The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places gender equity at the centre of India’s higher-education reform agenda. It calls for “gender-sensitive and inclusive leadership, governance, and operations” and urges institutions to ensure the “equitable and inclusive participation of women in all aspects of higher education, including academic and administrative leadership”. Yet, six years after its adoption, this promise remains largely rhetorical. Across India, women continue to be systematically excluded from positions of power in universities and colleges. Nowhere is this exclusion more entrenched than in Kashmir.At the national level, women’s presence in higher education appears, at first glance, encouraging. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2022, women constitute 48% of total student enrolments, accounting for over 20.7 million learners, and 43.4% of faculty members. However, this numerical presence steadily declines as one moves up the academic hierarchy.Women make up 44.41% of assistant professors, 37.85% of associate professors, and only 29.52% of full professors. Their representation shrinks further in leadership roles: women occupy just 20–25% of deanships and department heads, a mere 7% of vice-chancellorships, and lead only 9.55% of higher education institutions in the country.These figures reflect a structural pattern rather than a transitional lag. This is highlighted by the recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24, which ranks Gender Equality (SDG-5) as India’s lowest-performing goal. In short, higher education, often imagined as a progressive space, reproduces deep gender hierarchies. And within this already unequal national landscape, the situation in Kashmir is severely grim. So severe is the leadership deficit that it took 75 years after independence for the Valley to appoint its first woman vice-chancellor, in 2022.Participation without powerData from AISHE 2022, reveals a stark imbalance between women’s participation and their authority within institutions of higher learning in Jammu and Kashmir. Across the union territory, women hold only 15% of principal positions, 20% of deanship positions, and 25% of departmental head positions. When disaggregated further to focus on the Kashmir Valley, the picture becomes even more troubling. Women constitute approximately 40-45% of the teaching workforce in universities and colleges in the Valley. At the student level, women form a majority, accounting for 51.81% of higher-education enrollments in Kashmir. Despite this, women remain largely underrepresented in institutional leadership.RTI data accessed in 2024 shows that women occupy only 5-7% of senior academic and administrative positions in the Valley, placing Kashmir significantly below the already modest national average. Furthermore, the institution-wise data via RTI reveals sharp disparities. At the Central University of Kashmir, the Cluster University, and the Islamic University of Science and Technology, women occupy barely 1-3% of senior academic roles, despite having a substantial female enrollment and faculty presence. This disjunction between participation and decision-making power is not accidental. It signals a deeper structural failure rooted in Kashmir’s unique historical trajectory, prolonged political instability, and entrenched cultural and institutional exclusions.Historical, political and cultural roots of exclusionWomen’s marginalisation in Kashmir’s academic leadership is shaped by a layered history of political instability, cultural regulation, and institutional exclusion. Historically, under Dogra rule, women’s education was systematically sidelined, confining many women to domestic spaces. Over time, this exclusion became normalised within Kashmiri society and was reproduced across generations. The delayed entry of women into formal education placed them at a lasting structural disadvantage, particularly within an already limited academic and administrative landscape.A second major challenge in the Valley has been persistent political instability and recurring unrest, which have further compounded women’s exclusion. Frequent internet shutdowns and mobility restrictions have led to missed classes, examinations, and career opportunities, with entire academic years sometimes lost to insecurity. Unlike men, who often find ways to relocate or navigate conflict, women face far tighter controls on movement, making educational continuity especially difficult.A key barrier to women’s leadership in the Valley is the combined influence of cultural, religious and patriarchal control. Selective interpretations of religion are often used to justify restrictions on women’s education, mobility and public roles, even in educated households. Women who display ambition or professional success are frequently belittled or controlled when they outshine men, which undermines their confidence and discourages them from pursuing leadership positions.Lastly, adding to these challenges is the “queen bee” phenomenon, where a significant number of women leaders report feeling undermined by senior women, rather than by men. The absence of strong mentorship networks and institutional support fosters competition and leg-pulling instead of solidarity, further weakening collective pathways to leadership. The cost of institutional inertiaKashmir’s universities have largely failed to address these barriers in a systematic manner. Gender equity remains confined to policy statements rather than being embedded in institutional practice. Selection committees are rarely gender-balanced, recruitment processes lack transparency, and leadership appointments often rely on informal networks that systematically exclude women.Moreover, institutional support structures remain weak or symbolic. Many universities lack functional gender cells, adequate childcare facilities or flexible work arrangements. Safe transportation, a critical factor in conflict-affected regions, is rarely prioritised. In such an environment, women’s progression into leadership becomes contingent on extraordinary personal resilience rather than institutional commitment.What needs to changeBreaking the glass ceiling in Kashmir’s higher education requires structural interventions, not token representation. First, universities must institutionalise transparent, merit-based recruitment and promotion processes for leadership positions. Gender-balanced selection committees should be mandatory, not optional.Second, regular gender audits should be conducted to map patterns of recruitment, promotion, committee membership and decision-making authority. These audits must be made public to ensure accountability and enable evidence-based interventions.Third, a leadership pipeline for women must be actively built. Women faculty require access to mentorship, administrative training and rotational leadership roles that allow them to gain experience without jeopardising their academic careers. Leadership development programmes tailored to Kashmir’s specific realities, including political uncertainty and mobility constraints, are urgently needed.Fourth, institutions must strengthen support systems. Functional gender cells, childcare facilities, flexible work arrangements and safe transport are not welfare measures; they are structural enablers of leadership. When universities recognise and accommodate women’s lived realities, leadership becomes achievable rather than aspirational.Ultimately, there is a pressing need for rigorous and sustained research on women’s academic careers in Kashmir. Without systematic data on hiring practices, career breaks, committee participation and promotion outcomes, interventions will remain piecemeal and symbolic.Beyond symbolismKashmir’s higher-education sector stands at a decisive juncture. The Valley has succeeded in bringing women into classrooms and staffrooms. Yet the true measure of progress lies in whether women are allowed to shape institutional priorities, allocate resources, and participate in decision-making.Breaking the glass ceiling is not merely symbolic. It is essential for building democratic, accountable and inclusive universities in a region that has long grappled with exclusion and instability. Women already sustain Kashmir’s intellectual life, it is time they lead institutions too.Bisma Manzoor is a visiting Scholar, University of Trnava, Slovakia and a Senior Research Fellow at NIEPA, New DelhiAnand Mehra is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi