NEW ZEALAND: Women-only scholarships challenged

In a case that could have repercussions around the world, a Victoria University of Wellington academic has queried the legality of tertiary education scholarships for women. Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow and acting deputy director, Dr Paul Callister, created a storm of debate in New Zealand when it emerged he had written to the country's Human Rights Commission about the issue.

Callister said it appeared women-only scholarships were created to address a gender imbalance in higher education, particularly in the 1970s. But for the past decade, women had outnumbered men in terms of participation in tertiary education and now significantly outranked men in terms of completion of qualifications.

In 2006, for example, women accounted for 63% of bachelor's degree completions and 58% of master's degree completions in New Zealand. The gap was narrowest at doctoral level, with women accounting for 51% of completions.

A similar situation is true in other OECD nations. The OECD's Education at a Glance report published last year cited figures showing women aged 25-34 had higher tertiary education attainment than men in 20 out of 30 OECD nations. As in New Zealand, many of those countries are understood to have scholarships specifically for women.

Callister said it was legal in New Zealand to introduce special measures, such as gender-specific scholarships, to help overcome disadvantage. However, it appeared women's disadvantage in terms of participation and success in tertiary education had ceased.

The Human Rights Commission agreed to investigate the issue but said scholarships offered by charitable trusts were exempt under New Zealand's Human Rights Act. Callister said the exemption probably applied to most women-only scholarships offered in New Zealand but did not alter the question of whether they were justified.

He noted that while there were many scholarships for women, he was aware of only one at his university that was only for men.

New Zealand Union of Students Associations national women's officer Analiese Jackson defended women-only scholarships. Jackson said women had passed men in terms of tertiary education participation only in recent years and there was no evidence that situation would continue. In addition, women were still under-represented in some subject areas, such as engineering.

Jackson said most scholarships for women also targeted other factors, such as family income. She warned against reading too much into qualification completion rates, arguing that men might be choosing more workplace-based training, or studying individual papers rather than full qualifications.

* John Gerritsen is editor of NZ Education Review.

john.gerritsen@uw-news.com