Purpose: For several decades, human and financial resources have been the focus of academic institutions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields of study because of low matriculation and graduation involving diverse student populations. However, there is a paucity of research about pathways to doctoral-level education and…

The glass ceiling has shattered. The metaphor of a glass ceiling, an absolute barrier to women's advancement, is seriously outdated. Some women do make it to high positions as big-city superintendents of schools, governors, secretaries of state and, even occasionally, as Fortune 500 CEOs. The glass ceiling metaphor has great appeal but is…

Through the lens of Black feminist thought (BFT), this qualitative study explored the positive and negative influences on the career progression of African American women presidents who took a nontraditional pathway to the college presidency. Nontraditional pathways included, but were not limited to, student services/student affairs, legal…

Purpose: In the two consecutive surveys conducted by the authors in 2015 and 2018, it was found that out of a total of 810 and 1008 Indian higher educational institutions, only 54 and 63 institutions (6.67 and 6.25%) were led by women, 725 and 934 institutions (89.51 and 92.7%) were led by men and 31 and 11 (3.83 and 1.1%) were reported to either…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the intersectionality of race and gender for African American women through their lived experiences of how they developed into leaders. This research study was designed to determine how the intersection of race and gender identities contributed to the elements of leadership…

A survey of 10 national systems of higher education found that less than 10 percent of professors were women, and the proportion of female professors was negatively related to institutional prestige. This academic "glass ceiling" was related to women's shorter careers, tenure issues during hard times, and women's lower level of academic…

It has been claimed that women experience fewer career opportunities than men do mainly because they are over-represented in "Dead-end Jobs" (DEJs). Using Swedish panel data covering 1.1 million employees with the same employer in 1999 and 2003, measures of DEJ are empirically derived from analyses of wage mobility. The results indicate…

Within higher education institutions, Latinas are grossly underrepresented, inadequately supported, and often face discrimination within their academic environment. Overall, Latinx populations encounter racism, sexism, familial and cultural expectations, as well as societal pressures, that impact their educational journey and perceptions of self.…

Women comprise the majority of both the college-educated workforce (Fry, 2019) and higher education professionals (Silbert & Dube, 2021), yet a proverbial glass ceiling remains intact for female leaders within this industry (Bichsel & McChesney, 2017; DeFrank-Cole et al., 2014; Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016; Gagliardi et al., 2017;…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the experiences of women leaders in the higher education sector of North Carolina, United States of America (USA). The qualitative phenomenological study specifically explored the lived experiences and perceptions of 12 adult women leaders to better understand (1) the major perceptions on leadership…

By outlining some of the familiar and persistent barriers to women's leadership at the highest administrative levels within colleges and universities, the authors want to open a conversation about how to accelerate the type of change embodied by Ronald Takaki's notion of a "different mirror." Developing this notion, Takaki asks,…

The underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is a growing concern in colleges and universities. This problem is especially evident across four-year degree granting institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This qualitative Delphi study examined the specific problem of the underrepresentation of…

The achievement of gender equity in universities continues to warrant attention. Globally, universities have much work ahead of them if they are to redress the gender imbalance in senior positions and remuneration rates. To examine this issue, multiple sources of evidence were used to observe teaching and research workload of academic staff…

Gender equity remains an evolving issue within the United States, in spite of the long history of women's rights legislation, including the 1986 ruling by the Supreme Court that a work environment can be declared hostile or abusive because of discrimination based on sex. In the field of education, women are a majority; however, they are a minority…

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the reasons for the continued underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in education and why barriers continue to exist for women from the perspectives and lived experiences of professional women leaders in education. A phenomenological approach within the…