The standout trend in India's higher education data isn't just rising enrolment—it's women leading the surge. In the recently released All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2023-24, women are clearly leaving the men behind. Released by the Education Ministry on Wednesday, the report showed female Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), a measure of access to higher education as a percentage of the eligible population aged 18-23, jumped to 31.2%, from 28.9% among men.
This trend, which has solidified over the last three years, shows female GER grew from 28.5% in 2021-22 to 30.2% in 2022-23, before jumping to 31.2% in 2023-24. Male GER, on the other hand, only rose from 28.3% to 28.9%, where it stagnated in 2023-24. This caused the female lead to expand from just 0.2 percentage points in 2021-22 to 1.3 points in 2022-23 and a substantial 2.3 points in the latest survey.
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"Female GER continues to be more than male GER for the seventh consecutive year," the AISHE report notes. Moreover, the all-India Gender Parity Index – the ratio of female to male GER – has also climbed consistently from 1.01 in 2021-22 to 1.04 in 2022-23, and then to 1.08 in 2023-24, signaling sustained growth, not a one-off anomaly.
