Gender equality and its implementation in universities of Lithuania

Abstract

All over the European Union the share of women and men amongst the top level academic staff and research boards is uneven and women are considered under-represented, while their intellectual potential is being under-used. The general situation in science and higher education in the European Union has encouraged us to pay attention to the issue of gender balance in this field and to perform the corresponding sociological research. The article presents the results of the survey performed in universities of the Republic of Lithuania in 2013 and 2015, which prove the existence of asymmetric gender distribution and vertical segregation within Lithuanian higher education system. Women dominate at the lowest administrative and research levels while men prevail at the highest levels. This situation requires strengthening the gender equality policy in the sector.