There is no dearth of literature on the numerous challenges that women face in securing leadership roles in government, non-government and other societal and community organisations. Over the past five decades or so, researchers and concerned others have been reporting on the lack of women in leadership roles. This paper explores leadership roles of women in higher education (HE), with a special focus on the University of Buea, Cameroon. The paper is based on research work carried out in 2016 and was framed by the gender and development (GAD) model; but it is also supported by on-going research investigation, carried out for the purpose of future publications. This means that by and large, the paper makes use of literature review methodological approach to build the discussion. It makes clear that although on a global scale women's enrolment in HE exceeds that of men, this does not translate into women senior leadership positions in HE. It acknowledges what HE means in the Cameroonian context, and looks at the socio-cultural and structural factors that influence women's representation in HE positions in the University of Buea. The paper concludes that the paradigm shift in the global concepts of development has not shown a satisfactory level of decrease in the challenges that women face in relation to attaining senior leadership roles in HE institutions.