Gender Inequity in Jordanian Higher Education Leadership: Analysis and Recommendations

Abstract

Gender Inequity in Jordanian Higher Education Leadership:Analysis and Recommendations Richard Savior (bio) Introduction The higher education system in Jordan has experienced significant growth over the past 25 years as a series of government-led reforms have sought to help the country transform from a predominantly agrarian to an industrialized nation. The focus of these changes was to bring the country's educational policies and programs in line with the demands of a 21st century knowledge-based economy.1 These reforms strengthened the institutional [End Page 1] capacity of the country's Ministry of Higher Education in terms of policy formation, strategic planning, quality of curriculum, and student assessment but failed to address the goal of gender equity in the country's higher education leadership.2 Women in Jordan have made great gains in higher education and are now earning more degrees than men. According to UNESCO, women now make up 54 percent of the total enrollments at Jordanian colleges and universities.3 While advancements in educational attainment are important, women continue to face significant barriers in higher education employment and advancement: women hold a small fraction of senior leadership positions and are also underrepresented in tenured and full professorships, which in turn limits opportunities to advance into formal leadership positions at colleges and universities.4 Barriers to women's advancement are complex as women are not simply denied top leadership opportunities but lack the critically needed institutional and government support required to build a pipeline to such advancement.5 Even when women do all the right things to prepare for such opportunities, they face challenges embedded within institutional structures and cultural systems that require transformative change. Women often must balance the responsibilities of life with their educational and career aspirations that men may not be aware of or acknowledge.6 These imbalances in equity and opportunity have consequence not only to emerging female leaders in higher education but as role models to their students. The purpose of this study was to assess the demographics of Jordanian college and university faculty and senior leadership and examine how gender specifically influences perceptions related to gender inequity in higher education leadership. The study follows a quantitative research design that incorporated data collected from surveys with senior Jordanian higher education leaders. The findings of this study reveal differences in how the issue is perceived, the factors that contribute to those inequities and offer recommendations for progressive measures and serve to highlight [End Page 2] the strategic implications for higher education policy and practice. The research is however limited by the absence of longitudinal data to review longer-term outcomes. Literature Review A review of the existing literature determined that while there have been ample studies on the factors that limit employment opportunity and advancement of women in the Jordanian labor market,7 studies focused on the higher education space were quite limited8 and did not examine potential measures that might serve to address the underlying inequities. Gender inequities in Jordanian higher education are manifested on multiple levels. The country has never had a female minister of education, women make up less than a fifth of its workforce, and women hold just 4 percent of board of trustee seats.9 What is perplexing is that while in school, Jordanian females outperform their male counterparts in just about every subject and at every age level. To cite one example, at the University of Jordan, the country's largest university, women outnumber men by a ratio of two to one and earn higher grades in science, technology, engineering, and math as well in a range of other subjects.10 Although Jordan has achieved parity in access to education in both primary and secondary schools, Jordanian women's educational achievements are not being reflected in their participation in the economy. Despite earning higher grades and more degrees than men, women in Jordan are unlikely to put their degrees to paid use for very long-only one in five workers in Jordan are female.11 In general, women do not go on to have long professional careers after graduating, but rather spend much of their lives working at home as wives and mothers. Specific to employment in...