Keyword: «gender parity»

More than a quarter of a century ago, gender equality was officially recognized by the European Union as a key prerequisite for strengthening peace, democracy, and the economy. According to the Global Gender Gap Index, Russia has shifted from 43rd to 81st place among 156 countries of the world over the past ten years. According to the level of political rights and opportunities for women, our country is currently in the 133rd position. Higher education as a government means can either contribute to the advancement of the entire system towards gender parity, or exacerbate the situation remaining on the sidelines. The aim of the study is to fix a starting point, to highlight the trends and level of women's (non)participation in higher education. To do this, an analysis was made of quantitative indicators of gender equality in domestic universities in comparison with similar indicators in countries on different continents. The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) of the World Economic Forum 2021 and the most common indicators for assessing gender equality in higher education (the share of women in professorial positions and the share of women among leaders (rectors, presidents, vice-presidents of higher educational institutions) were chosen for the study. The article presents the results of the analysis of selected indicators in nine countries: the UK, Germany, India, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, Sweden and South Africa. The authors reveal non-obvious nature of the relationship between the GGGI index rating and key indicators of gender balance in higher education. The results allow us to speak about the trend towards achieving gender parity in the system of higher education and the trend towards increased involvement of women in the sphere of cultural and socio-political interaction in the analyzed countries. Russia is at the forefront in terms of the proportion of women among university professors in the nine countries examined with an indicator of 38.2%, close to the minimum gender balance threshold. However, the share of women is less among the rectors, presidents, vice-presidents of domestic universities. This analysis will make it possible to make up for the lack of international comparative studies on the problems of gender inequality in higher education and to identify leading states for the purpose of further analysis and study of their experience.