1 / 10

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ACADEMIA & EDUCATION:

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ACADEMIA & EDUCATION:. Enhancing Malaysian Female Participation. Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar Ali President/Vice-Chancellor Open University Malaysia. INTRODUCTION. Gender equality & women’s empowerment are important in

elvis
Download Presentation

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ACADEMIA & EDUCATION:

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ACADEMIA & EDUCATION: Enhancing Malaysian Female Participation Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar Ali President/Vice-Chancellor Open University Malaysia

  2. INTRODUCTION Gender equality & women’s empowerment are important in Malaysia as well as globally → gender gap a persistent problem Many improvements for women since independence in 1957 In education: Increased enrolment in schools & universities Females outnumbering & outperforming males High numbers of female academics Women are under-represented in academia Various obstacles Need to study issues, prospects & solutions

  3. THE STATUS OF WOMEN INMALAYSIA: FACTS & FIGURES

  4. THE STATUS OF WOMEN INMALAYSIA: CURRENT SCENARIO (1/2) Government’s focus: Launch of National Policy for Women (1989) Agreement to the UN Beijing Platform of Action (1995) Ratification of the UN CEDAW (1995) Amendment of the Constitution (2001) Establishment of MWFCD (2001) Concentration of female students in Education, Health & Welfare & Social Sciences relates to: “Female-friendly” jobs, e.g. teachers & nurses Current labour force: 70.5% of women in services sector Women’s empowerment a key agenda in: 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) & New Economic Model

  5. THE STATUS OF WOMEN INMALAYSIA: CURRENT SCENARIO (2/2) Women in academia: Poor representation as academic leaders, e.g. deans, heads of Departments & Vice-Chancellors Data & studies concerning their status are scarce Only 4 female Vice-Chancellors so far Lack of succession planning: → Can leverage on expertise of AKEPT for guidance Other issues related to working women in general

  6. ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN ACADEMIA Issues pertinent to Malaysia: Gender-based obstacles: → Leading to lower salaries, lower ranks & slow promotion Coincidence of tenure with childbearing years Attractiveness of leadership positions The “leaking pipeline”: → Encouraging women to gain postgraduate qualifications & participate in R&D to promote themselves → Severe implication on employment opportunities Other issues: Gender stereotyping Deeply rooted assumptions Patriarchal society

  7. ADDRESSING THE ISSUES (1/2) AWARENESS CREATION Linking universities with the Government Guiding universities to create succession plans & reduce gender bias Aligning institutional objectives with national plans Leadership programmes tailored for promising female academics MENTORING PROGRAMMES Encouraging a culture of guiding & coaching NIEW & AKEPT can provide appropriate training Leveraging on lead scholars & senior academics (e.g. professors)

  8. ADDRESSING THE ISSUES (1/2) INITIATIVES AT INDIVIDUAL & FACULTY LEVELS

  9. CONCLUDING REMARKS Complex academic environment → Difficult for women to attain senior positions Many global movements that encourage women’s empowerment & leadership Cascading Effect: GENDER AWARENESS SUPPORT TO WOMEN AS LEADERS ROLE MODELS TO YOUNGER WOMEN NATIONAL-LEVEL IMPROVEMENTS Important to: Understand the Malaysian situation Monitor, manage & evaluate Government efforts Acknowledge contribution of women’s organisations like NIEW

  10. THANK YOU

More Related