Women have called on the British Council to set up an international network to support women, who aspired to leadership in education, after hearing how they were failing to translate their superiority as students into career success.
Dr Mary Stiasny, deputy director of the Institute of Education in London, said that once girls had equal access to education, they now normally went on in greater proportions than men to complete higher education. However, in Britain, only 10 per cent of vice-chancellors were women. The recent gains of women in education could be illusory, she suggested.
The session she chaired, 'World education: dominated by women?' heard from speakers in Hong Kong, Oman and Nigeria.
Dr Auhoud Albulushi, head of research and studies department at the Omani Studies Centre, Sultan Qaboos University, challenged preconceptions about the oppression of women across the whole of the Middle East. 'GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] government policies guaranteed equal education rights for both women and men,' she said. In Oman, they emphasise education for women and preserving their identity. Women wore the veil, and participated, she said.
While there was an equal number of places for men and women in publicly funded higher education in her country, women outnumbered men in the private sector and at graduate level, the latter by 6,841 to 4,787. 'Boys want to go into military positions or are working. Girls go to university,' she said.
But being a working woman in higher education was not easy. 'I have duties and work. I have to be professional. But in our culture there are a lot of other duties women have to do, not just in taking care of children and a husband, but the whole social system.' She also saw a danger that Omani women had become complacent, because they had not had to fight for their rights.
