By ASTI program leader Nienke Beintema at the AWARD Steering Committee meeting and M&E workshop, Rome, 8-12 June 2009.

1. Female Participation in African
Agricultural Research and Higher
Education: New Insights
Nienke Beintema
Head, Agricultural S&T Indicators (ASTI) initiative,
IFPRI-Rome office
Presentation at the AWARD Steering Committee meeting and
M&E workshop, Rome, 8-12 June 2009

2. International efforts to measure
female participation in S&T
■ Women are still underrepresented in (agricultural)
S&T systems in most countries
■ Increased participation of women important for
gender-balance but also in order to tap substantial
additional S&T resources
■ Gender-disaggregated information on participation
in S&T, over time and across countries, is key for
national and international decision-makers
■ Information remains scare, and when available, they
do not always use common data methodologies and
collection approaches
www.asti.cgiar.org

3. International efforts to measure
female participation in S&T (cont’d)
■ Since mid-1990s more attention to benchmarking
gender-disaggregated S&T human resources
■ To facilitate cohesion, UNESCO developed a toolkit
on gender indicators in science, engineering, and
technology (published in 2007)
■ Number of international efforts have been ongoing:
UNESCO, NSF, European Union/Eurostat (She Figures
series)
■ Focus on agricultural sector: G&D CGIAR surveys,
ASTI
www.asti.cgiar.org

4. Leaking pipeline of women
■ Women’s participation declines as they progress
along the career path
■ Two levels of segregation
■ horizontal: higher concentration of women in
“softer” fields of science (e.g., biology, life and
social sciences) rather than “harder” fields (e,g,
biology, physics)
■ vertical: overrepresentation of women in lower
levels of professional hierarchy and less
presented in high-level research and
management
www.asti.cgiar.org

5. ASTI-AWARD benchmarking study –
implementation
■ Goal: 155 agencies targeted in 19 sub Saharan
African countries (excl. Sudan) – include largest
government/nonprofit research and higher
education agencies in each country
■ Coverage: between 62% of research staff measured
in 2000/1 (Nigeria) to more than 90% (Malawi, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, and Uganda)
■ Outcome: 135 survey returns (87% of targeted) /
sufficient coverage in 15 countries (totaling 125
agencies) to prepare country fact sheets
www.asti.cgiar.org

6. ASTI-AWARD benchmarking study –
implementation (cont’d)
■ Methodology and definitions are, in general, similar
to the overall ASTI data collection activities
■ But: measurements of S&T professionals: in
headcounts (stocks and flows) or full-time
equivalents (volume of S&T) – following
international standards for measuring S&T human
resources
■ Translated in numbers: the 125 agencies employed
8,258 professional staff, which is 5,899 measured in
full-time research equivalents
www.asti.cgiar.org

7. Overall growth in professional staff in
headcounts by gender, 2000/1 to 2007/8
700
600
500
Oveall growth in total professional staff
400
2000/1 to 2007/8 (number)
300
200
100
0
-100
-200
-300
BSc MSc PhD Total
Female Male
www.asti.cgiar.org

8. Annual growth rates of professional staff
by gender, 2000/1 to 2007/8
15
12
Annual growth rates in total professional staff,
2000/1 to 2007/8 (percentage)
9
6
3
0
-3
BSc MSc PhD Total
Female Male
www.asti.cgiar.org

9. Female shares by degree and institutional
category, 2000/1 and 2007/8
30
Female share of headcount research staff
25 26% 26%
25%
24%
22% 23%
20
19%
(percentage)
19%
18% 18%
15 17%
14%
10
5
0
BSc MSc PhD Total Government Higher
education
2000/1 2007/8
www.asti.cgiar.org

10. Female share (headcount)
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10
20
30
40
50
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am ric a
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q
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ts
w
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www.asti.cgiar.org
ny
Ug a
an
d
N a
ig
er
Bu ia
ru
n
Za di
m
2000/1
bi
S a
en
eg
a
M l
al
aw
i
Bu Gh
rk a
in na
2007/8 a
Fa
so
N
ig
er
To
go
E
th
country, 2000/1 to 2007/8
i
To o pi
ta a
l(
14
)*
Female shares in professional staff by

