The feminization of student’s leadership in the universities: the election of the first female SRC president in KNUST

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historically, women have been marginalized in student leadership in higher education institutions; nevertheless, recently, a number of women have gradually taken up leadership roles and risen to the topmost ranks previously held by only men. In Ghana, there is a gradually shifting from an exclusively men-dominated headship position for the SRC president to the inclusion of women. This article uses the glass cliff and feminization of leadership theories to establish the gradual changes in student leadership. This paper contributes to scholarship on women’s leadership by using the historic election of Yvonne Osei Adobea in 2023 as the first female SRC president in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to question whether this is a symbol of feminization of student leadership or a form of glass cliff. Using key informant interviews, archival data, and participant observation, this paper uniquely explored the extent to which student leadership in universities has been feminized. The paper argues that despite the overall marginalization of women’s leadership, some women have broken through the glass ceiling of student leadership. In addition, the inability of the male leadership to adequately address student needs has introduced the glass cliff phenomenon of experimentation with women’s leadership.