Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University

Although women’s access to higher education either as students, staffs, and academic members are increasing worldwide, women senior academic administrative positions continue to be underrepresented. Women who are inspired to be senior administrators still encounter numerous challenges to acquire the...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Mohajeri, Bahieh
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2016
Subjects:	LB2300 Higher Education
Online Access:	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/84000/1/BahiehMohajeriPFP2016.pdf
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

id	my-utm-ep.84000
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-utm-ep.840002019-11-05T04:33:49Z Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University 2016-10 Mohajeri, Bahieh LB2300 Higher Education Although women’s access to higher education either as students, staffs, and academic members are increasing worldwide, women senior academic administrative positions continue to be underrepresented. Women who are inspired to be senior administrators still encounter numerous challenges to acquire these positions. Literature review revealed that most studies on enhancing women’s participation in senior administrative positions were only focused in developed countries thus the findings may not be applicable to other countries due to several factors such as culture. Therefore, it was vital to study and understand the experiences of Iranian women academicians in senior administrative positions within Iranian cultural context. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to explore opportunities and challenges faced by women administrators in attaining their positions and how they utilized strategies and available resources to overcome the challenges. A qualitative approach using case study design based on the epistemology of social constructivism was applied to explore how women academician navigated their career path to senior academic administrative positions at one Iranian university. Data for this study were gathered from documents, interviews and open–ended questions. Twenty female academicians who are senior administrators at one Iranian university were selected as respondents. The data were analyzed with Nvivo 10 software based on thematic analysis. The researcher endeavored to discover themes which described the real meaning of the respondents’ experiences and perspectives. The findings according to the themes and subthemes were written by grouping similar views. Many of the challenges and opportunities which the women administrators experienced resonate with existing literature from all over the world. Yet, the findings of this study disclosed the distinctive influence of socio-cultural values in the local context on opportunities and challenges faced by the female senior administrators. In addition, their unique strategies and available resources to overcome the challenges they encountered were also highlighted in the findings. The data indicated the evidence of three components; firstly, a strong role of family unit among Iranian women as they embrace their traditionally domestic prescribed roles and their participation in the public spheres; secondly, the organizational masculine culture affects women’s equal access to senior administrative positions and thirdly, women strong reliance on personal qualities and attributes in pursuing administration positions and professional goals in public spheres. Based on the findings, a conceptual framework for the participation of women academicians in senior academic administrative positions in Iranian.universities.was.proposed. 2016-10 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/84000/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/84000/1/BahiehMohajeriPFP2016.pdf application/pdf en public http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:126352 phd doctoral Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Education Faculty of Education
institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection	UTM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	LB2300 Higher Education
spellingShingle	LB2300 Higher Education Mohajeri, Bahieh Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
description	Although women’s access to higher education either as students, staffs, and academic members are increasing worldwide, women senior academic administrative positions continue to be underrepresented. Women who are inspired to be senior administrators still encounter numerous challenges to acquire these positions. Literature review revealed that most studies on enhancing women’s participation in senior administrative positions were only focused in developed countries thus the findings may not be applicable to other countries due to several factors such as culture. Therefore, it was vital to study and understand the experiences of Iranian women academicians in senior administrative positions within Iranian cultural context. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to explore opportunities and challenges faced by women administrators in attaining their positions and how they utilized strategies and available resources to overcome the challenges. A qualitative approach using case study design based on the epistemology of social constructivism was applied to explore how women academician navigated their career path to senior academic administrative positions at one Iranian university. Data for this study were gathered from documents, interviews and open–ended questions. Twenty female academicians who are senior administrators at one Iranian university were selected as respondents. The data were analyzed with Nvivo 10 software based on thematic analysis. The researcher endeavored to discover themes which described the real meaning of the respondents’ experiences and perspectives. The findings according to the themes and subthemes were written by grouping similar views. Many of the challenges and opportunities which the women administrators experienced resonate with existing literature from all over the world. Yet, the findings of this study disclosed the distinctive influence of socio-cultural values in the local context on opportunities and challenges faced by the female senior administrators. In addition, their unique strategies and available resources to overcome the challenges they encountered were also highlighted in the findings. The data indicated the evidence of three components; firstly, a strong role of family unit among Iranian women as they embrace their traditionally domestic prescribed roles and their participation in the public spheres; secondly, the organizational masculine culture affects women’s equal access to senior administrative positions and thirdly, women strong reliance on personal qualities and attributes in pursuing administration positions and professional goals in public spheres. Based on the findings, a conceptual framework for the participation of women academicians in senior academic administrative positions in Iranian.universities.was.proposed.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Mohajeri, Bahieh
author_facet	Mohajeri, Bahieh
author_sort	Mohajeri, Bahieh
title	Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
title_short	Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
title_full	Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
title_fullStr	Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
title_full_unstemmed	Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University
title_sort	participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an iranian university
granting_institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Education
granting_department	Faculty of Education
publishDate	2016
url	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/84000/1/BahiehMohajeriPFP2016.pdf
_version_	1747818423095656448

Participation of women academician at senior administrative positions in an Iranian University

Similar Items