Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
~ 127 ~
compared to 9 percent in 1970. Though in 1989
women earned only 15 percent of all Bachelor’s
degrees in engineering, this was up from just 1
percent in 1970.
In the medical and other professional areas too,
women have become increasingly qualified. In 1989,
26 percent of the dentistry degrees, 33 percent of the
medical degrees, 50 percent of the veterinary
medicine degrees and 40 percent of the law degrees
were awarded to women.
From 1975 to 1989 the number of colleges and
universities headed by women doubled, but women
continued to be underrepresented in the upper
management of higher education. In 1989 only 10
percent of the ‘chief executive officers of colleges
and universities were female. Women’s position in
college faculties is likewise still insecure. In 1910
women made up 20 percent of college faculties: in
1985, a full seventy-five years later, just 28 percent
of college faculties were female, and most women
educators were clustered in the lower ranks, below
the level of full professor, with lower pay and less
job security.
