Women’s Education and Professional Success. Paradoxes of Access and Exclusion

Abstract

The article considers the paradoxes of dynamics of women’s access to the higher education and the labour market. The prevalent assumption behind an educational gap between men and women is that of privileged men who enjoyed much greater access to all levels of education. However, most data on women’s access to higher education is telling of an educational emancipation of women. It is difficult to talk about female discrimination in terms of numbers. On the other hand when we analyselabour market structure the position occupied by women and men differs to a significant extent when compared to the educational context. It turns out that the rule of meritocracy, which applies to women at the level of education, is not applied once they have graduated. The same diploma, which is a definite advantage for males, is a less significant advantage for females.