New strategies, structures imperative to close gender gap in HE

Women in research must undergo emancipation and empowerment programmes to strengthen their resilience and ability to make critical decisions, and to address the challenges they face in academia, argues a study published in PLOS One. More medium- and long-term strategies are needed, along with supportive systems and structures.

The reasons for gender inequalities experienced by women in universities and research institutions in West Africa are highlighted in the study published on 30 March 2022 and titled ‘Barriers of West African Women Scientists in their Research and Academic Careers: A qualitative research’.

There is a complex set of factors such as gender-insensitive organisational culture, institutional policies, and family and environmental barriers. These challenges have contributed to making it laborious for women to extricate themselves from the ‘limiting web’ of inequality, causing many to succumb to pressure to conform to gender expectations, which jeopardises their career development.

The study was conducted between June and September 2020 in five West African countries – Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. Interviews were conducted with 21 female and nine male health researchers by video call.

The challenges

Increased female participation in science is the key to tackling major global challenges such as climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has found.

Yet UNESCO has stated that, in countries like Niger, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali, women are poorly represented in the research community and, even more so, in the decision-making bodies of academic and research institutions.

For instance, UNESCO reported, in Niger women represented 10% of university teaching staff in 2005; in Ghana only 20% of health researchers were women in 2010; in Burkina Faso they comprised 27.7% of personnel in medical science research in 2010; and, in Mali, women constituted only 14.9% of health researchers in 2006.

The story is the same in Nigeria, according to Professor Folasade Ogunsola, director of the Centre for Infection Control and Patient Safety in the college of medicine at the University of Lagos. She told University World News that, while there are some 50,000 male academics in the country, there were fewer than 18,000 female academics in the 2018-19 academic year.

Ogunsola said the number of university professors in Nigeria in 2019 was 11,877. Out of that figure, 10,075 – representing 84.8% – were male professors and 1,802 or 15.2% were female professors.

Some study findings

“The study aims to identify ways to improve on the inequitable representation of women in scientific research, therefore, contributing to higher diversity among researchers, which will, in turn, lead to higher quality research,” Professor Morenike Oluwatoyin Ukpong, dean of the faculty of dentistry at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, Nigeria and a co-author of the PLOS One article, told University World News.

While empowerment programmes may help strengthen women’s resolve to overcome barriers to research progress in the short term, Ukpong said that more medium- and long-term strategies were needed to surmount limitations created by gender inequalities rooted within research and academic structures.

For immediate action, there is a need to educate academia to be gender sensitive, the dean said, adding: “The entire academia is not aware of these issues. This sensitisation is a first short-term process. When there is awareness of these issues, it is easier to institute a change process.”

She argued that, in the long term, universities need to develop policies that recognise the differences in gender challenges and purposefully support women. These could include gender sensitivity in recruitment, and selection for training and task-sharing, Ukpong said.

She advocated for purposeful capacity-building programmes for women in academia and putting systems and structures in place to enable women to compete equitably with men.

While interviewees in the study considered marriage as a major obstacle to research career development, Ukpong said that, with a supportive husband, female researchers would be able to navigate the web between work life and home life.

Ogunsola, however, advised female researchers to stop looking for excuses to fail. “Yes, you need to take care of your children and family, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. To successfully balance office life and home life, you need to delegate some of your duties to others and focus on your career.

“You are not a superwoman. There is no value added to your life by being able to wash and iron all the clothes by yourself. Yes! It is harder for us as females, all the more reason we need to be in decision-making positions so that we can create an environment that makes it easier for younger female scientists to thrive.

“I plead with stakeholders to formulate policy that encourages more flexible working conditions. In terms of flexible work hours, COVID was made for women. Working from home, working remotely was made for us,” she said.

Ogunsola also tasked female professionals in leadership positions to mentor those coming behind them. “We need to teach them how we were able to joggle work and family successfully. We need to create networks among ourselves,” she added.