New study indicates narrowing gender gap in online learning
Coursera, one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, released a new study that examines the pandemic’s impact on skills and learning trends among women.
The Women and Skills Report compares pre-pandemic enrollment and performance data with trends observed on the Coursera platform since the onset of the pandemic through June 2021. Women in India are learning online at higher rates compared to pre-pandemic, representing 44% of new learners in 2021, up from 37% in 2019, according to Coursera data.
With 4.8 million registered women learners, India ranks 2nd worldwide for the highest number of registered women learners on Coursera.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 indicates that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted women in India, with the country ranking 28 ranks lower than in 2020.
The reasons contributing to the widening gender gap include decrease in women labor force participation rate to 22.3%, women’s inadequate representation in technology and leadership, and lagging female to male literacy ratio. However, during this period, women increased their investment in learning new skills on Coursera despite the more difficult labor market conditions.
“Our research suggests that gender gaps in online learning narrowed during the pandemic, even as gender employment gaps widened,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO. “We are encouraged by how women are embracing online learning to develop new skills that can help accelerate their return to work and promote economic mobility.”
Women are turning to online education at higher rates than pre-pandemic. India has 4.8 million registered women learners on Coursera, the second highest of all 190 countries globally. In 2020, a peak of 44% of new registered Indian learners were women, and the growth continues to sustain through 2021. Overall, 38% of total learners in India today are women, up from 24% in 2016. The median age of Indian women learners on Coursera is 27, four years younger than the global median age of 31.
More women are enrolling in
STEM courses and entry-level Professional Certificates. In India, the share of overall course enrollments from women increased from 26% in 2019 to 36% in 2021. For STEM courses, the gender gap narrowed from 23% enrollments from women in 2019 to 32% in 2021. Women’s enrollments in entry-level Professional Certificates have gone up from 22% in 2019 to 30% in 2021.
These certificates, from industry leaders such as Google, IBM, and Facebook, are designed to prepare learners without a college degree or technology experience for a wide range of highdemand digital jobs.
Product innovations help grow women’s participation in online learning.
Mobile is an incredibly powerful tool ensuring flexibility in learning. Sixty-two percent of women learners (as compared to 48% globally) in India access Coursera on mobile devices, one of the highest worldwide. Other factors contributing to enrollment increases from women include adding practice quizzes before challenging assessments, listing most common mistakes for peer-reviewed assignments, and distributing assessments throughout a course.