11. Gender-disaggregated shares by degree
level, 2000/1 to 2007/8
100
90
Share of professional staff by degree (percentage)
26% 27%
80 36% 37%
70
60
43%
50 48%
36%
40 45%
30
20
31% 27%
26%
10 20%
0
2000/1 2007/8 2000/1 2007/8
Females Males
BSc MSc PhD
www.asti.cgiar.org

12. Shares of female students enrolled
and graduated, 2007
South Africa (3)
Nigeria (5)
Botswana (1)
Malawi (1)
Kenya (3)
Uganda (3)
Mozambique (2)
Zambia (2)
Ethiopia (2)
Ghana (4)
Senegal (1)
Burundi (1)
12 country total (28)
10 country total (25)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Female share in total enrolled students (percentage) Female share in total graduated students (percentage)
BSc MSc PhD BSc MSc PhD
www.asti.cgiar.org

13. Shares of female students enrolled
and female in professional staff, 2007/8
South Africa
Mozambique
Botswana
Kenya
Uganda
Nigeria
Burundi
Zambia
Senegal
Ghana
Malawi
Ethiopia
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Female share (percentage)
In total professional staff In total students enrolled
www.asti.cgiar.org

14. Shift in gender gap with career
advancement (10 countries), 2007/8
100
Male Female 85%
80 72%
71%
65%
Female share (percentage)
65%
60
40
34% 35% 35%
27%
20
17%
0
Students (10) Graduates (10) PS/ST (10) SPL (10) M (10)
PS/TS indicates professional and technical support staff; SPL includes scientists, (assistant) professors, and (senior)
lecturers not in management positions; and M indicates management and includes directors, deans, and department
heads. When including all 15 countries, the female share in management positions is lower at 14 percent
www.asti.cgiar.org

15. Distribution of female professional staff
by age group, 2007/8
Ethiopia
Botswana
Malawi
Zambia
South Africa
Uganda
Burundi
Ghana
Senegal
Kenya
Nigeria
Mozambique
Togo
Burkina Faso
Niger
Total(15)
0 20 40 60 80 100
Female researchers by age group (percentage)
< 31 y 31-40 y 41-50 y > 50 y
www.asti.cgiar.org

16. Distribution of female professional staff
by discipline, 2007/8
Agricultural economics
Agronomy
Animal science
Biodiversity
Crop science
Ecology
Entomology
Extension
Fisheries
Food/nutritional science
Forestry
Molecular biology
Natural resource management
Soil science
Water/irrigation
Other
Total
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Female shares in total research staff (percentage)
www.asti.cgiar.org

17. Other outcomes of the study
■ Female shares in agricultural research in Africa are, on
average, slightly higher than in Asia and Middle East/North
Africa, but lower than in Latin America. In all region there
are large differences across countries
■ Unsurprisingly, almost all countries with young female
staff also have comparatively more women employed for
less than 2 years at their respective institutes
■ The share of women obtaining university degrees during
2005-07 is high compared to their male colleagues
■ Fewer women than men were promoted during 2005-07,
(no information was available on the level of employment
hierarchy at which these promotions took place
■ Relatively more men than women departed during 2005-
07 (except for Botswana, Burundi, and Ethiopia)
www.asti.cgiar.org

18. Key points
■ The proportion of female professional staff in agricultural
research and higher education increased from 18 percent
in 2000/01 to 24 percent in 2007/08
■ Female participation levels were low in Ethiopia, Togo,
Niger, and Burkina Faso. Female shares in South Africa,
Mozambique, and Botswana were comparatively high
■ About two-thirds of this (female and male) capacity
increase comprised staff holding only BSc degrees
■ Female share of all students enrolled in higher education
in agriculture was higher the female shares of professional
staff in most cases, but a large proportion of the female
students (83 percent) where enrolled in BSc studies
■ Only 14 percent of the management positions were held
by women
www.asti.cgiar.org

19. Next steps
■ Finalize report and brief; seek comments from experts
■ How to publish/disseminate?
■ How to use results for broader AWARD program (including
M&E component)?
■ Next step – second survey round in 2011, which includes
collection of additional information through country visits
■ Feedback of ASTI-AWARD data into regular ASTI data
collection in 25 sub-Saharan African countries (add on exv
■ ?????????
www.asti.cgiar.org

20. Thank you