- Title
- Negotiating the labyrinth: female executives in higher education leadership in Vietnam and Australia
- Creator
- Lam, Thi Loan
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Women are under-represented in leadership roles in higher education, especially at senior levels, although they represent the majority of those who study and complete higher education degrees across the world (Berman & West, 2008; Black, 2015; Eagly & Carly, 2007; UNESCO, 2014, p. 6). Despite the fact that the number of females in executive leadership positions has increased over the last decade, there are still fewer women than men in these roles. In contrast to their male counterparts, women who have been successful in securing senior leadership roles in tertiary education continue to face a number of barriers to maintaining their employment status (D. R. Davis & Cecilia, 2015). Given these discrepancies, I investigated the strategies used by women who have successfully negotiated the “labyrinth”, a metaphor which implies the complicated set of obstacles that women face. What confronts women seeking career equity is not just a single “glass ceiling” that they need to break through once, but a maze-like journey through a series of different barriers which are often more obscure than obvious. In light of the inequities confronting women, and the labyrinthine nature of their career journeys, my aim was to determine the extent to which women’s acquisition of leadership skills is an essential factor in overcoming the confronting challenges and covert barriers which impede their success. This research focused on the extent to which participants’ leadership styles and competencies have empowered them, allowing them to acquire executive leadership positions in tertiary education which would otherwise have been reserved for men. This research also explored the extent to which leadership strategies need to be continuously developed by successful women to maintain their current career trajectories, in spite of the many barriers they face. I used complementary Mixed-Methods, online and paper survey questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews, which I conducted in the higher education sector in Vietnam and Australia. My respondents included 380 current executive female leaders who took the online survey, and included 24 current women senior-executives who agreed to participate in a follow-up interview. My analysis of the findings reveals that leadership strategies, opportunities and leadership training are the three most significant areas enabling or preventing women from attaining executive positions.
- Subject
- leadership; female executives; higher education; labyrinth; empowerment; competencies; framework; strategies
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1397795
- Identifier
- uon:34357
- Rights
- Copyright 2019 Thi Loan Lam
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 447 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |