HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES:

EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN THE NEW ERA OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

T. MahrouzadehConsultant, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology

Islamic Republic of IranExecutive Secretary of Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic

Worldmahrouzadeh.t@gmail.com

Nowadays all countries are pursuing to attain sustainable development. To acquire sustainability, it needs cultural, social and political development that are based on the development of human capital. The growth and development of countries essentially depends on the production of knowledge-base products. Knowledge-based economies always considered the importance of education, especially higher education

Providing statistics and a general picture of higher education of women in Islamic countries can prepare the ground for better understanding to policy makers, planners, executives, experts and analysts of higher education in the Islamic countries. The statistical data would include the following indicators

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

Statistics and a General Picture of Higher Education of Women in Islamic Countries

• Gender Parity Index (GPI)

• Gender Parity Index for Gross Enrollment Ratio, Tertiary

• Gender Parity Index for Gross Completion Rate,

ISCED/5A, First degree

• Percentage of Female Researchers in different Fields

• The data presented in this research is derived from the

2008 and 2009 statistics of UNESCO

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

Proportion of women and men graduates in tertiary education by program level and those employed as researchers, 2008

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

Researcher: professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods and systems. They are also involved in the management of these projects.

Number and the Percentage of Female Researchers in Each Field

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  Total Natural Sciences

Engineering &

Technology

Medical & Health

Sciences

Humanities

Social Sciences

Agricultural Science

Country R%F %F %F

%F %F %F

%F

Pakistan 14750 27 32 13 36 42 44 9Azerbaijan 5780 52 52 49 64 58 55 45Kuwait 149 37 28 35 --- --- 53 44Iraq 474 31 40 21 43 39 --- 18Uganda 688 40 46 25 36 --- 48 31Gabon 118 22 31 20 58 20 15 30Saudi Arabia 18 1 2 2 22 --- --- ---Kazakhstan 4892 48 --- --- --- --- --- ---Kyrgyzstan 994 43 --- --- --- --- --- ---Palestine 291 19 --- --- --- --- --- ---Libya 101 22 --- --- --- --- --- ---Turkey 41528 36 --- --- --- --- --- ---

Gender Parity Index (GPI)

• GPI is the ratio of female-to-male values of a given indicator.

• A GPI of 1 indicates parity between sexes. In 2003, UNESCO had determined the range of gender parity between 0.97 and 1.03.

• Among 34 Islamic countries:• in13 Islamic countries, the number of women are more

than men • In 21 Islamic countries, the number of men are more than

women

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Percentage of Female Students, Total Tertiary

• According to the world statistics of 101 countries of the

world, 10 countries which have the least proportion of

female students, 6 of them are from Islamic countries.

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Gender Parity Index for Gross Enrollment Ratio, TertiaryGender Parity Index for Gross Completion Rate

Country GPI for Enrollment Ratio

GPI for Completion Rate

Azerbaijan 0/99 0/80

Qatar 6/31 10/36

I. R. Iran 1/07 1/38

Indonesia 0/96 0/92

Morocco 0/96 0/88

Lebanon 1/19 1/29

Kazakhstan 1/45 1/38

Uzbekistan 0/70 0/78

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•Nowadays, the gap between the developed, developing and less developed countries is widening day by day due to fast scientific and technological changes.

•Mixing of scientific fields, creation and expansion of interdisciplinary scientific areas, field of study, convergences such as in Nano, Bio, Cognitive and Information technology, have made it feasible for this result which is economical, cultural and social development.

• In addition it has imposed knowledge management and reorganization of development and change policies in educational system of countries.

•The member countries of the Islamic Conference must make the idea of “sharing of knowledge is power” as their slogan. But expansion of this idea is dependent on cultural development and exchange of views and approaches.

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

Emerging Sciences and Technologies

Knowledge Management

“ knowledge is valuable when it is accessible to human beings”.

“knowledge management” has become important as a tool which is capable of gathering and organizing the existing knowledge.

We need organization culture that provokes cooperation, trust, sharing of knowledge, learning and creativity.

Knowledge management is trying to prepare the ground for participation of interactivity among experts.

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

The development of emergent technologies have direct effect on national wealth. Therefore stronger Islamic countries should help other countries by using and sharing knowledge management.

The Network of Women Scientist of the Islamic World is pursuing the realization of these world ideal through:

• Strengthening expert women of the Islamic world in scientific activities, through:

• Motivating expert women of the Islamic world with the priority of young

women scientists, through:• Introducing top expert women of the Islamic world.• Providing annual rewards for top women scientist and

researchers of the Islamic world• Providing rewards for publishing scientific articles in

accredited periodicals and conferences• Allocating budget for travel and expenses of attending

accredited international conferences

• Strengthening expert women of the Islamic world in scientific activities, through:• Organizing and establishing e-learning system for special professional programs• Organizing pilot networks in different national, regional, and international levels• Supporting and facilitating the access to digital and non- digital scientific resources from famous world publisher• Planning for knowledge management through: • Holding short seminars, workshops, gatherings, conferences and other events in digital and non-digital world• Providing educational and research scholarships and grants for expert women candidates such as:• Signing bilateral agreements with the Japan Foundation for short term study programs in Japan in humanities for members of the network

Network of Women Scientists of the Islamic World (NWSIW)

• Establishing special information bank of expert women of the Islamic world in national, regional and international levels and expanding the cooperation among them through different channels of communication such as scientific forum.

• Provide information for active expert women in the following areas:• Conferences, workshops and special educational programs• Books, websites and scientific associations• Scholarship, grant from top universities and scientific centers• Single gender scientific centers• Career opportunities• Acceptance of joint proposals with other international institutes and

organizations in science and technology with emphasis on potentials and capabilities of expert women in local, regional and international levels; and initiation of joint scientific projects

• Documenting and publishing the list of researches and articles by expert women of the Islamic world in validated periodicals

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