Empirical Evidence Illuminating Gendered Regimes in UK Higher Education: Developing a New Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Abstract:Debates on the absence of women in senior organizational roles continue to proliferate but relatively little attention is paid to the Higher Education (HE) context in which women in leadership roles are seriously under-represented. However, higher education is now central to UK political discourse given the growing controversy around student fees, vice chancellors' remuneration' and Brexit. This paper draws on a collaborative research study on the experiences of 105 senior women leaders across 3 UK Universities, which elicited accounts of constraints, successes and career highlights. Our research findings present empirical insights that expose the continuing gender inequalities most notable in senior Higher Education roles. Women's accounts include stories of diverse experiences, on-going discriminatory practices and a failure to recognise the embedded gendered inequalities that continue to prevail in these institutions. Through a critical interrogation of the narratives of female professors and building on insights from a seminal paper by Broadbridge and Simpson a conceptual framework is offered as a heuristic device to capture critical and reflexive data in future studies of equality and inequality in leadership roles.

Introduction to Special Issue on Gender and Leadership and a Future Research Agenda

“…Micheline Sheehy Skeffington gave the E70,000 she was awarded to these women to enable them to fight their cases. That action captured the public imagination and was one of the elements that led to the establishment of the HEA (2016) National Review on Gender Equality in Irish Higher Education [12] Such leadership however exacts a high individual price.…”

“…Burkinshaw et al [12] focus on gendered regimes in a UK higher education context, describing these as the 'interlocked practices and processes that result in continuing gender inequalities in all work organisations'. They build on earlier work [18] and present a conceptual framework.…”

“…The methodology in these studies is broadly qualitative. Thus, for example, both Fitzgerald [9] and Carvalho and Diogo [10] use a narrative methodology; Harford [11] uses edited life stories within the life history research tradition; while Burkinshaw et al [12] use in-depth interviews and seminars. Acker and Millerson [7] use a highly innovative approach involving a collaborative autoethnography by a mother and daughter; while Peterson [13] uses a content and contextual analysis of job advertisements for Vice Chancellors.…”

Review of research for two decades for women leadership in higher education around the world and in Vietnam: a comparative analysis

“…There is a global concern on gender inequalities ranging from primary, secondary to tertiary sectors. Various studies conducted in different parts of the world documented that women are under-represented in the leadership roles (Xiang et al, 2017;Burkinshaw, Cahill and Ford, 2018;Saji, 2016). However, this underrepresentation and under-utilization of women leaders are seen more in Asian countries as compared to western countries (Kazmi, 2014).…”

Women and Leadership in Higher Education: Special Issue Editorial

“…Leadership development programmes are generally delivered piecemeal with emerging leaders coming together sporadically to 'study' modules designed around competences, returning to their day job unsupervised until the next module. More recently, leadership development has been delivered through coaching and action learning, although invariably facilitators are also practicing masculine models (Burkinshaw et al 2018). The discourse of diversity has shifted gender equity programs to have a greater focus on individualised approaches, recognising intersectionality.…”