Percentage of female teachers

Definition

The number of female teachers at a given level of education expressed as a percentage of the total number of teachers (male and female) at the same level in a given academic year.

Data source

Administrative data from educational institutions (school census) or teachers’ records.

Source definition

UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Calculation method

Total number of female teachers at a given level of education in a given academic year expressed as percentage of total number of teachers (male and female) at the same level in that academic year.

Data required

Number of teachers at each level of education by sex and total number of teachers at each level in a given academic year.

Interpretation

Values approaching 50% indicates gender parity in the composition of the teaching workforce. Values greater than 50% denotes more opportunities and/or preference for women to participate in teaching activities at a specific level, grade or programme of education.

Limitations

This indicator measures the level of gender representation in the teaching profession rather than the effectiveness and quality of teaching.

Purpose

To show the gender composition of the teaching force. The indicator also helps in assessing the need for opportunities and/or incentives to encourage women to participate in teaching activities at a given level of education.

Quality standards

This indicator should be based on reliable data on teaching staff by sex at each level of education and from all types of educational institutions in the country (public and private). When calculating this indicator, care should be exercised to ensure that the number of female teachers and the total number of teachers correspond to the same type of institution.

When calculating this indicator, one should also take into account the existence of part-time teaching. When feasible, the number of part-time teachers should be converted to ‘full-time equivalent’ numbers of teachers before use in the indicator calculation.  

The UIS sets standards and maintains the global database used to produce this indicator.

Types of disaggregation

By level of education.