Cultural Studies and Gender Problems

Formal education requires equal opportunity between the
sexes. Differences between men and women in education can still be tolerated if the difference is about gender. However, such differences cannot be tolerated if it is due to the effects of gender discrimination. Gender discrimination in education leads to unequal opportunities in employment. Even with similar educational backgrounds, women’s labor force earnings are consistently lower than men’s in most countries. On the other hand, the higher the education level of the worker, the smaller the income difference between men and women. This shows that the longer the education intervention, the greater the impact in reducing the productivity divergence between men and women.
One of the countries in Europe that is experiencing a gender gap is Portugal. The country shows a twelve-place drop (from 35th place in 2011 to 47th in 2012) in the Global Gender Gap Index, mainly due to a decline in the ratio of primary and tertiary education and by the percentage of women in ministerial positions (from 31% in 2011 to 18% in 2012)(Hausman, 2012). One of the gender disparities in Portugal is in the field of education, especially higher education. Indonesia ranked 90th in the 2012 Global Gender Gap Index, slightly down from the 89th rank it occupied in 2011. Although women and men in the country are enrolled in almost equal numbers in primary education, women still make up a fairly low percentage workforce, especially in senior and highly skilled positions. Higher education in Indonesia has not yet contributed significantly to a more equal situation in the labor market between women and men. The disparities get a cleaner picture from student
academic activities where these real inequalities exist, it is necessary to conduct research on “Gender-Based Marginalization in Student Academic Culture in Portuguese and Indonesian universities”. examines several issues of gender equality comprehensively. The research conducted by the researcher is “gender problem of student culture studies at the University of Minho, Portugal”. This research was obtained from funding from the European Union’s Postdoctoral One More Step Project Erasmus Mundus program. A researcher from Portugal became a mentor during the program.