One in six universities worldwide is led by a woman

One in six universities globally has a female leader, according to research conducted by the International Association of Universities (IAU).

Analysis of the IAU’s World Higher Education Database, which covers 19,142 public and private institutions in 196 countries, found that 16% of European universities and higher education institutions have a female leader.

It was also revealed that 54 nations do not have a single female vice-chancellor.

“The research confirms that worldwide the glass ceiling remains intact for women in higher education leadership,” said Amanda Sudic, the IAU’s information officer and co-researcher.

North America has a higher regional proportion of female university leaders at 23%. In comparison, the Middle East has a proportion of 5%.

Furthermore, Asia is made up of roughly 6500 institutions, 13% of which are female-led, as well as 22% of Oceana’s 43 universities.

The research confirms that worldwide the glass ceiling remains intact for women in higher education leadership

– Amanda Sudic, IAU information officer and co-researcher

Sudic commented that the research “confirms that, to some extent, opportunities for women to access the highest echelons of leadership in academia is related to where they are in the world.”

She also highlighted that there were “huge differences” within regions, as a number of countries vastly outperformed their regional average, such as Cuba and Slovenia; both at 38%.

Sweden is the country with the greatest gender parity, with women leading 49% of its institutions. This is higher than the European average, or the European Union average of 19%.

There are around 130 universities in the UK, 33 of which currently have a female vice chancellor.

The University of Warwick has had six vice-chancellors since its founding in 1965, none of whom were women.

Joan Wallach Scott, a pioneer of gender history and emerita professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, explained that even in countries with a higher representation of women in leadership roles, there was “a persisting view that men are better leaders than women”.

She added that she feared it would be “a very long time” before parity was achieved worldwide.