Mothers, Bosses, and Superwomen: The Construction of Identities of Russian Woman Administrators in Higher Education

Abstract

This article, which examines the conflicting role perceptions of ranking women administrators in Russian higher education and research organizations, is constructed around in-depth interviews of nine administrators. In a male-dominated academic culture in a country in which transition is leading to a patriarchal agenda for returning women to their ''proper'' place in the home, high-level women academic administrators are confronted with a number of conflicting demands forcing them to adopt a ''phantasmic superwoman identity''.