Women In Higher Education: A Long Way To Go"It Took Me Quite A Long Time To Develop A Voice, And Now That I Have It, I Am Not Going To Be Silent."- Madeleine Albright

Abstract

Women's empowerment is inextricably linked to education. Higher education for women plays a crucial role in
empowering women. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is an important topic to discuss. According to his words, if a woman is
educated, she would be able to educate her family and thus be empowered. Indian women have experienced a variety of difficulties, such as illiteracy, a lack of constitutions that include equality for women in their preambles, and a lack of fundamental rights. Even after the triumph of the Liberalization, Globalization, and Privatization model, there has been a paucity of women's involvement in public life. Therefore, this study focuses on the empowerment of Indian women through higher education. Higher education will play a significant role in empowering women. Participation of women in higher education is a crucial step towards gender equality in the economy and society. This
article analyses the participation rates of major Indian states in higher education and investigates the underlying causes of the variation between states. It uses the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of females and the Gender Parity Index (GPI) to determine the absolute and relative participation of women in higher education from 2011 to 2019. The statistical comparison of these indicators for the 16 largest states reveals that they do badly in postgraduate and technical education courses. However, they perform better in GPI at the undergraduate level. In addition, recent increases in the number of women enrolling in higher education suggest a trend toward gender parity. Fixed-effect panel data regression shows that many female teachers, a higher per capita state domestic product (a proxy for per-capita income), and the availability of colleges and girls' hostels are major factors in the GER of women and GPI in India's higher education.