Surveys

Female Staff in Commonwealth Universities

In 1998 the Commonwealth Higher Education Support Scheme (CHEMS) undertook a survey of female staff in Commonwealth Universities. The report, Still a Single Sex Profession: Female Staff Numbers in Commonwealth Universities, was prepared by Helen Lund.

In 2003, Jasbir Singh (Consultant to the ACU's Gender Programme) reviewed the gender disaggregated statistics which are collected by the ACU and prepared a report to update the 1998 survey. Download the report, Still a Single Sex Profession: Female Staff Numbers in Commonwealth Universities (PDF).

In 2008, the third in this series of surveys was produced by Jasbir Singh under the title Whispers of Change: Female Staff Numbers in Commonwealth Universities (PDF). Published with the support of a grant from The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Equal Opportunity Offices (EEOs)

With the support of a grant from UNESCO a survey was undertaken to provide comparative information about what had prompted the establishment of Equal Opportunity offices in the university sector, their methods of operation and the impact they have had on their institutions (with especial reference to gender). Three universities in very different parts of the Commonwealth (Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of Cape Town in South Africa) were invited to participate in this study. The resulting data was analysed by Professor June Gleeson of the Victoria University of Technology, Australia, to ascertain the key factors relating to the establishment, management and impact of EO offices. Her synthesis report, EEO Case Studies: Good Practice Guidelines, printed by UNESCO (1998) in its New Papers on Higher Education: Studies and Research series provided very useful good practice guidelines for universities wishing to set up similar units.