Women's Leadership Aspirations and Career Paths in Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide insight into the ways in which personal life roles such as mother, daughter, and/or spouse/partner influence the leadership aspirations of women holding senior university administrative positions (e.g., academic dean, vice president, provost). The chapter is informed by a postmodern feminist perspective and reviews literature related to pathways to the presidency, family considerations, gender roles, and geographic mobility. Findings from the literature are integrated with those of the dissertation of the second author. In keeping with a postmodern feminist perspective, the chapter concludes with recommendations for change in recruiting diverse women for higher education leadership.

Formación de líderes académicos en la educación superior. La importancia del contexto para el desarrollo eficaz del liderazgo

“…Similarly, another respondent in the study shared that several of his colleagues, who had held administrative positions, expressed how much they disliked the leadership role and actively dissuaded him from ever pursuing such a position. As Hill (2003) noted, there is a prevalence of this feeling of unpreparedness and reluctance, particularly in the experiences of department heads she studied. Gunsalus (2006) stated that it is a major transition from professor, "where one largely controls one's own intellectual agenda," to an administrative position where the demands of others and priorities of the department or faculty become your focus (p. 12).…”

“…Adding to this challenge is that many academic leaders, particularly the middle-management roles like department heads, accept the job reluctantly and are often ambivalent about assuming the role. The role itself is often characterized by a lack of understanding from faculty on what the role entails (Hill, 2003;Kezer & Lester, 2011). M' Gonigle and Starke (2006) recognized the opposition from faculty to corporate models but nonetheless suggested that learning from such models may ironically be the best way to address the need for system innovation.…”

“…Whereas the bulk of the leadership research has focused on corporate, military, health care, and government sectors (Barling, 2014;Cameron, 2013;Collins, 2001;Hill, 2003;Kouzes & Posner, 2006;Lencioni, 2010;Northouse, 2016), there is a need to examine what leadership approaches are of significance for the distinct structure, culture, and purpose that is the higher education context. Much of the past research has focused on individual leadership theories; however, studies have shown the distinction between individual and organizational capacities for leadership (McCauley & Van Veslor, 2004).…”