Female Participation in African Agricultural Research and Higher

Education: New Insights

Nienke BeintemaHead, Agricultural S&T Indicators (ASTI) initiative,

IFPRI-Rome office

Presentation at the AWARD Steering Committee meeting and M&E workshop, Rome, 8-12 June 2009

www.asti.cgiar.org

■ Women are still underrepresented in (agricultural) S&T systems in most countries

■ Increased participation of women important for gender-balance but also in order to tap substantial additional S&T resources

■ Gender-disaggregated information on participation in S&T, over time and across countries, is key for national and international decision-makers

■ Information remains scare, and when available, they do not always use common data methodologies and collection approaches

International efforts to measurefemale participation in S&T

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■ Since mid-1990s more attention to benchmarking gender-disaggregated S&T human resources

■ To facilitate cohesion, UNESCO developed a toolkit on gender indicators in science, engineering, and technology (published in 2007)

■ Number of international efforts have been ongoing: UNESCO, NSF, European Union/Eurostat (She Figures series)

■ Focus on agricultural sector: G&D CGIAR surveys, ASTI

International efforts to measurefemale participation in S&T (cont’d)

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■ Women’s participation declines as they progress along the career path

■ Two levels of segregation■ horizontal: higher concentration of women in

“softer” fields of science (e.g., biology, life and social sciences) rather than “harder” fields (e,g, biology, physics)

■ vertical: overrepresentation of women in lower levels of professional hierarchy and less presented in high-level research and management

Leaking pipeline of women

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■ Goal: 155 agencies targeted in 19 sub Saharan African countries (excl. Sudan) – include largest government/nonprofit research and higher education agencies in each country

■ Coverage: between 62% of research staff measured in 2000/1 (Nigeria) to more than 90% (Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Uganda)

■ Outcome: 135 survey returns (87% of targeted) / sufficient coverage in 15 countries (totaling 125 agencies) to prepare country fact sheets

ASTI-AWARD benchmarking study –implementation

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■ Methodology and definitions are, in general, similar to the overall ASTI data collection activities

■ But: measurements of S&T professionals: in headcounts (stocks and flows) or full-time equivalents (volume of S&T) – following international standards for measuring S&T human resources

■ Translated in numbers: the 125 agencies employed 8,258 professional staff, which is 5,899 measured in full-time research equivalents

ASTI-AWARD benchmarking study –implementation (cont’d)

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Overall growth in professional staff in headcounts by gender, 2000/1 to 2007/8

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Ove

all

gro

wth

in to

tal p

rofe

ssio

na

l sta

ff2

00

0/1

to 2

00

7/8

(n

um

be

r)

Female Male

BSc TotalPhDMSc

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Annual growth rates of professional staff by gender, 2000/1 to 2007/8

-3

0

3

6

9

12

15

An

nu

al g

row

th r

ate

s in

tota

l pro

fess

ion

al s

taff,

20

00

/1 to

20

07

/8 (

pe

rce

nta

ge

)

Female Male

BSc TotalPhDMSc

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Female shares by degree and institutional category, 2000/1 and 2007/8

22%

19%

14%

18%17%

19%

26% 26%

18%

24%23%

25%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

BSc MSc PhD Total Government Highereducation

Fem

ale

shar

e of

hea

dcou

nt r

esea

rch

staf

f(p

erce

ntag

e)

2000/1 2007/8

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Female shares in professional staff by country, 2000/1 to 2007/8

0

10

20

30

40

50

South

Afri

ca

Moz

ambiq

ue*

Botsw

ana

Kenya

Uganda

Niger

ia

Burund

i

Zambia

Seneg

al

Mala

wi

Ghana

Burkin

a Fas

oNig

erTog

o

Ethiopia

Total

(14)

*

Fem

ale

shar

e (h

eadc

ount

)

2000/1 2007/8

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Gender-disaggregated shares by degree level, 2000/1 to 2007/8

