Search for the roots of Caribbean sex divide

The University of the West Indies is asking why men are turning their backs on study. Marlene Hamilton reports.

Women have outnumbered men in British universities for several years and are now achieving better degrees than men. The trend is hailed as one of the principal benefits of higher education expansion.

But siren voices are suggesting that this undeniable achievement may be having repercussions for males, who may either not make it to university or perform less well if they do. Near-parity between the sexes is desirable but serious problems will arise if the pendulum swings as far in favour of women as it historically favoured men.

Signs of chronic male underachievement are evident in many countries. Disaffection among boys and men in the home, school and wider society is already manifesting itself in underachievement in the formal education system and a steady growth of social problems such as unemployment and imbalances in the labour market, drug use and other anti-social behaviour, and general disenchantment and demotivation.

In many parts of the world, particularly in developing countries, agencies such as Unesco and the Commonwealth Secretariat are supporting measures to increase female access to education and training. In the English-speaking Caribbean, there is a forceful response to any suggestion that this trend should also apply to the region. The decreasing representation of males has occupied the minds of planners and providers for several years. Since 1979, more women than men have graduated from The University of the West Indies, which serves 15 territories.

It has become a standing item of his graduation address for chancellor Sir Shridath Ramphal to pause to accommodate the audience's reaction of disbelief that inevitably follows his announcement of the percentage of women registered creeping closer and closer to 70 per cent each year. Figures for the Mona campus in Jamaica actually exceeded 70 per cent in 1997-98.

The increase is not uniform across disciplines. Up to 1980, more men than women graduated from the traditional "male" faculties of agriculture, engineering, natural sciences and medicine. Law had become (marginally) female-dominated by that time, and, together with the humanities, social sciences and education, contributed to the overall stronger representation of women. Post-1980, women moved into a majority in natural sciences, agriculture and, significantly, medicine. It is only in engineering that men continue to dominate.

Females also dominate among postgraduates, where the number being awarded higher degrees and diplomas equalled men in 1993 and surpassed them a year later, largely in the humanities and education, and for masters degrees rather than doctorates.

The low proportion of doctorates among women, coupled with their relatively late entry to graduate studies in significant numbers, has had an effect on UWI's staffing. Only about 30 per cent of those in the academic and senior administrative categories are female, and, predictably, their most marked under-representation is at the more senior levels.

There are fewer than 20 women at the professorial level -and not all hold the title -compared with more than 150 men. There is one pro vice-chancellor, a dean and a handful of heads of department who are women, although the university registrar and two of the three deputy principals are female.

What is happening at the UWI reflects patterns in the wider Caribbean society, for similar trends of male underachievement have been reported for perhaps 15 years or so, particularly at the high-school level.

As early as 1986, Errol Miller wrote about what he termed "male marginalisation" and the identity crisis facing young males. Boys and girls face problems in co-educational high schools, where underperformance, relative to their counterparts in single-sex schools, is the norm. These and other studies by UWI academics have tended to focus on home and school at pre-university level. While offering a useful perspective, from which guidelines for remediation can be proposed, they have not told the whole story. To redress this, the UWI is undertaking a regional study of gender imbalance at the secondary and tertiary levels of education. The study will look at maturation rates, life goals, schooling provisions, alternatives to higher education and job placement. The study is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and supported by government representatives from the 15 member countries who sit on the UWI council or strategy committee.

The results should provide a blueprint for decision-makers and assist in avoiding the consequences of ignoring the situation. Should measures not be put in place to "stem the rot", these problems will, one fears, result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure among Caribbean males, which has a resonance elsewhere, not least in the United Kingdom.

Marlene Hamilton is pro vice-chancellor of The University of the West Indies.