In 111 years, since International Women’s Day was founded, gender equality has advanced significantly. In spite of great achievements -like women’s right to vote in most countries, more access to education and leadership positions and greater legislative rights- our world is not free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) joins the celebration of women’s achievements with two major events: the pre-launch of the report Supporting women participation in higher education in Eastern Africa and the launch of the study Gender equality in 2022: How global universities are performing.

-Supporting women participation in higher education in Eastern Africa: building sustainable and equitable higher education systems in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, is a joint project by UNESCO IESALC and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa.

The purpose of this study is to encourage policy debate and to map main global trends on women participation in higher education in the Eastern Africa Region, analyzing their participation in research, teaching, STEM and management in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.

Participants at the webinar: Sara Maneiro, UNESCO IESALC; Schéhérazade Feddal, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa; Francesc Pedró, UNESCO IESALC Director; Daniele Vieira, UNESCO IESALC / UFPE; Saidou Sireh Jallow, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa; Margaret Jesang Hutchinson, University of Nairobi Deputy Vice Chancellor; Awol Endris Adem, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa and Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa. 

Date: 8 March 2022, 8:00h-9:30h (UTC-4, Caracas / 3:00h-4:30h UTC+3, Nairobi)

Registration link: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IEiQdXFrRl2w8-snYOnzEQ

-Gender equality: How global universities are performing. The Role of Higher Education Institutions towards SDG 5: the new White Paper, jointly edited with Times Higher Education, will present a global analysis of exclusive data across 18 indicators, and five detailed case-studies that will orient institution’s efforts to tackle inequality and discrimination. 

The launching webinar will reveal which regions are making the greatest progress, and the possible factors and strategies behind their success with the participation of five inspirational academic leaders. It will explore: 

• Where universities are furthest ahead in their commitment to gender equality;
• Which regions are the most equal when it comes to the shares of female students across different subject areas;
• How universities are becoming more focused on improving women’s access to higher education than improving their outcomes and success rates;
• Why less than two-fifths of senior academics are women globally, while less than a third of authors in research papers are women;
• What is a new emerging frontier in the fight for gender equality.

Speakers: Emma Deraze, senior data scientist, THE; Eileen Drew, director, Centre for Gender Equality and Leadership, Trinity College Dublin; Rosa Ellis, rankings reporter, THE; Victoria Galán-Muros, chief of research and analysis, UNESCO-IESALC; Kathryn Maud, assistant professor of women and gender studies, American University of Beirut; Bhavani Rao, director, Ammachi Labs and Unesco chair in gender equality and women’s empowerment, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Judith Waudo, director of the Center for Gender Equity and Empowerment, Kenyatta University. 

Date: 8 March 2022, 10:00h-11:30h (UTC-4, Caracas) / 14:00h-15:30h GMT

Registration link: https://bit.ly/3HLAiZF

Both events are held in English