You’re not the only one who has noticed how many more women on campus there are than men. Edinburgh currently counts the second largest number of female students out of all the Russell Group Universities. The university data for May 2024 stated that 62 per cent of students are female, and 38 per cent are male. What does this data tell us about women in higher education? Do students notice this? Is this feminism ‘reaching its goals?’ Before answering these questions, it’s important to recognise that this statistic does not explicitly refer to gender identity and may not encompass the experience of all students.
The higher percentage of female students can speak to the broader social development of women existing in spaces previously dominated by men, particularly in STEM and social sciences. Classrooms which would have previously been only filled by men are now also filled with women, offering more balanced dynamics and opinions – contributing to more diversity within employment. As of 2020, The European Gender Equality Index recorded that women are gradually outnumbering men in educational attainment. This highlights the gender gap slowly reversing to favor women graduates of higher education across Europe.
One student said, “I would say I do notice it… like the library and walking around George Square is mainly women most of the time.” Another student similarly told me, “It’s not actually a lack of men, but rather just a lot of women.”
The rise in women obtaining higher education at prominent institutions like Edinburgh highlights a shift in gender equality across academia and growing employment in spheres like science and politics, which is necessary for building equal and coherent societies. However, this does not address the complex structures of power that underpin them.
So, whose feminism is this?
One student I proposed this question to said, “Yeah sure, it’s feminism… it’s feminism for those who occupy specific intersections of class and racial privilege… you can’t achieve feminism with nine thousand pound tuition fees, feminism should be for everyone.”
Globally, around 119 million women and girls are out of education, with only 49 per cent of countries worldwide achieving gender parity. Whilst Edinburgh may have an increasing number of women graduating from higher education, this alone does not achieve feminism. The University of Edinburgh is named in the United Nations report on corporate complicity as one of the UK’s institutions “most financially entangled” to Israel, which has killed over 28,000 women and girls in Gaza. Feminism cannot be achieved by some at the expense of others.
Whilst the 62 per cent certainly highlights the development of educating women in spaces that have previously been occupied by men, an essential step in the right direction to building equal societies – it barely scrapes the surface of reaching feminism’s much larger and essential goals. There still remains an extensive amount of systematic development in order to achieve further goals in equality for women and girls globally.
Image by Mark Chan for The Student
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Campus is a Woman’s Stomping Ground, But Whose Feminism is This?
You’re not the only one who has noticed how many more women on campus there are than men. Edinburgh currently counts the second largest number of female students out of all the Russell Group Universities. The university data for May 2024 stated that 62 per cent of students are female, and 38 per cent are male. What does this data tell us about women in higher education? Do students notice this? Is this feminism ‘reaching its goals?’ Before answering these questions, it’s important to recognise that this statistic does not explicitly refer to gender identity and may not encompass the experience of all students.
The higher percentage of female students can speak to the broader social development of women existing in spaces previously dominated by men, particularly in STEM and social sciences. Classrooms which would have previously been only filled by men are now also filled with women, offering more balanced dynamics and opinions – contributing to more diversity within employment. As of 2020, The European Gender Equality Index recorded that women are gradually outnumbering men in educational attainment. This highlights the gender gap slowly reversing to favor women graduates of higher education across Europe.
One student said, “I would say I do notice it… like the library and walking around George Square is mainly women most of the time.” Another student similarly told me, “It’s not actually a lack of men, but rather just a lot of women.”
The rise in women obtaining higher education at prominent institutions like Edinburgh highlights a shift in gender equality across academia and growing employment in spheres like science and politics, which is necessary for building equal and coherent societies. However, this does not address the complex structures of power that underpin them.
So, whose feminism is this?
One student I proposed this question to said, “Yeah sure, it’s feminism… it’s feminism for those who occupy specific intersections of class and racial privilege… you can’t achieve feminism with nine thousand pound tuition fees, feminism should be for everyone.”
Globally, around 119 million women and girls are out of education, with only 49 per cent of countries worldwide achieving gender parity. Whilst Edinburgh may have an increasing number of women graduating from higher education, this alone does not achieve feminism. The University of Edinburgh is named in the United Nations report on corporate complicity as one of the UK’s institutions “most financially entangled” to Israel, which has killed over 28,000 women and girls in Gaza. Feminism cannot be achieved by some at the expense of others.
Whilst the 62 per cent certainly highlights the development of educating women in spaces that have previously been occupied by men, an essential step in the right direction to building equal societies – it barely scrapes the surface of reaching feminism’s much larger and essential goals. There still remains an extensive amount of systematic development in order to achieve further goals in equality for women and girls globally.
Image by Mark Chan for The Student
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