A comparative study of perceptions of gender and leadership in Australian and Turkish universities
- Authors: White, Kate , Özkanli, Ozlem
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Vol. 33, no. 1 (2011), p. 3-16
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- Description: This paper analyses differences in perceptions of gender and leadership though qualitative interviews with 45 senior managers in Australia and Turkey. The literature suggests that masculine models of leadership are changing with both women and many men preferring transformational leadership styles. The research found that there were different perceptions about gender and leadership in Australian and Turkish universities, reflecting different economic and social contexts. Turkish respondents mostly did not engage in discussion on the topic and did not consider women experienced discrimination as managers. In contrast, Australian respondents acknowledged discrimination and supported interventions by Vice-Chancellors (VCs) to increase women in university management. Perceptions of leadership in Turkish universities were aligned with a predominantly masculine/transactional model, and in Australia had moved from heroic masculinity to more inclusive leadership styles, consistent with a transformational leadership model.
Similarities and differences in collegiality/managerialism in Irish and Australian universities
- Authors: O'Connor, Pat , White, Kate
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Gender and Education Vol. 23, no. 7 (2011), p. 903-919
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- Description: In the collegial model the basis for appointment to senior management in the collegial model is nomination by a community of scholars, whereas it is by line management in the managerial one. This article focuses on the basis of appointments in universities and the gendering of such structures. Data are drawn from qualitative interviews with both men and women senior manager-academics at Dean level and above in Ireland and Australia (N = 44). In both countries the power of the President/Vice-Chancellor (VC) was very much as a Chief Executive Officer in the managerialist model, rather than the 'primus inter pares' of the collegial model. Moreover, Presidents/VCs controlled the appointments of Vice-Presidents/Deputy VCs and Deans and were seen as being able to affect the gender profile of senior management. However, in the Australian system (in contrast to the Irish one) there was no ambivalence about the VC actively rectifying gender inequalities in management. In a context where hybrid forms of management are emerging, this article questions the relevance of collegial/managerialist models in understanding the gendering of universities. © 2011 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
The experiences of senior positional leaders in Australian, Irish and Portuguese universities: Universal or contingent?
- Authors: O'Connor, Pat , Carvalho, Teresa , White, Kate
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Higher Education Research and Development Vol. 33, no. 1 (2014), p. 5-18
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- Description: This article is concerned with the extent to which the leadership of higher education is a universally positive or contingent experience. It draws on comparative data from semi-structured interviews with those in senior leadership positions in public universities in Australia, Ireland and Portugal, countries which are differently located on the collegial/managerial continuum. It looks at their perceptions of the advantages/disadvantages of these positions. Universal trends emerge, arising from difficulties created by the shortage of resources consequent on neo-liberalist pressures; from the non-viability of a managerialist discourse as a source of meaning; from the positive character of the university as a knowledge-generating organisation; and from the gendered satisfactions derived by men and women from occupying these senior leadership positions. Contingent trends include the tension between academic and managerial roles, which is strongest in the Portuguese collegial structures; while the negative impact on personal well-being is most apparent among the Australian respondents in the most managerialist structure. The paper concludes that assumptions that senior leadership positions are universally positive is not supported. It suggests that the attractiveness of these positions - contested in a collegial structure - may be further reduced in increasingly managerialist contexts, with the challenge of diversity, so important to innovation and economic growth, being particularly acute.
Whatever happened to gender equality in Australian and New Zealand universities?
- Authors: Bönisch-Brednich, Brigitte , White, Kate
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education p. 93-115
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- Description: This chapter examines why progress towards getting more women into senior management has been slow in Australian and New Zealand public universities. It argues that despite implementation of gender-equality policies, the structural sources of gender equality have not been tackled. Most recently this has been reflected in merging gender equality with other initiatives, transforming it from a separate and stand-alone goal. The data is derived from senior managers who were responsible for gender equality during COVID-19 and an analysis of the strategic plans of all public universities. While such senior managers expressed a commitment to change, the university strategic plans revealed either an absence of gender-equality initiatives or their low priority. “Gender” has mostly been subsumed into crowded equity/diversity/inclusion portfolios, making gender inequality invisible. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.