The literature review for this study examines various researches imperative to understanding the context, nature, and extent of the problem of underrepresentation of women in academic leadership in the United States. Gender inequality still exists in leadership positions in U.S academia; “women are still struggling to be at the leadership table despite the progress the U.S. has made in recent times through the process of eliminating discrimination in the workplace” (Lapovsky & Slaner, 2009). The review also pulls resources from literatures dealing with assessing the root causes of underrepresentation of female Leaders in the United States, with regards to employment discrimination, societal roles etc. From this review, some notable topics emerged that pulls an in depth analysis of the various factors that influence the underrepresentation of women as leaders in the United States academia. Consequently, research has shown that the number of female presidents have not changed in the last 10 years (Lapovsky & Slaner, 2009).
Keywords: women and leadership, Academic Leaders, US Academia, Leadership Characteristics.
Are women underrepresented in leadership role in the U.S Academia?
A Literature Review
A report written in the American Association of University Professors, states that as women pursue academic leadership advancement, the lower the percentage of women in higher leadership roles become. For instance, the representation of woman in leadership roles are as follows: Fifty percent of women are lecturers and instructors, forty six percent are represented in Assistant professor positions, thirty eight percent and twenty three percent are college presidents (ACE, 2007). Furth...
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...rative literature review: Guidlines and examples. Human Resource Development Review, 4(3), 356-367. doi: 10.1177/1534484305278283
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Fernandez, J. Race, (1998). Gender and rhetoric: The true state of race and gender relations in corporate America. New York: McGraw Hill.
Recruitment, retention, and professional development of women faculty a report from the academic issues subcommittee of the provost's committee on the status of women. Informally published manuscript, John Hopkins University, Maryland, USA. Retrieved from http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/womenfac/report.html
The reading assignment for this unit included reading several articles and one book in particular, The Female Advantage, by Sally Helgesen as an introduction into varying leadership styles. Leadership, as a honed craft is practiced continually in different ways and varying circumstances, no two individuals will have the same leadership style. Certain distinctive traits brought into the forum and on display for followers to observe. Some traits can be visible, clothing or skin color as examples, others, however, are not as visible such as upbringing or family situation. Each of these factors could play a role in the leadership style of a leader. One trait that the author of the book uses to distinguish leaders is gender. As much as men and women must be treated the fairly and equally, it cannot be denied that outside of the biological aspect, men and women are slightly different. Each gender brings a unique approach to leadership situations.
...tional obstacles to those faced by male counterparts. One common predicament, identified by the former Equal Opportunities Commission, is the requirement for women leaders to spend extra time and energy not just leading, but ‘proving’ that they can lead. Women leaders are penalized whether they confirm, or contradict a specific stereotype. A female leader can expect to be viewed as less competent when her behaviour is consistent with stereotypical ‘feminine’ behaviour, and as ‘un-feminine’, when her behaviour is inconsistent with stereotypes Ritvo et al (1995).
The gap between men and women produce three important concepts that reason the difference. First is the discussion of the better leader- men or women? It has been studied that women approach their followers with an interactive style with the encouragement of sharing power and information with others, participation, and self-worthiness to others. On the other hand, men have a consistency to be more task-oriented in their leadership styles and emerge in short-term conditions. The simple claim that women are just different than men, can be argued with the idea that men have effective traits for leadership. Women are less likely to negotiate and as a leader, this leads to lack of communication. And as discussed, leadership’s main ingredient is communication. Without it, nothing gets across to followers, and nothing is reciprocated to leaders. As a leadership position becomes larger and larger, (such as a CEO’s leadership position) there are fewer and fewer women holding these positions. The biggest question is why? Generally, females and males share the leadership values, work equally as hard to accomplish their goals, and react accordingly. Society plays a huge role in the gender gap. Some jobs aren’t even offered to women because of their gender and women
Monroe, Kristen, et al. "Gender Equality in Academia: Bad News from the Trenches, and some Possible Solutions." Perspectives on Politics 6.2 (2008): 215-33. Print.
Fisher, H. The Natural Leadership Talents of Women. In Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership.
