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“The deeply ingrained, systemic issues formulate much of the cultural bias faced by women pursuing their careers in a traditionally patriarchal system.”

All (Wo)men Are Created Equal: Women in Power

By IGI Global on Jun 15, 2018
Book cover
It’s no secret that women hold fewer authoritative positions than men in their career fields. Simply searching the term “women in the workforce” offers a plethora of articles and examples of the inequality women face, paradigms like the wage gap, opportunities for promotions, or expected workload both in the office and at home. But did you know that according to the American Council on Education, only 31 percent of the total amount of full professors, and 27 percent of college presidents, are held by women?

Dr. Heidi Schnackenberg, co-editor of Challenges Facing Female Department Chairs in Contemporary Higher Education: Emerging Research and Opportunities studies how women are affected in higher education and the challenges they face daily because of their gender. She graciously offers recommendations for what women in leadership positions, or ones who are seeking such positions, can do to help overcome any obstacles they face due to gender discrimination.


What are some of the challenges women face in their excursion to leadership statuses, and how do they differ from men’s paths? How do these challenges affect the way women plan to progress in their careers?

Women face many challenges in their work lives and paths to leadership that men don’t encounter. Sexism in all its many forms is the primary hurdle. Individuals are still socialized to think of leaders with masculine attributes and a masculine leadership style – authoritative and analytical. And although some women may lead this way (in which case they risk alienating the women that they lead by adopting a male leadership style), generally women’s leadership style is more transformative – inclusive and collaborative, seeking consensus. Because of stylistic differences and preconceptions about leaders and leadership, it’s often difficult for constituents to envision women as strong leaders. Therefore, women get passed over for positions in which they could be successful and make a positive contribution.

I think another compelling difference in men’s and women’s paths to leadership are societal expectations on their personal lives. In today’s society both women and men are expected to be both “super” parents and ideal workers, but that looks very different for each gender. The number of tasks that women are expected to do on a daily basis to be “super” everything is extraordinary compared to what is expected of men. Today, virtually all women still do more housework than men (and no, women cooking dinner each night and men changing the oil on the car every few months is NOT an even division of chores), and women still do vastly more childcare than men do. On a daily basis, a woman assumes far more responsibility for her child/children than a man does, and is still expected to put in a full day of work. Child rearing and a career are two full-time jobs, and most career women do this for years. So when another position with even greater responsibility, like leadership, may present itself, many women simply want nothing to do with it for fear of having the precarious balance of their entire lives crash before them. Women are certainly talented and capable of being extraordinary leaders, and many are interested in doing these jobs, but the responsibilities of daily life simply make high stress, demanding leadership positions untenable.

Dr. SchnackenbergWhat are the cultural prejudices that influence women in higher education today?

Cultural prejudices in higher education most often take the form of systemic processes and policies. The academy was created many years ago with the idea of the monastic male, devoting his life to seeking knowledge and imparting that knowledge to other utterly focused and deserving males. Although this idea seems archaic now, it really wasn’t so long ago that this was the environment in universities, and current institutions have not caught up enough with policy changes and reconceptualizing the idea of the “ideal worker” so that women can lead a comfortable, engaging, life in the professoriate. For instance, research parental and maternity leave at colleges and universities in the United States and most of what you will find are policies that are essentially prohibitive to women both having families and working as professors. (There are notable exceptions, and some universities do have excellent family-friendly policies, but this is hardly the norm.) And for those women who do take a parental leave or stop the tenure clock, there is stigma attached and a perceived lessening of their commitment to their jobs. Also, the idea that the typical work day, especially for administrators in higher education, can extend past 5 or 6pm is extremely hard on women given that they do still bear the bulk of childcare responsibilities and there essentially is no daycare/aftercare/childcare during the evening hours in most towns and cities (see the second edition of Arlie Hochschild’s The Second Shift). These are just a few of the policies and practices that affect women in ways that men don’t ever have to think about. Essentially, the deeply ingrained, systemic issues formulate much of the cultural bias faced by women pursuing their careers in a traditionally patriarchal system.

Does the gender pay gap, a concept we are all familiar with today, influence women and their decision to pursue positions of power within a college or university?

Well, the gender pay gap affects every woman in any position of employment on a daily basis. I don’t think it matters if a woman is in higher education or any other profession; being under-payed for doing the same work as a man is simply reprehensible. And sometimes, under-payed women are even more qualified than their male counterparts in the same positions. In higher education specifically, more women are in the social sciences than in other areas of expertise. (There are tremendous efforts presently to increase the number of women in STEM.) The social sciences are also the lowest-paying area in most universities and colleges. There has long been a debate over whether social sciences are the lowest paying because there are so many women there, or whether woman are just generally underpaid and because most of them are in the social sciences, it leaves that area with the lowest pay scale. I find this sort of chicken-and-egg conversation a waste of time because frankly, it doesn’t matter the origin of the under payment, the result is still the same – women are largely under-paid in the professoriate. And this lower-than-necessary pay scale is one of the biggest reasons why highly educated women opt to work in other aspects of their profession, rather than higher education. Better working conditions often also exist in other professional venues. Couple poor working conditions with poor pay and you create the perfect conditions for pushing women out of positions in higher education.

Do you have any recommendations/advice for women who are trying to progress in their career fields in higher education to aid them in their journey to authoritative positions?

It’s important that women seeking leadership positions find both a leadership mentor (female, if possible) and a peer mentor, with whom to work. The first will help nurture leadership potential and the second will help put things into perspective. Also, participate in all kinds of professional leadership development, both in-house and offered by professional associations and organizations. These sorts of workshops and programs not only teach important skills, but provide key resources and references. They also provide nice lines on a vita to add unfortunately necessary credibility to a woman’s leadership skills. (Men are more often promoted through peer advocacy, based on organic opinions of the skills. Women still don’t have that sort of system social capital and need other sources to attest to their skill set.) Finally, I would recommend that aspiring female leaders be strategic in their choices of lower-level leadership positions along the way. Women are very often asked to chair, organize, or facilitate initiatives which require many hours of work and receive very little recognition. While it’s important to take various types of leadership roles to become someone with known leadership skills on campus, it’s also important to keep your name amongst those considered for leadership, rather than just a dependable worker-bee.
IGI Global is thankful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Heidi Schnackenberg, and we look forward to future collaborations that will result in the publication of vital content. Please be sure to recommend this book, Challenges Facing Female Department Chairs in Contemporary Higher Education: Emerging Research and Opportunities, to your institution, or for librarians, purchase this publication directly from IGI Global’s Online Bookstore.
For more information on this topic, be sure to check out these related publications below and recommend them to your library:



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