In a context like Iraqi Kurdistan, women face various barriers structured by a religiously conservative patriarchal society, therefore, professional development for women in the Higher Education institutions becomes a challenge (Al-Azzawi, 2011). Most academic opportunities are exclusive to men especially with respect to scholarship allocations and research publications. This is an issue related to gender inequality, where the problem of limited possibilities for female academics entail considerable long-term risks for universities. In this paper, female exclusion in research and scholarship will be the two aspects to be evaluated.

One of the gender-based issues in Higher Education include inequality in scholarship allocations. A large number of male researchers attend universities abroad yearly, however, this option is comparatively rare for female academics. In addition to institutional reasons where male candidates are favored over female, society and family resistance make studying abroad more difficult for female academics (Harb, 2008; Al-Husseini & Elbeltagi, 2015). Parental involvement play a significant role in encouraging females, and a complex relationship between family, state and economy is needed to get more female academics into study abroad programs.

As stated by Al-Ali (2008), there is a perception of systematic bias toward women in opportunities for professional development and women still struggle under the suspicion about their academic and professional capabilities. Women’s mobility is limited by the cultural restrictions that are imposed on them which results in creating obstacles for scholarship allocations for female candidates. There is also lack of transparency about access to resources, training and conference attendances. Such opportunities are mostly tied to political party memberships or granted in a personalized way and they lack equity in terms of distribution between female and male candidates, which are also dominated by men. 

During one of my twenty-four interviews with female academics at the University of Sulaimani in Kurdistan Region, when asked whether they experienced gender bias in relation to scholarship and academic mobility? A teacher mentioned that as difficult as it is to obtain governmental scholarships, it is even more challenging for women to secure non-governmental scholarships; “as they are restricted in terms of financial support, in addition to social prejudice, family opposition and the extra burden of domestic responsibilities forced upon us”.

Another aspect of female exclusion in Higher Education is avoiding engaging women in research. Reported by the majority of the female academics I interviewed, they tend to focus on teaching and avoid research publication. One of the reasons goes back to structural barriers that reduce women’s progress and opportunities in Higher Education. Such obstacles are embedded in cultural practices that define gender roles, which in turn, are determined by traditional patriarchal systems (Ismael, 2014; Kaya, 2016). The socio-cultural values and family-oriented working relations condition the experience of women in educational institutions. This state reflects in the professional development practices and avoiding engaging women in research in great measure, favoring male candidates over female (Al-Ali, 2007; Oysler & Yahya, 2013).

The research question of my paper focuses on the perceptions and interpretations of female doctoral students and academic staff at senior positions, regarding the factors that cause their exclusion in scholarship allocations and research publications. The level of discrimination Kurdish women confront is multifaceted and demands a framework like intersectionality to explain and analyze it. While this framework has not been applied in the Kurdish Higher Education, yet it is feasible to adopt. Because of the county’s demographic distribution into different regions, ethnic groups, religious sects and divergent classes, McCall’s (2005) intersectionality version as intra-categorical complexity is most suitable because it takes a critical stance towards categorization focusing on particular social groups at neglected points of intersection.

The methodological approach utilized in this study is qualitative. Adopting this research method will allow in obtaining an extensive understanding of the phenomenon of gender inequality and female exclusion in Iraqi Kurdistan Higher Education. Among a number of validated methodologies, phenomenology was chosen as a method of investigation, in order to identify the participant’s perceptions about the factors that are behind female exclusion in Higher Education. Since what is studied is not the individuals, but rather how the phenomenon of gender inequality manifests and appears in real-life contexts. According to Creswell (2007) a phenomenological study “describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a phenomenon” focusing on describing “what all the participants have in common as they experience the phenomenon” (p. 57). Randles (2012) broadens the horizon of the method beyond the concept of ‘experience’ stating that it is the participants’ feelings and perceptions that are paramount and are the object of study. Therefore, the chosen method assisted me not only in identifying and describing the perceptions of the participants, but also in interpreting and ‘mediating’ between different meanings of female candidates’ experiences in different positions of academia. The data collection technique was in-depth interviews backing the questions adopted in Moustakas’s (1994) approach of phenomenology. The selected universities under investigation in Kurdistan Region were the public University of Sulaimani and the private American University of Sulaimani-Iraq. Purposeful sampling (Berg, 2001) was used as the research term via conducting semi-structured interviews as a technique of investigation which allowed the interviewees’ engagement in detailed conversation. A total of (24) women were involved in interviews of approximately 60-180 minutes and a transcript of each interview was analyzed and prepared for major themes and categories. The candidates were holding senior positions including (deans, department chairs, faculty members and PhD researchers). The interviews were conducted in Kurdish, Arabic and English languages and the participants were drawn from arts, humanities, social and natural science faculties.

To conclude, the education of women in Iraqi Kurdistan and their access to opportunities of scholarship and research in Higher Education is a complex and varying issue. In general, the question is what role should women have in society, in particular, what roles can they have in Higher Education, and how might they overcome what is clearly institutional and endemic cultural, religious, and gender biases. In large measure, the limitations posed are determined by the patriarchal educational institutions, religious doctrines, male authority and power figures. What is important to note is that while there are economic and infrastructural limitations on the number of people that can have access to certain academic opportunities, it is not a situation in which the best people are competing for a limited number of positions. Instead, it is predominately men, who are typically awarded advantages that better position them to be employed as professors, researchers and scholarship holder by universities, thus, making access for women even more challenging, and proving the under-representation of women in academia as institutional and unrestrained. The mentioned points and such attempts of female exclusion in Higher Education seems to be consequences of a widespread phenomenon of social conservatism toward women as well as prevailed nepotism. Many younger female academics lack determination and assertiveness affected by the cultural assumption that women lack rigor and competence, because of beliefs that they are not taken seriously in academia. Also, there is no encouragement for women’s involvement in research collaborations and granting scholarship awards. Despite the awareness of the above mentioned problems, not many solutions have been presented to adopt transparent procedures for women’s professional development in Higher Education. Within such institutional and cultural environment the goals and interests of women in Higher Education and other public roles throughout the country remain largely under-served.

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