

In 2013, it was found that the number of educated women employed was 10% lower than their male counterparts with the same level of education. In terms of earnings, females earned only 82% of what their male counterparts earned, albeit having the same level of qualification.

What these figures indicate is that, on average, females expect to be remunerated at a lower rate or lose a job opportunity to their male counterparts even though their qualifications are not differentiated at the margin.

We are very privileged to be a part of the educated subset of the African youth who are tech-savvy and able to access a lot of information, such as these statistics.

The only evident message here is what more information would it take in order for young people to rise up and solve such pertinent issues within our immediate societal contexts – which will not only affect our generation but also the future generations to come.