Stereotyping in Graduate Education: An Insight of Women’s Participation in Malaysia

Abstract

An equal access to the higher education in terms of gender has been successfully promoted in Malaysia. An increasing number of women succeeded in having secured places and graduating from local private and public universities in this country. This shows that more and more women have gone through higher education, and a significant number of them are now holding high posts both in the private and the public sectors. This is the result of various government policies n human capital development. Consequently, the previously ‘denied’ right of women to higher education because of gender is now a history in this country and more women are pursuing graduate education. This paper attempts to analyze an involvement of women in higher education in Malaysia with particular reference to graduate study in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The study shows an increasing interest and access to programs related to sciences and technical field by women, as opposed to the art and education which were previously associated with women. This trend signals a positive development of women’s involvement in higher education in preparing knowledgeable human resources to the nation, and thus provides a strong support to the women empowering strategy in Malaysia.