Barriers Affecting Women's Advancement In Academia

. Conventionally, the historical exclusion of women from the respected ranks of the academy is blamed on women. Women are deficient in natural intellectual ability, women are temperamentally unstable, they lack motivation and women's domestic preoccupations preclude public life and so on. Throughout history, women have vigorously challenged the concept of preordained female subservience. Not until the twentieth century, however, have women been able to organize world-wide initiatives toward rectifying the imbalances. The issue of women's lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem is well known through various research studies. The lack of self confidence however is endemic to women and cuts across class, caste and even national boundaries. Coupled with the confidence issue is `finding their voices'. This is a positive reinforcement and an assurance that women are intelligent and that they are capable of learning. According to a few research studies, it was found that to their low self esteem, some women stopped attending study centres because they were intimidated by their male colleagues or by the tutor. Most women think within the parameters of their traditional social conditioning and this is reflected in their choice of courses of study. To sum up the barriers for the low percentage of enrollment of women in higher education, there are two distinct aspects to women's participation in higher education. One is access and the other is continuation. There are several socio-economic-cultural factors which hinder women's enrollment in higher education. The attitude of parents, especially the uneducated and very conservative parents is such that they do not see any value or necessity for educating girls. In fact, there is resistance and hesitation for investment in girls' education as the parents do not expect to get returns from this. Parents also hesitate to send girls to colleges, if no exclusive women's college is available in their vicinity. If the girls have to be sent out, availability of hostel accommodation in a women's college is an important consideration. However, it is interesting to note that more and more women are not satisfied with their current levels of educational attainment and have aspirations to further their qualifications. In many countries, a trend is being noticed of women returning to higher education to enhance their qualifications to be able to enter job market after they have `completed' their `reproductive role'. Economic necessity of having to supplement the family income is also becoming a reality. In this context, distance education has an important role to play in providing opportunities for women to participate in higher education. (Jaya Indiresan)