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This qualitative research examined the journey of renowned female leadership in higher education. Two top level Latina administrators of universities were interviewed extensively to discover their journey to leadership. The theoretical framework used was Latina critical race theory, feminist theory, and counter-storytelling. Themes that surfaced were strong supportive mother, fervent faith, humble beginnings, mentors, intelligence, and challenges not obstacles. These guiding themes serve as a path for Latinas who aspire to higher educational leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the complex factors that influence women's experiences in senior administrative roles in higher education, the purpose of this study was to give voice to how they made meaning of their leadership experiences. We employed a qualitative design in which a criterion-based sample of 14 women senior administrators (i.e., dean, vice president, provost, and presidents) at doctorate-granting universities were recruited for in-depth interviews that explored the ways that participants' gender intersected with other salient aspects of their identities to influence their leadership identities, practices, and experiences. Three main themes emerged related to: (a) participants' pluralistic leadership styles and practices; (b) the salience of gender in influencing women leaders' perceptions and experiences, and (c) the role of women's intersecting identities in shaping their leadership. A major outcome of this research study is that although participants did not view their gender as a direct obstacle or formal barrier to the attainment of their current positions, their perceptions indicated that gender does matter in regard to women's (a) leadership styles, (b) views concerning the influence of their gender on their leadership, and (c) gender role spillover of their family roles into their professional roles. As the first known study to apply a combined postmodern feminist framework and pluralistic leadership approach to the examination of women senior administrators' leadership experiences at doctorate-granting universities, we concluded that this conceptual framework represents a productive direction for future research that can deepen epistemological insights into how women leaders' experience and make meaning of their leadership experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's participation in higher education significantly increased over the recent decades in India. Despite visible accomplishments, this study demonstrates persistent gender gap at the top administrative academic positions. Based on conducted study in Lucknow University in India, female administrators face subtle barriers in academia which are not faced by male administrators. Expectations from females' university leaders are higher than from their male counterparts. Also, as the study shows, female academic leaders receive limited support from the top administration at their institutions and are often discourage from seeking leadership roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deputy Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor positions have proliferated in response to the global, corporatised university landscape [Scott, G., S. Bell, H. Coates, and L. Grebennikov. 2010. “Australian Higher Education Leaders in Times of Change: The Role of Pro Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor.”Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 32(4): 401–418]. Senior leadership is the sphere where academic and management identities are negotiated and values around the role of the university are decided. This paper examines the changing and gendered nature of the senior leadership setting and its implications for diversity in and of university leadership. The analysis draws from a three-year empirical study funded by the Australian Research Council on leadership in Australian universities. It focuses on executive leaders in three universities – one which is research-intensive, the second, in a regional site, and the third, university of technology. The article argues that the university landscape and its management systems are being restructured in gendered ways. It utilises the notion of organisational gender subtexts to make explicit how gender works through structural and cultural reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ways in which women deliberately press back against practices of oppression and demonstrate agency in higher education institutions are highly contextual and culturally bound. The formal and informal networks that women develop and maintain are important elements of generating agency and enhancing women's access to and opportunities for leadership. This article presents a case study from research that explored women's leadership experiences in a higher education context in the Pacific Islands – Papua New Guinea. Situated within a feminist poststructural methodology, the research examined women's experiences of leadership and considered aspects that influenced women's access to formal leadership roles. The findings illustrated that the women faced numerous barriers to formal leadership opportunities. A range of culturally and contextually located approaches supported women to demonstrate agency with regard to their own leadership development and practice. This research highlighted the importance of considering the relationship between networks and agency and the impact of associated cultural and contextual practices within organisations, providing insights into the culturally located complexities of women's leadership in higher education contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a dialogical encounter between northern-inspired theorisations of gender and Vietnam's historical and cultural differentiation identified through the presence of matriarchy in ancient societies and its popularity in folklore and contemporary politics. The article draws on interviews with 12 senior women from 8 universities in Northern and Southern Vietnam. Three main themes are explored: (1) the Vietnamese woman as ‘general of the interior’; (2) the ‘woman behind the throne’; and (3) ‘behind a woman is another woman’. These themes illustrate the distinctiveness of a historically produced Vietnamese gender order as reflected in current university women's experience. By providing insights into the complex dynamics of Vietnamese women's ‘informal power’, as evident in both spheres of home and university, the paper presents a discussion of forms of Vietnamese femininity that contributes to re-theorising Connell's concepts of ‘hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the results obtained by two consecutive enquiries into the leadership styles and training needs of women and men leading higher education organisations. It compares the findings of the first stage of two studies, based on ad hoc questionnaires responded to by 136 women and 129 men. Results showed only subtle differences between the leadership styles deployed