Abstract
In the last three decades, growth in the education of women in Iran has led to a significant increase in demand for women professionals and administrators in Iranian universities. However, the path to the top is not easy and numerous challenges must still be overcome. This study explored the challenges of women’s participation in senior administrative positions from the perspective of Iranian women administrators in higher education. Data were collected based on semi-structured interviews with 20 women academician in administrative positions. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine the themes that emerged to represent their experience and perspective. The findings indicated that challenges ranged from organizational to societal and individual factors. Individual factors were related to personality traits such as work-family balance issues and a lack of self- confidence. At the organizational levels, difficult relationships at work and the old boys’ network, and organizational practices were perceived to be a hindrance, while at the societal level, gender role stereotypes and social attitudes towards women were viewed as key challenges to the participation of women in senior administrative positions. The implication for women who aspire to the top position of organizations is that they should be aware of and understand the visible and invisible challenges in relation to their career advancement.
Highlights
On the global level, reports demonstrated that women as students, professors, and administrators has increased from the second half of the last century, it does not mean gender parity has been achieved in all parts of higher education systems
As women become more educated and qualified for managerial positions, the number of Iranian women managers and executives are predicted to rise over the decade, but only a very small proportion of women academicians advance to administrative positions (Ministry of Science, Research and Techonlogy, 2015)
The valuable findings obtained through analyzing the data indicate themes and some subthemes which highlighted the challenges of women’s participation in senior administrative positions in university
Summary
Reports demonstrated that women as students, professors, and administrators has increased from the second half of the last century, it does not mean gender parity has been achieved in all parts of higher education systems. Women are still unacceptably underrepresented in some fields, especially in senior administrative positions, in some parts of the world (Altbach, 2010).A review of some studies on women’s career advancement reveals that women are still significantly under-represented at top management level worldwide (Yukongdi & Rowley, 2009; Collings et al, 2010; The World Bank Group, 2014). There are notable examples of these developing countries in which some women have managed to reach management positions Iran is one such example (Hosseini, 2008; Ismail & Rasdi, 2006; Yukongdi & Rowley, 2009; Abdalla, 2015) and is the focal point for the present study. Through in-qualitative approach, the study seeks to gain an insight into the career experience of a small number of women, how these women have managed to overcome ies.ccsenet.org
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