Equity in Higher Education Institutions in Punjab (Pakistan)

Higher education is of prime importance for human resource development in any country. The government of Pakistan is justified in emphasizing the higher education in the country. The major objective of this research paper was to investigate the existence or non-existence of gender bias in the institutions imparting higher education to the youth. The investigation was delimited to public sector universities in Punjab, a province having largest population. A sample of 70 administrators, 100 teachers (50 male and 50 female) and 200 students (100 male and 100 female) was randomly selected from 10 public sector universities. Three questionnaires were developed to collect data from the respondents included in the sample. Analysis of data revealed following interesting results: Majority of the administrators was found of the view that there was gender bias and teachers behaved differently with male and female students. Majority of the teachers claimed that there was no gender bias in the institutions of higher education and the teachers behaved equally with male and female students. Majority of the students mentioned that teachers behaved differently with male and female students and the male students were given preference in each and every event of the institution.