Lived Experiences of Women Department Heads in Higher Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Constraints
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61841/np8w3771Keywords:
leadership, gender, roles, gender prejudice, omen empowerment “We act as if that being of a man or that being of a woman is actually an internal reality or something that is simply true about us, a fact about us, but actually it's a phenomenon that is being produced all the time and reproduced all the time, so to say gender is performative is to say that nobody really is a gender from the start.” - Judith ButlerAbstract
--The notion of a woman as a leader has been a polarizing topic for many years. Our society, a masculine society, have customarily perceived males to lead and we have been acculturated with this notion that it has been firmly entrenched in our norms. This study highlights the importance of the of Women Deans and Department Heads’ lived experiences and the value of listening to their perspectives, so as to offer insights into what has most helped and hindered their successes in their field. In order to gain a better understanding of these experiences, a qualitative phenomenological study, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, was conducted to explore women leaders’ lived experiences and identify what they went through in their formal preparations prior to the ascending to the position, their role and responsibilities as middle managers and the experienced gender stereotypes and prejudices in carrying out their positions. The in depth analysis of the data showed that the participants’ leadership styles are unaffected by their gender, collaborative, and demonstrative of care and nurturing of students. They regard gender never as an issue and that women, like men, are qualified and have the capacity to excel in the area of leadership. Furthermore, the study revealed that these women leaders have dispelled the myth of the ‘Macho culture’ and broke the glass ceiling in the middle management of academic institutions as they believe that in terms of academic leadership, what gives rise to elevation is how one performed and not their genders.
Downloads
References
1. Baldoni, J. (2013). Forbes. Taking the Sting out of 'Queen Bees' Who May Be Out to Get You. Published March 4, 2013; 9:55 AM (accessed
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbaldoni/2013/03/04/taking-the-sting-out-of-queenbeeswho-may-be-
out-to-get-you/#18749d4f34e2, June 10, 2017)
3. Barreto, M., Ryan, M. and Schmitt, M. (2008).Introduction: Is the Glass Ceiling still relevant in the 21st Century. Simon Fraser University Publication.
4. Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2). Burn, P. and McCarthy, K. (2013). The Double Glass Ceiling: An In-Depth
5. Investigation and Analysis Into The Challenges Faced by Women When Seeking
6. Promotion To The Boardroom and Beyond To The Executive Suite. BPP Business School: BPP Publications
7. Coloma, T., Llenas, M., Meer, T. Villamil, A. (2012). Essentials of Sociology and Anthropology An Interactive Study. C & E Publishing, Inc.
8. Creswell, J. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Drexler, P. (2013). The Tyranny of the Queen Bee. The Wall Street Journal Eagly, A. and Karau, S. (2002). Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice Toward
9. Female Leaders. American Psychological Association, Inc. Psychological Review Vol. 109, No. 3, 573–598 Evetts, J. (1994). Becoming a secondary head teacher. London: Cassell.
10. Freedman, J. (2001). Concepts in the Social Sciences: Feminism. Philadelphia, USA: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.
11. Kumar, R. (2011). Research Methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners. 3rd Edition. London, Sage Publications Ltd.
12. Lahti, E. (2013). Women and leadership: Factors that influence women’s career success. Lahti University of Applied Sciences. Lane-Fox, M. (2015). The Guardian. 'Queen bee syndrome' among women at work is a myth, study finds’. Published June 7, 2015; 11.59(accessed
13. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/07/queen-bee-syndrome-women work-mythresearch-
columbia-business-school, June 8, 2017)
14. Lincoln, Y., Lynam, S., & Guba, E. (2011). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, revisited. In Denizen, N & Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
15. Maseko, T. (2013), A Comparative Study of Challenges faced by women in leadership: A Case of Foskor and the Department of Labour in Mhlathuze Municipality.University of Zululand. Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education. San Francisco, CA:
16. Jossey-Bass Publishers. Moran, B. (1992). Gender Differences in Leadership. Library Trends, Vol. 40, No.
17. University of North Carolina
18. Moustakas, C. (1994) Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
19. Nilsen, A. (2012). A qualitative study exploring how social norms and empowerment influence female leaders related to represent organizations externally. University of Stavanger, Norwegian School of Hotel Management.
20. Philippine Tatler.The Filipina CEO Circle. Published September 09, 2016 (accessed http://ph.asiatatler.com/life/the-filipina-ceo-circle, May 4, 2017)
21. Pietkiewicz, I. & Smith, J.A. (2012) Praktyczny przewodnik interpretacyjnej analizy fenomenologicznej w badaniach jakościowych w psychologii. Czasopismo Psychologiczne, 18(2), 361-369.
22. Pringle, J., Drummond J., McLafferty, E., Hendry, C. (2011). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: A discussion and critique. Nurse Researcher. 18(3), 20 Rappler. Ph ranks 4th with highest number of women managers. Published January 14, 2015; 8:17 PM (accessed
http://www.rappler.com/business/jobs/80806-ph-rankingwomenmanagers-ilo, May 4, 2017)
23. Sam, F., Amartei A., Osei-Owusu, B. and Antobre, O. (2013). Female leadership stereotypes: The perception of the leadership of female heads of senior high schools in
24. Ashanti region. Educ. Res. 4(10):702-709 Shavlik, D. L., & Touchton, J. G. (1988). Women as leaders. In M. F. Green (Ed.),
25. Leaders for a new era (pp. 98-117). New York: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing Co. Shetter, R. (2015). A Study on Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment in India. ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 17, Issue 4.Ver. I. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM).
26. Smith, J. A. (2004). Reflecting on the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis and its contribution to qualitative research in psychology.
27. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1.
28. Smith, J. & Eatough, V. (2007). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.London, Sage Publications Ltd.
29. Smith, J. A., Flowers, P, & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, method and research. London, UK: Sage Publications.
30. Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
