Four Myths About Why Women Aren't Getting the Top Jobs in Universities (original) (raw)
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Women, choice and promotion or why women are still a minority in the professoriate.
2013
Women remain a minority in the Australian professoriate despite decades of equal opportunity policy. This article discusses the findings of an intensive case study that investigates why women’s representation declines at the most senior academic levels. Through in-depth interviews with 24 women, the study explores the extent to which women’s choices and aspirations are shaped by academic employment conditions that are ambiguous in their effects on women’s capacity to reach senior academic roles. Responses suggest that women are slowed down, in ways that men often are not, by multiple conditions. The findings draw attention to the need for equity policies that support women to reach the professoriate before retirement becomes the preferred option.
Fixing the Women or Fixing Universities: Women in HE Leadership
The lack of women in leadership across higher education has been problemitised in the literature. Often contemporary discourses promote 'fixing the women' as a solution. Consequently, interventions aimed at helping women break through 'the glass ceiling' abound. This article argues that the gendered power relations at play in universities stubbornly maintain entrenched inequalities whereby, regardless of measures implemented for and by women, the problem remains. The precariousness for women of leadership careers is explored through two separate but complementary case studies (from different continents and different generations) each one illuminating gender power relations at work. The article concludes by arguing that it is universities themselves that need fixing, not the women, and that women's growing resistance, particularly of the younger generation, reflects their dissatisfaction with higher education leadership communities of practice of masculinities.
Why are there so few female leaders in higher education: A case of structure or agency
Management in Education, 2017
A significant gender imbalance remains at executive management level within higher education despite a number of initiatives to increase the number of women in the leadership pipeline and ensure they are better prepared for these roles. This article presents findings from a recent study on the appointment of deputy and pro vice-chancellors in pre-1992 English universities that provide fresh insights into why this might be the case. These findings challenge the notion of women's missing agency-characterized by a lack of confidence or ambition and a tendency to opt out of applying for the top jobs – as an explanation for their continued underrepresentation. Rather, they highlight the importance of three structural factors associated with the selection process: mobility and external career capital, conservatism, and homo-sociability. An approach of 'fixing' the women is therefore unlikely to be sufficient in redressing the current gender imbalance within university executive management teams.
Academic women's promotions in Australian universities
Employee Relations, 2006
Purpose -The purpose of this research is to examine the hypothesis that under-representation of women in Australian universities reflects barriers in the academic promotion process. Design/methodology/approach -This study uses three complementary approaches. Promotion policies and guidelines are examined using content analysis of documents from all Australian universities. A sample of 17 universities was selected for interviews with key gatekeepers to examine promotions practice. Data on promotions by level and gender were analysed for 16 of these universities 2000-2002. Findings -The analysis of promotions policies and guidelines established a range of practice. Policies supporting women's participation and success in promotions included explicit consideration of part-time and non-traditional careers, clear equity statements, and gender representation on promotions committees. Interviews emphasised the importance of support for and identification of female candidates, and the need for the establishment of institution-wide and performance targets for senior managers. Implicitly, most interviewees accepted the premise that women experienced barriers in the promotion process, including reticence in applying and stereotypically gendered notions of merit. However, the analysis of promotions data showed a more encouraging picture. Application rates and success rates for women are similar to men's and, at professorial level, slightly higher. Nonetheless women remain under-represented at senior levels, comprising only 16 per cent of the professoriate. Practical implications -The study provided a report to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) with a number of recommendations for improving University promotions policies. These recommendations are available on the AVCC website and have applicability beyond the Australian university sector. Originality/value -This study is an original study across all Australian universities which has international applicability and policy relevance.
Journal of Academic Ethics, 2021
Studies repeatedly find that women and men experience life in academia differently. Importantly, the typical female academic portfolio contains less research but more teaching and administrative duties. The typical male portfolio, on the other hand, contains more research but less teaching and administration. Since previous research has suggested that research is a more valued assignment than teaching in academia, we hypothesise that men will be ranked higher in the peer-evaluations that precede hirings to tenured positions in Swedish academia. We analyze 861 peer review assessments of applicants in 111 recruitment processes in Economics, Political Science, and Sociology at the six largest Swedish universities. Our findings confirm that the premises established in previous research are valid in Sweden too: Women have relatively stronger teaching merits and men relatively stronger research merits, and also that, on balance, research is rewarded more when applicants are ranked by revi...
Barriers to women's underepresentation in academic excellence and positions of power (2017)
Nearly for half a century women's advancement in the workplace has been in a debate. Women's under-represented in higher education institutions and universities across the globe, and especially in the most powerful or influential posts, is well established. Despite gender equality commitments and women's educational attainment, still, they are underrepresented. Regions and countries may vary in term of culture, achievements and development, but barriers for women's underrepresentation in academia are surprisingly similar in many regions. It is found that there are several barriers which women might be experiencing in academia ranging from personal, organizational to societal.
Barriers to women's representation in academic excellence and positions of power (2017)
Nearly for half a century women's advancement in the workplace has been in a debate. Women's under-represented in higher education institutions and universities across the globe, and especially in the most powerful or influential posts, is well established. Despite gender equality commitments and women's educational attainment, still, they are underrepresented. Regions and countries may vary in term of culture, achievements and development, but barriers for women's underrepresentation in academia are surprisingly similar in many regions. It is found that there are several barriers which women might be experiencing in academia ranging from personal, organizational to societal.