Universities should accept equal numbers of male and female students in every subject. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In my opinion, men and women should have the same educational opportunities. However, I do not agree with the idea that universities should fix equal number of seats for both genders in all subjects.

To begin with, it would not be practical to have the same number of men and women in all courses. Many courses are more popular with one gender than the other, and it would not be practical to aim for equal proportions. For example, nursing course is more popular among female applicants, and mechanical engineering is more common among the male applicants. This would lead to many seats remaining vacant and many deserving candidates would not get the course of their choice.



Secondly, universities should select the best candidates for each course according to their qualifications. In this way, both men and women have the same opportunities, and applicants know that they will be successful if they work hard to achieve good grades at school. The main reason why some people say that universities should have equal numbers of both genders in all subjects is that they want to remove discrimination against women who have lesser chances of higher education in many societies. However, taking such a step could lead to negative discrimination against the men.

Finally, it could be argued that such a step could lead to unwilling students in a few courses. What sort of graduates would the society have of students who have studied half-heartedly just because of the fact that they could not get into the subject of their choice. What is more, the numbers of drop-outs would also increase and many would not complete their higher education.

In conclusion, the selection of university students should be based on merit, and it would be both impractical and unfair to change to a selection procedure based on gender.