Challenges/Barriers Women Leaders Face and Coping Stratigies They Use at University Level
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21015/vtess.v9i4.854Abstract
This study focuses to highlight the challenges faced by women in their journey to be successful leaders. Further, this research paper also explores the coping strategies to deal with arising challenges. The qualitative research method has been employed by the researchers to conduct this study. Specifically, phenomenology research design has been used more to address the research questions. Because of the pandemic circumstances, only 12 women leaders were interviewed telephonically based on convenience from the three campuses of a public sector university of Lahore. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and to generate themes. Six main themes including ‘Cultural Restrictions, Family Related Problems, Issues Related to Colleagues, Problems from Hierarchies, Gender-Discrimination & Stereotyping, and Glass Ceiling (Unseen issues) from Hierarchies’ have been emerged. The data related to the challenges faced by the women leaders has been presented under these themes. To present the data related to the coping strategies used by the women leaders only one main theme named as ‘Masterplan’ has been generated. Some implications of the findings are presented in the last section.
References
AAUW. (2016). Barriers and bias: The status of women in leadership. American Association of University Women (AAUW), 1–66.
Altbach, P. G. (2010). International Handbook of Higher Education.Springer.
Batool, S. Q., & Sajid, M. A. (2013). Barriers faced by women managers at universities: A Case of Pakistan. International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering, 3(7), 340- 348.
Bagilhole, B. (1994). Being different is a very difficult row to hoe: Survival strategies of women academics. In Sue Davies, Cathy Lubelska, & Josie Quinn (Eds.), Changing the Subject: Women in Higher Education. London: Taylor and Francis.
Baker, J. (2003). Glass ceiling or sticky floors? A model of high-income law graduates. Journal of Labor Research, 24(4), 695-711. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12122-003-1021-2
Doumato, E. A. (2010). Saudi Arabia. In S. Kelly, & J. Breslin (Eds.), Women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 436-466). New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Eagly, A.H., Makhijani, M.G., & Klonsky, B.G. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111(1), 3-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.3
Eagly, A.(2003 ).Tranformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: A meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychol Bulletin, (129),569–591. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.569
Emory. (2008). Is this the year “equal pay for equal work” is addressed? Knowledge @ Emory, 11 September. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 16 Nov 2008.
Fiske, S.T., Bersoff, D.N., Borgida, E., Deaux, K., &Heilman, M.I. (1991). Social science research on trial: the use of sexstereotyping research in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. American Psychologist, 40(1), 1049-1060. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.10.1049
Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., &Namey, E. E. (2012).Applied thematic analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384436
Hansen, K. (2008). The value of a mentor. QuintCareers.com
Hart, J. (2006). Women and feminism in higher education scholarship: An analysis of three core journals. Journal of Higher Education, 77(1), 40-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2006.0003
Hosseini, M. (2008).Women and Higher Education in Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Institute for Research & Planning in Higher Education.
Hoyt, C., & Blascovich, J. (2010).The role of leadership self-efficacy and stereotype activation on cardiovascular, behavioral, and self-report responses in the leadership domain.Leadership Quarterly, 21(1), 89–103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.10.007
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2009).Leadership enhancing the lessons of experience. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Luke, C., Gupta, N., Sharma, A. K., Pal, S. A., Villafuerte-Galvez, J., Curioso, W. H., &Haslegrave, M. (2003). One step up two down: women in higher education management in Southeast Asia. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 10(2), 285-305. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3628(00)80104-5
Kerman, L. (1995). The good witch: Advice to women in management. In Louise Morley, & Val Walsh (Eds.), Feminist Academics: Creative Agents for Change. London: Taylor and Francis.
McRae, S. (1995).Women at the top: Progress after five years. Follow up Report to the Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top, King-Hill Paper no 2. Hansard Society,UK.
Metcalfe, B. (2011). Women, empowerment and development in Arab Gulf States: A critical appraisal of governance, culture and national human resource development (HRD) frameworks. Human Resource Development International, 14(2), 131-148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2011.558310
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412995658
Neale, J., & Özkanlı, O. (2010).Organisational barriers for women in senior management: a comparison of Turkish and New Zealand universities. Gender and Education, 22(5), 547-563. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250903524113
O’Connor, K. O., & Yanus, A. B. (2014). Gender and Women's Leadership : A Reference Handbook Overview : History of Women Leaders in Social Movements, 43(1), 3–10.
Palmu-Joronen A-L. (2009). Nokian vuodet. Mitäjohtamisestavoioppia.Jyväskylä: Atena.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pautasso, M., (2015). The Italian University Habilitation and the Challenge of Increasing the Representation of Women in Academia, Challenges, 6(1), 26-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/challe6010026
Robson, C. (2002). Real world research: A resource for social scientists and practitioner researchers (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
T & D. (2006). Glass ceiling not cracked for executives. June 19.
Van Vianen, A. E. M., & Fischer, A. H. (2002).Illuminating the glass ceiling: The role of organizational culture preferences.Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 75(3), 315-337. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1348/096317902320369730
Williams, (P). (2002). The competent boundary spanner. Public Administration. 103–124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00296
Ward, K., & Eddy, P. L. (2013). Women and academic leadership: Leaning out. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Retrieved from https://fgul.idm.oclc.org/docview/1467701482?accountid=10868.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-By) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY