Women leaders in higher education: A systematic review offering insights for nations with wider gender gaps

Urooj Yahya, Rahila Huma Anwar and Sajida Zaki
NED University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan

This study focuses on the presence and participation of women in higher education to examine how they function and advance to leadership roles in various academic contexts. With a focus on the conceptualisation of female leadership in literature, challenges facing senior women academics in their advancement to leadership positions, and policy decisions implemented in various contexts to encourage women's leadership in academia, our study reviews the previous research published in peer-reviewed, Scopus-indexed journals between 2015 and 2023, employing a standard protocol for conducting a systematic literature review. Findings reveal a weaker conceptualisation of female leadership in leadership literature, whereas structural inequalities, women's distorted perception of the self, and their leadership styles are identified as three main challenges facing senior female academics across all contexts. Immediate and effective measures are being taken in the West to promote women's academic leadership, whereas Eastern countries appear to be in dire need of realising the importance of women's active contributions to decision-making, as indicated by fewer studies coming from Asian contexts grappling with a wider gender gap. The study has significant implications for policymakers on actions required to close the prevalent gender gap in developing countries.
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Authors: Dr Urooj Yahya, PhD Fellow-Applied Linguistics, is a Lecturer in English Linguistics at NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. Her research areas include social justice in applied linguistics with particular reference to gender, language education, and critical discourse analysis. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4841-3018 Email: uroojyahya19@gmail.com Dr Rahila Huma Anwar is an Assistant Professor in English and Applied Linguistics at NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. Her PhD study in applied linguistics explored the English language teachers' emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and effectiveness. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4092-055X Email: rahilaanwar@live.com Dr Sajida Zaki is a Professor of English and Applied Linguistics and Chairperson of the English Linguistics & Allied Studies Department at NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Advanced Women's Leadership Program 2022-2023 of Michigan State University, USA. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7506-6635 Email: drzaki@neduet.edu.pk Please cite as: Yahya, U., Anwar, R. H. & Zaki, S. (2024). Women leaders in higher education: A systematic review offering insights for nations with wider gender gaps. Issues in Educational Research, 34(1), 378-399. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/yahya.pdf