27%20%

31%26%

36%45%

43%48%

37%36%27%26%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2000/1 2007/8 2000/1 2007/8

Sh

are

of p

rofe

ssio

na

l sta

ff b

y d

eg

ree

(p

erc

en

tag

e)

BSc MSc PhD

MalesFemales

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Shares of female students enrolledand graduated, 2007

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

10 country total (25)

12 country total (28)

Burundi (1)

Senegal (1)

Ghana (4)

Ethiopia (2)

Zambia (2)

Mozambique (2)

Uganda (3)

Kenya (3)

Malawi (1)

Botswana (1)

Nigeria (5)

South Africa (3)

Female share in total enrolled students (percentage)

BSc MSc PhD

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Female share in total graduated students (percentage)

BSc MSc PhD

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Shares of female students enrolledand female in professional staff, 2007/8

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Ethiopia

Malawi

Ghana

Senegal

Zambia

Burundi

Nigeria

Uganda

Kenya

Botswana

Mozambique

South Africa

Female share (percentage)

In total professional staff In total students enrolled

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Shift in gender gap with career advancement (10 countries), 2007/8

85%

72%

65%65%

71%

17%

35%

27%

35%34%

0

20

40

60

80

100

Students (10) Graduates (10) PS/ST (10) SPL (10) M (10)

Fem

ale

shar

e (p

erce

ntag

e)

Male Female

PS/TS indicates professional and technical support staff; SPL includes scientists, (assistant) professors, and (senior) lecturers not in management positions; and M indicates management and includes directors, deans, and department heads. When including all 15 countries, the female share in management positions is lower at 14 percent

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Distribution of female professional staff by age group, 2007/8

0 20 40 60 80 100

Total(15)

Niger

Burkina Faso

Togo

Mozambique

Nigeria

Kenya

Senegal

Ghana

Burundi

Uganda

South Africa

Zambia

Malawi

Botswana

Ethiopia

Female researchers by age group (percentage)

< 31 y 31-40 y 41-50 y > 50 y

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Distribution of female professional staff by discipline, 2007/8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Total

Other

Water/irrigation

Soil scienceNatural resource management

Molecular biology

Forestry

Food/nutritional scienceFisheries

Extension

Entomology

Ecology

Crop scienceBiodiversity

Animal science

Agronomy

Agricultural economics

Female shares in total research staff (percentage)

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Other outcomes of the study

■ Female shares in agricultural research in Africa are, on average, slightly higher than in Asia and Middle East/North Africa, but lower than in Latin America. In all region there are large differences across countries

■ Unsurprisingly, almost all countries with young female staff also have comparatively more women employed for less than 2 years at their respective institutes

■ The share of women obtaining university degrees during 2005-07 is high compared to their male colleagues

■ Fewer women than men were promoted during 2005-07, (no information was available on the level of employment hierarchy at which these promotions took place

■ Relatively more men than women departed during 2005-07 (except for Botswana, Burundi, and Ethiopia)

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Key points

■ The proportion of female professional staff in agricultural research and higher education increased from 18 percent in 2000/01 to 24 percent in 2007/08

■ Female participation levels were low in Ethiopia, Togo, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Female shares in South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana were comparatively high

■ About two-thirds of this (female and male) capacity increase comprised staff holding only BSc degrees

■ Female share of all students enrolled in higher education in agriculture was higher the female shares of professional staff in most cases, but a large proportion of the female students (83 percent) where enrolled in BSc studies

■ Only 14 percent of the management positions were held by women

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Next steps

■ Finalize report and brief; seek comments from experts■ How to publish/disseminate?■ How to use results for broader AWARD program (including

M&E component)?■ Next step – second survey round in 2011, which includes

collection of additional information through country visits■ Feedback of ASTI-AWARD data into regular ASTI data

collection in 25 sub-Saharan African countries (add on exv■ ?????????

Thank you