Gender Disparity in Turkish Higher Education

Overview & Synopsis

Turkey has been concerned about gender inequality in education for many years and has implemented various policy instruments. However, gender disparity still seems to prevail today. This study seeks to provide an insight to the gender differences in terms of enrollment rates, level of education, fields of education and number of graduates in Turkish higher education. The research was structured as a descriptive study. Being a descriptive study, secondary data obtained from the Council of Higher Education's website (CoHE), http://www.yok.gov.tr/ is used in this research and the present study takes the year of 2014/2015 for the selected criteria but just 2013-2014 as a reference for graduates. With the latest data available, the percentage of gender difference according to the number of both male and female students enrolled in higher education is calculated. Results presented in charts and graphs indicate that Turkey has made progress in reducing gender disparity in higher education while gender disparity is still severe and needs more emphasis. [This study was presented at the 7th International Conference on Intercultural Education "Education, Health and ICTs from a Transcultural Perspective" on 15-17 June, 2016 in University of Almeria, Spain.]