by the two groups. Both groups viewed organisations as social constructions; they preferred characteristics such as responsibility, ability to get on well with people, motivation capacity, communication and empathy, capacity to tackle difficult situations, and ethical issues. Consistent with this both groups identified similar training needs, which included the acquisition of abilities to deal with interpersonal conflicts and the construction of personal criteria to select the best strategy to face every situation. As no significant differences between male and female leaders were found, it is suggested that research into higher education organisations and their management training needs from a gender perspective should focus on the way both men and women managers tackle problems and situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with men and women's experience of elite positions and with the extent to which such positions are seen as places for women, so as to provide an insight into their commitment to continuing in them. Senior management in universities are elite positions in terms of income; those who occupy them are relatively powerful internally, although relatively powerless in relation to the state and the market. Drawing on a purposive study of those at the top three levels (i.e. presidential, vice-presidential, and dean) in public universities, it finds little difference between men and women's perceptions of the advantages/disadvantages of these positions. However, in a context where roughly four-fifths of those in university senior management are men [O'Connor, P. 2014. Management and Gender in Higher Education. Manchester: Manchester University Press.], at the level of organisational narratives and at the interactional level, gender differences persist. These differences are reflected in variation in commitment to continuing in senior management positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the lives of some women at the top administrative echelon of Kyambogo University. This study presents an account of the career development of six women nearing the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) timeframe, which has a target year of 2015. This study answers the questions: What did these six women achieve? How did their actual practices conflict with the expectations of the Millennium Development Goals? An indepth interview process was adopted to explore the biographies of six women administrators at Kyambogo University. Delving into their life experiences as women struggling within the patriarchal system to reach the apex of their career revealed that the expected achievements of the Millennium Goals by 2015 were an unrealistic dream. Self-initiative was key to the narratives of all the six women administrators. However, their voices seemed drained of energy. The study recommends that institutions of higher education, like Kyambogo University, should provide fora for women to share their success stories in all the university structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the life and career paths of women higher education administrators in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, the study sought to interpret the women’s experiences and identities, through the framework of intersectionality and gender performance, as ones that contributed to advancement within contexts traditionally barred to women. This research illustrates commonalities among the participants, elucidating the faith, family, and education as common constructs in their experiences and as mechanisms that propelled career trajectories. A major finding of the research is that the participants both preformed gender and defied it through the enactment of gender norms and personal agency, creating a threshold for their professional achievement in highly gendered cultures and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The Department of Political Science at Rutgers has a deep and sustained commitment to the principle of diversity. A diverse scholarly community is crucial to the development of cutting edge social science research, the recruitment and training of diverse graduate students, the quality of pedagogical experiences in our undergraduate classrooms and to the vibrancy and life of the University. (unanimously affirmed, May 2011) In the fall of 2009, I became the first woman chair of the political science department at Rutgers University. I entered the position on the heels of a major gender discrimination case involving all of the women in the department, who claimed salary inequities and also put forward a series of informal complaints about hostile work environment. The case had taken two years to settle and, at its conclusion, the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences suggested that the department consider electing one of the women as chair. Needless to say, the challenges before the department were quite daunting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine mentoring relationships of women working within intercollegiate athletic administration. More specifically, the mentor characteristics and the career and psychosocial benefits of having a mentor in intercollegiate athletic administration were the focus of the study. The population for this study was all 1,834 women working in intercollegiate athletic administration. Several practical implications for women wanting to work with a mentor in intercollegiate athletic administration arose from the data and included counseling, role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, coaching, and exposure and visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This qualitative study engaged women senior administrators at liberal arts colleges in the Upper Midwestern USA to better understand how their intersecting identities mediate their enacted leadership. Data were collected from eight participants via a questionnaire, document review, one-on-one interviews and observations. Positionality theory informed the study design and inquiry. Data analysis using the constant comparative method revealed that women leaders' positionality is intentionally monitored and constantly negotiated in the liberal arts college context. Participants described that they had to be more intentional about revealing or displaying traits associated with those identities that did not fit their institutional environment. This study was an important step in broadening understandings of the complex ways in which leaders' multiple identities interact to shape women's leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study which aims to portray the academic community from the perspective of gender and the differences between men and women. Topics discussed include the interviews with women scientists managing tertiary schools in Cracow, Poland from 2008-2012, the possibility that the family either poses a hindrance or a bonus on the path to achieving administrative and scientific promotion, and the postponement of the scientific careers of women due to maternity and child-care leaves.

Despite a substantial increase in the number of women with advanced degrees in higher education, women leaders remain underrepresented in top leadership positions. This continued underrepresentation in numbers and status indicates that having more women in the university pipeline is not enough to improve the leadership status of women in higher education. Therefore, a fundamental change is needed in the approach that women take when considering and pursuing leadership positions. This qualitative study proposes that an essential component of this change should be an increase in women's use of an "active voice" on college campuses. This study investigates how seven successful women leaders in higher education have constructed and implemented an active voice in developing their own leadership skills, and advancing opportunities for future women leaders, despite barriers that traditionally impede leadership attainment for women in higher education. Collectively, the stories of the seven women leaders depict higher education as a complex environment in which women struggle not only for equality, but also for their voices to be heard by both men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using qualitative analysis from 22 semistructured interviews, this article explores how Black women principals and assistant principals experience educational administration with attention to issues of race at work in suburban school settings. Findings suggest that because they may be perceived as race tokens by White educators, Black women administrators are expected to be experts on race in schools. This construction, which I refer to as playing the race specialist, highlights a tension among Black women administrators around expectations to focus only on Black students rather than all students, regardless of race. The findings suggest that playing the race specialist role presents obstacles for Black women and highlights some limitations in schools' ability to meet the needs of diverse student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a 3-year narrative study that tells the stories of five women leading within the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). Women leaders are under-represented within this sector of higher education compared to other religious and/or private higher education institutions even though women comprise approximately 60% of college students. This article will explore 4 of the 10 themes that emerged from the women's narratives within the context of existing research literature: (a) family-work balance, (b) transformational and androgynous leadership, (c) imposter syndrome, and (d) the complicated relationships and networks present within the CCCU. Within the women's stories, compelling evidence suggests that cultural challenges exist for female leaders. Christian higher education institutions wishing to create inclusive environments for female (or other nonmajority) leaders should: (a) be attentive to Christian culture for both positive and negative forces impacting leaders; (b) create family-friendly policies and programs to attract and retain talented leaders; and (c) cultivate cultures that develop and sustain mentors and protégés. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the differences between sex and gender distinctions as they relate to resilient educational leadership among higher education administrators. The authors look at their own research related to leadership among female and male higher education administrators and faculty members as it relates to their encounters with social constructions of gender, focusing on the comparison between how men and women perceive their own leadership. Topics include resiliency and its interaction with identity and self-awareness, notions of gender, as well as a discussion of the Delphi technique of data collection.

This article uses three frames of analysis, each with gendered implications, to interpret the author's narrative of experience as a department chair (head of department) in a Canadian university from 1999 to 2002. The narrative is based not only on memory but on transcripts of interviews conducted with the author at various points during her term as chair. The three frames are: (1) learning leadership; (2) surviving organisations; and (3) performing leadership. The methodology is an unusual one, a mix of personal narrative with theory and literature, an approach that demonstrates the relative merits of different theoretical perspectives when applied to an account of experience as well as the difficulty of settling on one ‘true’ analysis. Throughout the discussion, a ‘critical incident’ is repeated several times in slightly varied ways, in order to illustrate how different analytical frames can lead to different interpretations. The conclusion considers the implications of the analysis for understanding the gendered experience of academic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the specific issue of supervision as an important administrative gate keeping function that facilitates or impedes women's career advancement, and promotes gender equity at the executive leadership level in community colleges. The very nature of supervision mirrors the historical purpose of higher education, employee learning and development. Key themes, including institutional culture, effective supervision, and positive encouragement with employees provide an understanding of the relationship supervision has on improving equitable female representation at the executive management level. Data collection included a unique application of the Synergistic Supervision Scale (SSS) and interviews with executive leaders and mid-level managers to uncover the supervision context within the community college milieu. A conceptual model is provided for supervision that specifically supports women's career mobility from mid-level to executive management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, findings are presented from a study of women leaders in higher education, carried out in two universities in England, focusing particularly on the perspectives of women in a range of leadership roles in a new university. 18 women leaders were interviewed about their experiences of leadership, including day to day and strategic work, relationships with colleagues and forms of support. The analysis draws on a feminist theoretical framework in a changing global context for women in higher education. As in Airini et al. (2011), findings show a close interaction between personal, professional and organizational factors. The new university provided a positive context in terms of numbers of women in senior positions, as well as leadership training, mentoring and female role models, in contrast to the old university where women leaders were still in the minority. The women leaders demonstrated highly skilful, principled leadership styles and a blend of inclusive, collegial approaches with direction and vision. It is argued that a balance was maintained at the new university between new managerialism and a caring ethos, which provided a supportive context for women leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of Internationalization of the University of Seville, one of the challenges of future of the current Rectorate, in its origins is tied inexorably to the history of the academic and professional life of Marycruz Arcos Vargas and to her leadership like Vice-rector of Institutional and International Relations, and Cultural Extension. That's why we have chosen her as an example of the impact that the personal actions qualifying as good practices have in the life of the university institution and in the success of its functions, also formative. Her professional experience inside the International Law integrates functions of teaching, investigation and management throughout 25 years in her University, whom she loves deeply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to highlight the socio-cultural variables that detract from women's success in academe. The focus is on all women academics, whether partnered or not, and how mommy tracking and the queen bee may also work to hold women back. Implications of these issues for women academics are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research on women advancing in higher education has been focused on the external barriers and how to break down the barriers. This study acknowledged that external barriers existed, but determined that a new approach needed to be explored for implementing new initiatives geared toward advancing women to upper-level administrative positions (e.g., president, vice-president or provost). Using the elements of Bandura's Model of Reciprocal Determination, specifically self-efficacy, personal behavior, environment, and the interaction of all three, this qualitative study examined women in upper-level administrative positions and investigated what influential factors were responsible for motivating them to this achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Rita Malenczyk, founding director of the Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) writing center, is presented. She emphasizes how she ends up as a writing program administrator (WPA) despite that her doctorate study is in literature. She mentions her definition of writing across the curriculum (WAC) in her professional context. She also stresses the challenges that a WAC director faced.

This article compares the quality of the higher education of women in Imperial Russia with that of the women living in the German Empire. Several topics are discussed, including that both countries did not allow women to be educated in colleges or universities for a long time and instead educated them in special institutions, how over time women were able to study at higher learning institutions and were treated given the same education as the male students in Germany while in Russia women were only able to be teachers in higher learning institutions in Russia, and how according to the German doctor Elsa Winokurow, female teachers were treated better in Russia than they were in Germany by their peers.

