Gender Equality and Higher Education in Pakistan: A Comprehensive Review of Issues of Philosophical and Global Debates

Abstract

This paper reviews the philosophical, global, and Pakistan-specific literature on gender equality and higher education. It traces the contested philosophical foundations of the concept of equality; the evolution of higher education as an increasingly market-driven global institution; the contributions of feminist scholarship to debates on gender and education; the barriers to access and success that women continue to face in pursuing higher education; the state policy landscape shaping gender equality in higher education, both globally and within Pakistan; the uneven gendering of higher education under market pressure; and the phenomenon of reverse discrimination as a policy response to gender imbalance (Ali & Majeed, 2019). The review finds that gender equality in higher education in Pakistan remains largely absent at the level of formal policy, even as higher education has become an urgent market necessity for women and argues that meaningful progress requires attention not only to enrolment and access but to the underlying philosophical, structural, and cultural conditions that continue to shape women's experience of higher education in Pakistan.