In response to the publication of Sheryl Sandberg’s best-selling book, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” higher education researchers Kelly Ward and Pamela Eddy applied the book’s content to women in higher education. According to Ward and Eddy (2013), women “lean back from the ladder of academic progress, promotion, and leadership because of a perception that advanced positions in academe are not open to women, and particularly women who hope to make time for a family or life beyond work” (para. 5). Women sometimes choose to stay at mid-level positions because they do not perceive opportunities for internal growth at their universities, or they are not interested in the public-facing pressure experienced by top leaders at universities (Ward and Eddy 2013).
In the American society, we constantly hear people make sure they say that a chief executive officer, a racecar driver, or an astronaut is female when they are so because that is not deemed as stereotypically standard. Sheryl Sandberg is the, dare I say it, female chief operating officer of Facebook while Mark Zuckerberg is the chief executive officer. Notice that the word “female” sounds much more natural in front of an executive position, but you would typically not add male in front of an executive position because it is just implied. The fact that most of America and the world makes this distinction shows that there are too few women leaders. In Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In,” she explains why that is and what can be done to change that by discussing women, work, and the will to lead.
In Sheryl Sandberg’s essay “Lean In: What You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?”, she talks about how women are afraid to strive for leadership that men pursue for. She mentions how women are afraid to be leaders even though they outperform men academically in their degrees. Women are discouraged to enroll in leadership in the workforce because “they are less valued in the workplace” and “overwhelmingly stocked with men”(Sandberg 646). More importantly, Sandberg points out that the reason women don’t seek for high positioned jobs is that they aren’t “ambitious” as much as men. Not being ambitious allows women to not show themselves that they don’t have a strong desire to obtain the highest leadership. Women aren’t as ambitious than men because they
Powell and Graves’s study shows that “the gender gap in leadership is a global phenomenon whereby women are disproportionately concentrated in lower-level and lower-authority leader ship positions compared to men” (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 399). I couldn’t have agreed more with the statement; I have come across all of people from different aspects of lives. I have noticed that females’ interactions and how they are perceived and or accepted are quite different from males, whether at the workplace, school, in social gathering like religious services, around families and friends, etc. This includes the communication, uncertainty that arises in a professional environment that must do with our
Historically our society drives men and women toward different socially acceptable behaviors and careers. Stereotypically men are the capable breadwinners that choose careers as: firemen, policemen, mailmen, garbagemen, milkmen, and the list continues. However, women are the warm caregivers that may choose one of three titles: teacher, nurse, or secretary. The above career pathways have been driven by societal norms, subsequently leaving women with marginal room for vertical mobility and limited leadership representation.
Wilson, Marie C. Closing the Leadership Gap Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World. New York: Viking Adult, 2004. Print
Interest in the impact of gender on leadership is relatively new. The first studies were conducted in the US in the early 1970s when male managers at nine insurance companies were asked to characterise ‘women in general’, ‘men in general’ and ‘successful managers’. Successful managers were overwhelmingly identified exclusively with male traits. Many similar studies have been carried out since that time and all have demonstrated that the successful managerial stereotype remains male.
Women, on the other hand, are difficult to classify as a good leaders because in order to be a leader, we often need to sacrifice our femininity. This belief...
When we think about how it used to be 100 years ago, the only people in leadership roles where men, and there was no presence of women. Why is it that we tend to see more men in leadership positions? Usually when we think of what a leader looks like, we tend to describe them as powerful, assertive and confidence. Because of stereotypes our society immediately labels this person as a man, due to the roles that we are expected to follow. Today, there has been a huge shift for women in leadership positions; however, there are many challenges that they still have to overcome. A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007) defines a leader. Moreover, leaders come in different forms whether in a professional, educational, or group setting. As a male college student and an advocate for equal rights between men and women, my understanding of the struggles that women face has a huge impact on my philosophy of leadership. The three most important concepts in this course that has resonated with me the most are double bind, and think manager-think male and glass ceiling.
“For most of history, anonymous was a woman –Virginia Wolf.” For women, the path to equality in the home and workforce has been a long hard fought battle that is still taking place as we speak. With every victory that has taken place, there have also been road blocks at every turn, many shed tears, resistance, and an unwavering belief felt by men, that women truly will never amount to anything other than a housewife. If the women from the start of this battle were to see the great strides taken place over the years and the place women are at now, they would stand in utter disbelief. It is with great thanks that we as women are able to flourish as individuals; letting our goals, dreams, aspirations, and intelligence take the forefront of our duties to society.