Women Outnumber Men at European Universities But Remain Less Represented in Labor Market

In recent years, women have accounted for the largest share of the global population completing tertiary education.

About 40 percent of people worldwide had a university degree in 2020, with the majority being women. In Europe, more women than men graduate from universities, Erudera.com reports.

According to data released by the European Office for Statistics, Eurostat, 42 percent of the population in EU countries aged 25-34 years completed tertiary education last year, an increase of one percentage point compared to the previous year’s proportion (41 percent).

The source reveals a gender disparity among the same age group, with more women, 48 percent, holding a higher education degree compared to 37 percent of men.

Nonetheless, women remain less represented in some fields, such as in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). They also continue to be underrepresented in the labor market.

European Commission data indicate that 67.7 percent of women were employed in 2021, compared to 78.5 percent of men.

In an exclusive interview with Erudera News, the European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, discussed the specific actions that the Commission is undertaking to promote gender equality in higher education to ensure that women’s educational achievements lead to equal employment opportunities.

“We want to ensure that women have equal chances and opportunities to enter the labour market, maintain economic independence throughout their lives, and receive equal recognition for their work and contributions in shaping our societies. The field of STEM illustrates the issues encountered when ensuring that women’s educational achievements are translated into equal opportunities in the labour market,” Dalli said.

She stressed that although the goal of a gender balance amongst all PhD graduates has been reached, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in STEM.

According to the She Figure report from 2021, there are far fewer women among ICT doctoral graduates. They account for less than 23 percent and only 25 percent of ICT doctorates.

“In the wake of the green and digital transition, the EU needs to invest in research and development to promote innovation to create better jobs, build a greener society, and improve quality of life. To make sure that is a just transition, we need women to be fully involved in this digital and green revolution so we can build a true Union of Equality,” Commissioner Dalli added.

However, while women in 27 EU countries report facing challenges in the labor market, such as not getting the same job opportunities as men or earning less, they have outnumbered men in university degree attainment and are also more present in higher education, data collected by Erudera confirm.

Austria

In the 2022/23 academic year, universities in Austria recorded a slight increase in the overall student population, driven by a higher number of women choosing higher education, Statistics Austria data revealed.

On the other hand, the number of male students declined compared to the previous academic year. In other words, among 393,234 people enrolled at Austrian higher education institutions, 219,754 were women, and 173,480 were men.

“Around 56 percent of university students are now women, which means that the proportion of female students at Austrian universities has grown by two percentage points in the past five years,” Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas said.

The same source indicates that, except in theological colleges, women account for the majority of students in every other university sector in the country.

Belgium

A total of 117,500 men and 148,700 women attended higher education institutions in Belgium during the academic year 2021/22 academic year, Statista reports.

Additionally, over 60 percent of women among people aged 30-34 earned a degree in Belgium last year compared to 45.6 percent of men, according to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

“With 60.5 percent Brussels has the highest rate of 30-34-year-olds with a higher education diploma. This figure is 56.2 percent in Flanders and 44.3 percent in Wallonia,” Statbel’s report reads.

The share of people with higher education diplomas increased from 49.9 percent in 2021 to a historic high of 53.1 percent in 2022.

Bulgaria

Women in Bulgaria also appear to be more active in higher education than men.

Figures from the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute show that 214,782 students were enrolled at higher education institutions in Bulgaria in the 2022/23 academic year, including international students (18,197).

Among these individuals, 120,333 are women, while 94,449 are men. Over 72,000 women were pursuing their bachelor’s degrees and 44,227 their master’s degrees. In contrast, 63,852 men were enrolled in bachelor’s programs, and 27,825 pursued master’s degrees.

As per international students, there were more men than women studying in Bulgaria in the past year, 9,212 and 8,985, respectively.

Official data also showed that women held the majority of academic staff positions at universities and specialized higher schools in the country, accounting for over 50 percent of the total.

Croatia

According to the Croatian Central Bureau of Statistics (2021), women accounted for most of the students (57.3 percent) enrolled at Croatian institutions in the academic year 2020/21, while men made up 42.7 percent of the student body.

Cyprus

Universities in Cyprus also receive more females than male students. Based on data provided by the Cyprus Statistical Office, in the 2018/19 academic year, out of the total 50,211 students in higher education institutions in the country, 26,726 were women, while 23,485 were men.

Czech Republic

Women outnumbered men in university enrollment at both public and private institutions in Czechia in 2022. According to data from the Education Ministry, the total number of students in Czechia last year was 304,518, including international students. Of these, 169,179 were women, and the remaining 135,339 were men.

Among women, 140,882 were local students and 28,306 internationals. The same source notes that most of these women were pursuing a bachelor’s degree (100,222), followed by 61,121 pursuing a master’s and nearly 9,200 pursuing a doctoral degree.

This is not the first time women have dominated universities in the Czech Republic. In fact, since 2004, there have always been more women at Czech universities than men.

Denmark

The number of women aged 25 to 45 completing higher education in Denmark reached 375,640 in 2022, compared to 270,003 men. However, despite more women attending university in Denmark, a report published by the Denmark Society for Women (DANWISE) revealed that only 23 percent of college professors are women.

The organization notes that since 2017, male researchers have been almost twice as much as female researchers. On a positive note, the number of female researchers at Danish universities has increased from 27 percent in 2017 to 34 percent in 2017.

Estonia

Women in Estonia rank as the most highly educated in Europe. Statistics Estonia reports that among people in the 25–64 age group, 53 percent of women and 34 percent of men hold higher education degrees.

“Estonian women are still among the most highly educated in Europe, and overall Estonia ranks seventh in terms of the share of people with higher education,” analyst Triinu Aug wrote in the blog of Statistics Estonia.

Finland

Figures from Statistics Finland show that Finnish universities hosted nearly 164,000 students in the academic year 2022, of which about 91,000 were women and 73,000 were men.

France

According to the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, over half of all students in France (55 percent) are women. The latter account for most students in paramedical and social care courses and those studying arts or human sciences subjects, 84 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

Regarding higher education qualifications, women in France also outnumber men, with 51 percent and 40 percent having a qualification, respectively.

“The labour market is less favourable for women and their trajectories towards access to employment are slower. They are less likely to have open-ended employment contracts and more likely to work part time. More specifically, three years after leaving higher education, a quarter of women are employed as managers, compared with more than a third of men,” the ministry stated.

An increase in the number of women working as teacher-researchers in France was recorded over the last decade. Back in 2013/14, women held a third of all teacher-researcher positions and 43.6 percent of lecturing positions, yet they made up just 22.5 percent of university professorships.

Germany

German higher education institutions witnessed a historic change because, for the first time in their history, the number of women students surpassed that of men in the winter semester of the 2021/22 academic year. That year, women accounted for 50.2 percent of all students at German universities.

The number of women in higher education has steadily increased over the past three decades. Back in the winter semester of 1998/99, 44.5 percent of students in Germany were women, DataCHECK report, carried out by the CHE Centre for Higher Education, revealed.

Among the most popular academic disciplines, the top four with the highest percentage of women are German/German Studies, education/education science, social work, and psychology. In these fields, over 75 percent of all students are women.

Greece

According to the She Figures 2021 report, women in Greece surpass men at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Available data show that 59 percent of graduates in the country are women.

However, women in Greece represent only 22.8 percent of the self-employed professionals in Science & Engineering and ICT, which is lower than the European average that stands at 24.9 percent.

Similar trends are reported in other EU countries, such as Hungary. Data by the State Audit Office show there were more women than men enrolled at Hungarian universities over the past ten years. In the fall of last year, the share of women at Hungarian universities was 54.5 percent.

Furthermore, in Ireland, women make up 54.5 percent of the overall student population, an increase from 54.0 percent in 2020/21 and up from 51.4 percent in the 2015/16 academic year, data from the Higher Education Authority, a policy-advisory body for higher education in the country, show.

Women in Latvia also continue to dominate at the country’s universities, accounting for the majority of students. They represent 56.3 percent of all entrants.

In 2022/23, Latvian higher education institutions witnessed the lowest number of students in the past decade, with over 26,400 students, an 8.9 percent drop from the previous academic year, Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia reports.

Of 31,900 students enrolled at Lithuanian universities in 2021/22, women made up 56.9 percent and men 43 percent of the student body. In Malta, women also lead the way in tertiary education, where of 18,336 enrolled students, women accounted for 59.1 percent in the 2020/21 academic year.

