Women outnumber men in education

Manama : The gender gap in educational attainment among Muslim men and women in Bahrain has reversed with women making greater educational gains in most regions of the world according to a study.

Women have outnumbered men in having post-secondary degrees in Bahrain and the GCC nations, according to a study by Pew Research which analysed the gender gap in educational attainment in Muslim countries

The study looked at changes in educational attainment across three recent generations. The youngest generation of Muslim adults (1976 to 1985) have far more formal education than those in the older generation (1936 to 1955), Pew Research stated.

Commenting on the developments in the GCC region, researchers noted that women have not only closed the gap, but also have overtaken men in attaining education.

“In some places, Muslim women’s gains in post-secondary education were so dramatic that the gender gap has reversed, meaning that, in the youngest generation, more Muslim women than men hold college degrees. This pattern has been particularly striking in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and other nations that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council,” it said.

“The youngest Muslim women in the Gulf Cooperation Council nations have made such large strides in higher education recently that they now are more likely than men to hold post-secondary degrees, according to data from Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

About one-third of the youngest Gulf women (34pc) have higher education, a rise of 30 percentage points from the 4pc of women in the oldest generation who have post-secondary degrees. 

“These gains far surpass those made by Muslim women elsewhere in the world, among whom the share with higher education has risen by just 7 points across three generations,” it stated. 

“Educational gains by men in the Gulf states have not been as consistent across borders as those by women.”