Women in Higher Education in Bulgaria: Achievements and Possibilities

The development of higher education is an ongoing process that responds to the needs and the stage of development of a given society. The modern development of Bulgarian education began after the liberation of the country from the Ottoman Empire. Initially, women’s access to higher education was obstructed by laws and regulations reflecting patriarchal perceptions of the roles of women and men in society. Thanks to the active work of the Bulgarian Women’s Union, Bulgarian women gained the right to study at university, and in the following years, efforts were directed toward expanding women’s career opportunities in higher education and science. The accession of our country as a Member State of the European Union has created further prerequisites for emphasizing gender equality in the academic sphere, as universities have developed their own Gender Equality Plans. The article analyses some of these plans and an available database on the academic staff of some of the country’s universities. The aim is to trace the changes that have taken place and to highlight the areas where more efforts need to be concentrated to achieve gender equality in higher education and science.