Moving on Up : South Asian Women and Higher Education

Although considered one of the most excluded and disadvantaged groups in higher education, South Asian women are rapidly narrowing the gender gap and Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin women are catching up with Indian women in their uptake of higher education. The implications for Higher Education and for the labor market of these highly motivated and confident young women are discussed in this book. Moving On Up is informed by research in the area of higher education and compares the aspirations and experiences of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin women. It explores how they balance their education with plans for marriage, and their experiences of racism and Islamophobia at university and elsewhere. It analyzes the barriers to higher education arising from institutional, financial and community factors and the ethnic segregation that appears to be emerging among the traditional old universities and the new universities. The lively accounts by the women in the study, the clear contextualization and sharp analysis all combine to bring valuable new insight and knowledge to academics and teachers in the field of ethnicity, racism, education, higher education and gender studies.

Yasmin Hussain is a lecturer and Dr. Paul Bagguley a senior lecturer in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.