المرأة في التعليم العالي في العراق ( 2008- 2012)‎

Abstract EN

The aim of this study is to shed light on the status of women in higher education in Iraq, during the academic years : 2008-2009, 2010-2011, and 2011- 2012.

The rules and regulations for higher education foster gender equity in enrollment to both the undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and in terms of salaries of staff and faculty members .The average number of females enrolled in undergraduate studies for the three years studied was approximately 189898, that percentage was 44% of the total number of students(429561).

It was found that the number of females enrolled in morning classes exceeded the number of males in the majority of public universities.

It was the reverse for evening classes in those universities, private colleges, and technical colleges and institutes.

These differences are attributed to the grades obtained by students in the final exam in secondary schools , and to social and economic factors .

The distribution of students according to the disciplines and sex revealed that the number of female students were higher than the male students in the medical groups , pure science and educational disciplines The study also showed that there was a large percentage of females in the humanitarian and educational disciplines , and that the highest percentage of female students of the public colleges of science were in the departments of computer science and life science.

The average number of females enrolled in post graduate studies was 75556 and the percentage was 38.36% of the total number of students (19696).

The female percentage was higher than males in science.

The highest population of female students was in educational disciplines followed by medical group and humanitarian disciplines.

The percentage of females that studied for a Master Degree was 43% , this is comparable to the percentage in the undergraduate studies , the percentage decreased for those at Doctoral level ( 29% ) .

The same results were recorded for faculty members , the percentage of females that hold a master`s degree was 40% which was higher than those that hold Ph.D.

degree (24%).

The number of females with a doctorate and the title of assistant professor or professor were 1348(22% ) and 289(14%) respectively ,in 2011- 2012 .These numbers indicate what the impact of family responsibilities is on the academic advancement of women .

So few women were in leadership positions .There were only 8 female Deans in 2008- 2009 , that number increased to12 in 2010-2011 , and to 24 in 2011-2012 out of a total of 341 Deans ( 7.04%).

Two female assistant presidents for the university for scientific affairs were appointed in the last year, out of the total 48 assistant presidents, which is 4% .

There were no females in a position higher than assistant president .The proportion of women in leadership position is related to the roles of social status of women , culture of the community , and attitudes of the decision –makers.

The suggestions are presented in this study to address some of the obstacles for the advancement of women in higher education in Iraq .