Higher education is the gateway to economic security and opportunity particularly for women in India. Women are part of socio-economic system and they up hold rich cultural and traditional values. Their progress is equated with the progress of the nation.

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Trends in female higher education:

• The number of women enrolling themselves for higher education in India has risen by a jaw-dropping 1,350 per cent in the last seven years, the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE).
• From 1.2 million women in 2010-11, the number has gone up to 17.4 million women in 2017-18.
• However, when compared to the percentage of women in the workforce in India, the number is abysmally low.
• As per the World Bank Report on Labour Force Participation, just about 29 per cent of women in India are part of the workforce.
• There has also been an increase of more than seven per cent in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of women in higher education in this period — from 17.9 per cent in 2010-11 to 25.4 per cent this year.
• In M.Phil. courses, nearly 70 per cent of students are female, while in post-graduation, they account for 60 per cent of the student population.

Higher GER for women is beneficial for India:

• The GER between genders is normalising, again indicating that more women are turning towards higher education to improve their livelihood.
• As more women are turning towards higher education and correspondingly better employment opportunities, they are delaying childbirth and having fewer children. Higher education is one of the contributors to the levelling off of population growth.
• AISHE data shows that for the first time in 2017-18 enrolment in MBBS had more women, 50.3 percent, than men. If workforce participation for women doctors is improved through policy, this could transform India’s healthcare system.
• If more women are incentivised to work, they will contribute to society and the GDP for a long time, especially given that Indian lifespan and general wellbeing are also increasing.
• With India’s women pursuing higher education in larger numbers, they must be empowered to contribute to the nation’s growth. It is opportune for India to leverage this economic multiplier to its GDP as it sets course to the $10 trillion mark.

The Indian Government has introduced policies and procedures with the goal of sensitizing the higher education system, recognize gender equity and increasing the number of women enrolling for higher education. Higher education for women in India has witnessed an impressive growth over the years and the Government is pooling resources needed to promote female education at all levels.

Some initiatives:

• The Udaan program of the CBSE is dedicated to the development of girl child education, so as to promote the admission of girl students.
• To improve the Social Group Equity, Government of India had Established Equal Opportunity Cells (EOC) for SC/ST/ OBC/Minorities.
• Government has also established Residential Coaching Academy for SC/ST/ Minorities and Women in Universities and Colleges and the aim of these schemes is to prepare students for NET and All India & State Civil Services examinations and UG/ PG level examinations.
• Indian Government has also introduced Post-Doctoral Fellowship for SC/ST and Women and Post-Graduate Scholarships for SC/ST students in professional courses.
• PRAGATI – Scholarships for Girl Child for Technical education aims at providing encouragement and support to girl child to pursue technical education.
• UGC has introduced the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Single Girl Child for research in Social Sciences with an aim to compensate direct costs of higher education especially for such girls who happen to be the only girl child in their family.

Conclusion:

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “If you educate the man, you educate the person but if you educate the woman, you educate the nation”. One of the most significant transformations in education in India over the past several decades is the drastic increase in women’s access to colleges and universities. Formulating and implementing stringent and powerful laws and policies have addressed the malice of gender discrimination of Higher Education. Most Indian women, with the possibility of economic independence, through respectable employment, have becomes an important earning member of the family. An educated woman has the skills, the self-confidence and the power to be a better citizen. Women have all the power and capacity as that of men and they are manifesting themselves amongst different opportunities provided through higher education.