Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania (original) (raw)
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https://journals.co.za/journal/ajgd, 2024
This paper investigates the career experiences of female academics in Tanzanian public universities, employing a qualitative methodology to elucidate their career development trajectories. Data were collected through interviews with senior female academics and a comprehensive literature review and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that career advancement among these women is driven by a desire for professional growth, a commitment to excellence, the influence of role models, family support, efforts to challenge cultural norms, and opportunities provided by scholarships. The study concludes that personal dedication and growth motivation are critical in promoting the career advancement of female academics. It recommends fostering collaborative research, publication, outreach, and consultancy initiatives among male and female academics to support the career development of women in public universities in Tanzania.
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AbstractBackground: In Ethiopia, the number of female in academia in general and in administrative positions and higher university ranks in specific is very small as compared to men. A slight change has been seen in recent years, where a few women have come to male-dominated administrative positions as university presidents, vice presidents, deans and directors with still insignificant increase in the number of full professors. Objective: This study assessed female faculty member's career development and involvement in administrative positions and explored challenges. Method: We used a sequential mixed-method study starting with a cross-sectional quantitative study among 888 faculty members. The quantitate data were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression models to identify independent predictors of administrative involvement using SPSS version 25 software. An exploratory qualitative study was done among eight purposively selected female faculty. NVivo10 data manage...
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Why is the representation of women fewer than men in the top academic positions in Indonesia? To answer this question, the researcher did an empirical study using qualitative method to explore any possible barriers that have been encountered or faced by women. Twenty-five participants consisted of 19 lecturers (4 men and 15 women) and 6 senior leaders (3 rectors and 3 deans, all men) from 6 selected universities participated in this in-depth interviews. The results showed that female academics face multiple barriers to advance to top positions: family-, organizational-, and individual-related barriers. The family related barriers (e.g. family responsibility and spousal restriction) and organizational-related constraints (e.g. discrimination and masculine culture) were the most frequently mentioned barriers preventing women from achieving both top academic and leadership positions. However, individual-related barriers (e.g. being in a minority position and lacking confidence) only appeared to have a negative effect on reaching top leadership positions. These findings contribute to the knowledge about factors associated with the scarcity of women in top positions in academia, with a particular focus on the Indonesian context. Affirmative action should be provided for women to reduce the gender gap in top positions in Indonesian academia.
CHALLENGES TO WOMEN CAREER MOBILITY IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
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Gender and Career Advancement of Academia in Developing Countries: Notes on Nigeria s
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The study aimed at investigating the challenges affecting women career mobility in educational management in private and public universities in Kenya. The main objectives of the study were; to establish the challenges hindering women from progressing in their careers in public and private universities in Kenya, to examine the interventions put in place by both public and private universities in Kenya to address the challenges facing women in their career progression in private and public universities in Kenya.The following were the main findings of the Study: Women faced insurmountable barriers as they navigated through their career path in universities in Kenya. These challenges faced by women contributed to low number of women in the realm of university management in public and private universities in Kenya. Some of the challenges included: Lack of mentors, family responsibilities, lack of social networks, lack of training and development opportunities, socialization of men and wo...
Gender and Career Advancement in Academia in Developing Countries: Notes on Nigeria
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The aim of this paper is to examine gender differentials and career advancement among academia in Nigerian universities.While it is true that women have embraced academic opportunities and numbers of women obtaining PhD’s in all fields have increased substantially, gender gap remains where it matters most. This paper asks if there are organizational barriers that prevent women from making a significant career advancement, or are there social factors outside the organization that could possibly affect negatively academic career advancement, or do both contribute to the situation. . A sample size of 160 academics was selected across the faculties, and were administered questionnaires. 10 women academic were selected purposively for in-depth interview. The result shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between gender stereotypes and career advancement among the academic staff that hampers advancement of women in academics (X2=1.218 at P> 0.05 at df=1.). The res...
Career development for female academics in Australian and South African universities
International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478), 2022
South African and Australian higher education sector is facing challenges of fewer females in leadership positions despite policies in place in both countries. The main purpose of this integrative literature was to analyze and compare journal articles related to career development for female academics in South African and Australian higher education institutions to ascertain the challenges faced by women in both countries. South Africa and Australia were chosen for this study due to the differences in cultural background and legislation. Females are still underrepresented in leadership positions both in Australia and South Africa, hence this study investigated the reasons and provided recommendations to improve female academics representation in higher education institutions. A literature review of 15 research papers and journals articles published from 2010-to 2020 was conducted. The keywords “career development for female academics” were searched in three databases namely, Google ...