The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the lived experiences of women leaders in higher education, specifically women who served as the first female presidents of colleges and universities. This study identifies ways in which patriarchal constructs of power mediate higher education spaces and how women leaders make meaning of,…

Black cis/trans women faculty face many challenges that impact their access to and success within administrative positions. We use critical race feminism (CRF) to highlight the role of mentoring in subverting multiple axes of power Black women encounter along the pathway to academic administration.

While women have attained higher-level roles and greater representation in higher education administrator roles, the concept of "the higher", "the fewer" (Nidiffer, 2002) represents the "gendered prestige hierarchies" (Allan, 2011, p. 58) that limit women's representation at more prestigious institutions while…

Organizational structures, beliefs, and values in higher education are influenced by the deep-seated characteristics of patriarchy, dominance and racial and gender bias, upon which higher education was founded. These factors continue to impact the ascension of African American women to college presidencies. Current challenges facing community…

Objective: The purpose of the present paper is to examine the role of gender as a potential determinant of high-involvement work processes (HIWP) and organizational commitment (OC) in higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia. The study further examines the relationship between the female faculty's involvement in work processes and…

Women leaders are frequently treated as one class -- a homogenised group with essentialised skills and competencies in binary relationship to male leaders. We explore how feminist ways of knowing gender and leadership, and circulations of affects, shape women's diverse leadership practices and identities within the neoliberal, and neuroliberal…

Approximately one in four women experience sexual violence in college. Public institutions of higher education identify professionals specifically responsible for Title IX compliance, campus grievance processes, and survivor advocacy. Success in these roles depends upon a variety of institutional, legal, and procedural factors, and the ability to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw on concepts of "female masculinity" to interrogate how hegemonic gendering discourses, forms and performances are inscribed in neoliberal narratives of competency in higher education in the Western Hemisphere. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on individual examples, the authors consider…

The understanding of gender inequality for women entering work has not been subject to significant research or theorizing. This small study indicated that young women entering the workplace are subject to direct discrimination and by using an intersectionality approach this paper proposes that the intersection of gender and young age results in…

Since the 1970's, national universities in Saudi Arabia have created closed centers for women off their main campuses. Though segregated, women study and work in accordance with the same structure and regulation of "mother" universities. This study investigates women administrators work conditions, their role in decision-making, the…

This paper engages with Diana Leonard's writing on how gender is constituted in the academy. It offers an international review of feminist knowledge on how gender and power interact with leadership in higher education. It interrogates the "leaderist turn" or how leadership has developed into a popular descriptor and a dominant social and…

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…

The purpose of this study was to explore and understand relational workplace aggression among female faculty and administrators at three western U.S. universities. This study was designed to address the gap in empirical knowledge of the phenomenon by elucidating how workplace relational aggression affects the lives of female university faculty and…

The metaphors of the ivory tower and ivory basement are used in this chapter to reflect how many women understand and experience the academy. The ivory tower signifies a place that is protected, a place of privilege and authority and a place removed from the outside world (and consequently the rigours of the market place). The ivory tower, by…

Much has been written about the glass ceiling and pay differentials in higher and further education (HE, FE) for women academics (McTavish and Miller 2009, Rees 2007) but very little about discrepancies for women "professional managers" within UK higher education. Professional managers as a term needs to be defined as universities call…