Bias in Higher Education in the Era of Globalization: A Gender Perspective

Abstract

Gender based bias against women is prevalent everywhere from times immemorial. The paper makes an attempt to study discrimination against Indian women in attainment of higher education in general and technical and professional education in particular in the era of economic liberalization and globalization. The phenomenon of globalization is supposed to have completely transformed higher education scenario in the developing world to emerge it as business. This in turn has completely altered the selection of subjects conducive for employment devaluing humanities and social sciences which were more popular among women in general. For studying gender based disparity data from different sources mainly from Census of India, University Grants Commission and Ministry of H.R.D. have been analyzed. The analysis relates to educational infrastructure including women colleges, and female enrolment, in both the technical and non-technical categories in both the pre and post liberalization period to facilitate comparison. The findings of the study suggest bias against women in matters related to higher education. The discrimination was found more in professional and technical category in comparison to non-technical category. Bias against females increased in the era of globalization. This calls for immediate attention and corrective measures in the higher education policy so as to make it more responsive for female education with special consideration for the rural sector females in the era of globalization.