For the 23rd consecutive year, the Netherlands has seen a higher number of women studying at universities compared to men. In 2021/2022, 443,000 women were studying at Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences, while male students totaled 393,000, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) revealed.

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Last year, 16,111 students completed higher education in Slovenia, of which more women than men. Data collected in previous years show that women also dominate higher education in Luxembourg (53 percent).

By the end of 2022, 1,223,600 students were studying at Polish higher education institutions, and women accounted for 58.2 percent of these students. That was an increase of 5,500 students compared to the previous year. Additionally, there were 292,600 graduates in Poland during the 2021/22 academic year.

Student numbers in Portugal hit a record in 2022/23 at 446,028 students. Of these, more women enrolled in nearly all the education and training fields, according to data from the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC).

Romania also appears to have more women than men pursuing higher education. The student population in the country stood at around 450,000 in 2020/21 across all educational levels. Statistics show that just 33 percent of male students pursue higher education, compared to 37 percent of female students who do the same. Eurostat’s data indicate that Romania had the smallest share of people with university degrees in 2022.

There were 131,083 college students in Slovenia in the 2019/20 academic year, with women accounting for 58.44 percent of the student body, data by the International Trade Administration shows.

Communication Research Analyst Alma Miftari told Erudera News that the increasing number of women pursuing higher education across the EU-27 is a significant and positive shift in society. However, she said that still more should be done as it is clear that women and men have different experiences in the labor market.

“This trend not only promotes gender equality in education but is also a hope for a more skilled and innovative workforce. It opens up opportunities for women to participate in more professions, benefiting society as a whole. Women’s role in society is crucial, and institutions should offer better opportunities for them, so they no longer have to experience challenges such as receiving reduced hourly pay compared to men,” she said.

Women in Spain also outnumber men among undergraduate university students, representing 55.7 percent of the total.

Statista shows that Sweden also has more female students than male. In 2021, there were almost 234,000 females, compared to less than 150,000 male students.

The European University Association (EUA) reported that only 15 percent of rectors of its member universities in 48 countries were women in 2020 compared to 85 percent of men. On the other hand, a total of 20 countries did not have any female rectors.

“For those countries that have some presence of female rectors, the situation varied across countries as the proportion of female rectors is above the average in 19 countries, and below in eight countries,” the report points out, further highlighting that female vice-rectors are outnumbered by male vice-rectors across Europe.

According to EUA data, countries where female vice-rectors accounted for the majority of positions were:

● Denmark

● Finland

● Iceland

● Latvia

● Norway

“While women outnumber men in university enrollment, they often face challenges in breaking into traditionally male-dominated fields and are still underrepresented in leadership roles. Furthermore, the gender pay gap persists, with women earning less annually than their male counterparts, highlighting the need for continued efforts to address gender inequality in education and the workplace,” higher education expert and Erudera’s CEO Gent Ukehajdaraj said.

Some of the measures that the Commissioner mentioned in addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM include the following:

● Roadmap in the European Strategy for Universities, which was adopted in 2022

● Erasmus+ programs and the Digital Education Action Plan to tackle the gender digital skills gap in education and training.

● Implementation of the Work-Life Balance Directive

● Adoption of the Care Strategy

● Implementation of the Directive on Gender Balance on Company Boards of large EU-listed companies

● Implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) within the European Research Area, an eligibility requirement for higher education institutions and other bodies applying to Horizon Europe.

‘So far, I am pleased to say that over 200 research organizations who implemented their own GEP were funded.

Tackling gender stereotypes requires a multifaceted approach. Legislation on its own will not work. We must instigate a change of culture and attitudes to dismantle stereotypes that impose restrictions on the freedom of choice of women and impact their life decisions,” Dalli said.

Although reports confirm more women than men choose to pursue higher education in EU countries, they still continue to be underrepresented in the labor market, and, at the same time, women earn less than men. When it comes to annual income, it is not an issue only in Europe but worldwide.

A report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) revealed that there is not a single country in the world where women earn more than men, not even in the wealthiest countries such as Qatar, despite women attaining higher levels of education than men.

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