Barriers to Women's Leadership Positions in Palestinian Government Universities

Abstract

This study aims to identify women's barriers to assuming academic leadership positions in government universities. The descriptive cross-sectional method was used, and a questionnaire consisting of 50 items distributed over four axes was designed. The study population comprised 177 female academic employees from Palestinian government universities (Khodori, Al-Aqsa). A simple random sample of 62 academics was selected from the study population, and the SPSS program was used to analyze the statistics and verify the hypotheses. The study revealed that female academic leaders in Palestinian government universities face significant cultural and social barriers, followed by moderate organizational barriers, and then family and personal barriers. The results also showed that society still does not accept women's leadership, and there is a conflict between their biological and leadership roles. The study found no statistically significant differences between female academics based on the university, academic rank, educational attainment, or years of experience.