“This Motivates Me to Work towards Great Performance”: Higher Education Female Leaders’ Voices on the Nature of Support to Their Leadership

Abstract

Existing literature pays less attention to what enables the women occupying senior and middle leadership positions to succeed in Uganda universities. While support of all kinds to women in leadership in developed contexts has also been given some attention by scholars, little attention has been dedicated to those in developing contexts. The study set out to access the voices of Higher Education female senior and middle leaders on the nature of macro and micro support to their managerial performance. The findings reveal institutional policies, support from senior management, and family support as apparent in women’s successful leadership. The study concludes that despite the macro and micro support, women may not be attracted into leadership because the policies in place are gender biased, males continue to dominate the senior and middle positions, as well as the patriarchal tendencies which reserve leadership for men. The study recommends that, universities should implement gender related human resource policies that are free from bias and continuously organize leadership workshops and trainings for the incumbent and aspiring female leaders. The political sector and the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development should continue to educate the population on gender roles, responsibilities, rights, and freedoms in society. This may then help to attract more women to take part in leadership including HE institutions.