This research arises to answer to the question: do women and men in this professional area have the same opportunity to hold leadership positions and have accessibility to the professors' faculty staff? The study is performed based on gender as a category of analysis, noting the composition of the collegiate bodies of government, individuals of major hierarchy and the faculty staff, for the entire university and by Academic Department, according to their different characteristics. The reporting period runs from March 2002 to March 2010. The analysis of such cases allows us to investigate on our own reality, not to diagnose but to implement and / or rescue actions that allow women to accede to better positions in the academic hierarchy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The further education (FE) sector employs a high proportion of women yet relatively few women progress into leadership positions. The article seeks to provide explanations for this gender imbalance and argues that despite change and modernization initiatives, the further education sector remains gendered in many aspects of leadership, governance and managerial practices. The article concludes that while change has increased opportunities for women, masculinized managerial practices have led in many instances to the re-gendering of organizational practices with unequal gender impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the status of women's participation in full-time, non-engineering aviation baccalaureate programs in the United States. In addition, the involvement of women in academic aviation leadership positions (such as chair, dean, or director) was evaluated. Of 353 full-time aviation faculty members employed at 60 different aviation programs meeting the study's criteria, 36(10.1%) were female. Eighty faculty were identified in academic leadership positions, and of these faculty leaders, 8 (10%) were women. These participation rates were found to be slightly higher than those found among the pilot population and in the aviation industry in general. The level of women's involvement in aviation higher education has increased in comparison to the findings of four out of five previous studies on this subject and has remained stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that a variety of skills and experiences contribute to the career advancement of community college leaders. With the increased representation of women in senior-level positions, this paper answers the call to move beyond male-versus-female comparisons. Through in-depth interviews and follow-up conversations, six female chief academic officers (CAOs) discuss their community college employment, the issues and challenges experienced in obtaining a chief academic officer position, personal development of skills and abilities to be successful in their positions, the recommendations they would share with aspiring and new CAOs, and their future career plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter presents findings from a study of faculty governance in community colleges, focusing on involvement, perceptions, and experiences of faculty with an emphasis on the differences between men and women faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the results of a research project on the leadership styles and power networks deployed by women who head higher education institutions. Two questionnaires addressed to both the women directors and their colleagues were used in order to collect data about the professional profile and the opinions of the participants in the study. We maintain that it is possible to recognise new forms of leadership in the way that women exercise power, which could contribute to the development and improvement of higher education institutions. To this end, some results of the above mentioned research will be shown, related to (a) the characteristics and the orientation of the women's leadership, and (b) the power basis or sources upon which this leadership is built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the "people's college," community colleges have a reputation of being more welcoming of women-as students, faculty, and administrators (Townsend &Twombly 2006). However the current percentage of women leading community colleges, which is hovering at 29% (American Council on Education, 2007), begs the question of why parity in not witnessed at the helm of these colleges, especially when 57% of community college students are women (NCES, 2004). The present phenomenological newly investigates the positions six women presidents hold, critical incidents that have impacted their career decisions, the role of mentoring, and how these leaders are encouraging others that will eventually take their places. Key emergent themes include the role of serendipity, encouragement by others to test the leadership waters, self-determination in pursue a presidency, and career sequencing bared on family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite access for women administrators in educational leadership departments, the longevity of their service within them is tenuous. Women administrators are caught in the social constructions of gender and leadership. Purpose: To explore how some women administrators in educational leadership programs have sustained their administrative roles; to evaluate whether their resiliency rests on a feminine type of leadership. Participants: A group of seven diverse women administrators in educational leadership programs who were peer nominated, are accomplished scholars, and have an average of 11.25 years of experience. Research Design: A computer-based qualitative Delphi technique using an online asynchronous mode and ensuring anonymity. Data Collection and Analysis: Several iterations focused on the identification of resiliency markers and components, descriptions of episodes denoting the participants' overcoming difficult situations, proposals for adapting educational leadership programs to foster better women leaders, and the reflection and interpretation of data. Findings: The participants' rankings and narratives indicate that gender identity and leadership are more complex than to simply fit them into one gender construction model or another When interacting in particular episodes, resilient women leaders embrace or disclaim one gender norm for another to varying degrees. A multidimensional-gendered leadership model is provided. Conclusions: Faculty and students should not expect the socially constructed norms in women leaders. These resilient participants suggest that gendered leadership norms are too simplistic and that women leaders must be willing to shift into multidimensional gender and traverse conventional borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]