Women in Leadership in Higher Education

by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION1

Women in leadership in higher education1

Career paths of women presidents of colleges and universities2

Professional journeys of women presidents of colleges/universities2

Perceptions of female presidents and their career paths and professional goals3

Female Presidents on the Glass Ceiling4

REFERENCES5

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION

Women in leadership in higher education

The research written about women and their struggles to work in higher education are embedded in the dominant male culture of higher education and include: patriarchy; isolation; sexism; racism; discrimination; lack of mentoring; lack of overall support within the department, the institution, family, and friends; ambiguity of the tenure process; teaching and service overload; and the questioning and devaluing of research topics and areas as well as the demands to conduct what is described as “mainstream research” (Kellerman and Deborah 2007). From a leadership perspective, academe is a masculinized context (Moen and Patricia 2005). Highly-masculinized contexts are those in which men are the numerical majority, tasks are stereotypically masculine, the main goal is task completion, and hierarchy and coercive power are stressed (Batliwala 2010).

Women administrators in colleges and universities report that the power structure in higher education is dominated by what is supposedly described as a team, but really is a group of competing individual men (Kellerman and Deborah 2007). In addition, the hierarchical structure and masculine nature of postsecondary education in the United States influence an institutional climate from the top down, with men primarily at the top. Moen and Patricia (2005) studied women in public school administration. Her research created a framework and table of the stages of research about women that served as a model for the history of females in administration.

Career paths of women presidents of colleges and universities

In spite of the early employment limitations for women in higher education, academia is a natural environment for women to engage leadership challenges and opportunities. Many women administrators began leading on campus as an undergraduate, finding success in academic recognition, student organizations, and service opportunities. Upon entering graduate school, women further excel through research and teaching assistantships. Women are graduating and completing undergraduate and master's degrees at a higher rate than men. In 1999, women earned 48% of all doctorates. Today, women students have become the statistical majority on many college campuses and nationally constitute approximately fifty-four percent of university enrollment in the United States (Moen and Patricia 2005).

The increase of female enrollment at ...