Leadership and gender: female barriers in academic administration

Abstract

The clear display of male/female behaviour patterns, has established patriarchalstructures in most modern societies. For this reason the female role hasbeen historically and culturally affected by strong idiosyncratic elementsthat dwell right in the collective consciousness. Furthermore this situationhas encouraged the underrepresentation of women in socially valued workpositions. According to this the main purpose of this paper, is to presentsome of the internal barriers and cultural variables, which female academicsface to access top positions in Higher Education (HE).The methodology ofthis study uses the literature review technique to nourish theoretical andempirical acknowledgment, in areas such as organizational behaviour, educationalleadership and gender studies. The results hollow out the analysisof four components associated with “the social role of motherhood”, “femaledouble-shift”, “absence of female leadership models” and “the genderequality euphemism”. In conclusion, a complex understanding is proposedto attend an issue that entails the socialization of gender and culturalconstructions.