PROBLEMATICS OF GENDER BALANCE AS A PART OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

In the context of the social performance of higher education institutions, gender balance is an important aspect, because it ensures equality. The initial goal of gender parity in the management process of higher education institutions is equal access to the management decision-making process between men and women. The article examines the issue of gender balance as one of the aspects of the social performance of higher education institutions (HEI’s). In addition, the article analyzes the state of gender balance among PhD students of higher education, and determines the index of gender balance for some higher education institutions of Odesa. At the moment of writing this article, there is a greater number of men in managerial positions among technical specialties, and vice versa, in humanitarian specialties, a greater number of managerial positions are held by women. In general, among the studied higher education institutions, the average indicator of gender parity is equal, although the gender parity index is significantly lower than one in technical departments. It is important to note that when ensuring such gender parity, other qualities of a person should also be taken into account, first of all, his competence and ability to fulfill the requirements imposed on him by these duties. That is why the author of the article proposes to ensure this gender parity precisely by popularizing traditionally "male" specialties among women, and vice versa. Overcoming such gender stereotypes will allow building gender equality in the field of higher education. Based on the analyzed data, the implementation of gender equality with the use of "soft power" is proposed, and the case with the use of "hard power" is predicted. The author of the article believes that the policy of implementing gender equality among all participants in the educational process should be implemented as an aspect of the autonomy of higher education institutions. According to the author, this will be able to create a significant competitive advantage for the institution in the market of providing educational services. In addition, author emphasizes that the process of building a gender equality policy should be gradual, since this approach allows you to assess the performance of various measures and make adjustments to improve their implementation.