School board members, superintendents, and assistant superintendents from Region XX, Education Service Center in Texas were surveyed to examine their perceptions regarding the underrepresentation of women in the role of superintendency. Individual t-tests were performed and frequency data were utilized to obtain group means. When compared, the administrative group indicates that there is a significant difference (p<0.05) between genders. Female administrators cite concerns with factors hindering their career advancement to the superintendency. Research findings of this study included: 1. Data from this study reveal women's concerns with limited time for career mobility, career aspirations being placed behind family responsibilities, and family commitments being a priority to career advancement. 2. Data from this study suggest that women have concerns with factors they encounter with mentors, networking systems, sponsorship, and support systems within their organizations. 3. Results reveal that women have inexperience in fiscal matter compared to men. Fiscal matters are a major concern and a priority for both school board members and administrators. 4. Results indicate that females are capable of performing the superintendent job duties. 5. The results indicate that women are their own worst critic and rate themselves lower than their male counterparts. The following are recommendations for further study: 1. Further statistical study on in-depth interviews of current female superintendents could be conducted related to barriers encountered during their superintendency in all Education Service Center Regions in Texas. 2. Critical analysis could be made on the actual selection process of the superintendency for several districts within the Education Service Center Regions in Texas. 3. Further research studies could be conducted of networking and mentoring systems already in place. These kinds of studies can add to the review of literature as to their effectiveness in assisting women in administration.

The purpose of this study was to explore the causes of underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions of public universities in south Ethiopia. There were few or no women in senior leadership positions in these public universities. Therefore, these universities could not enjoy the benefits of leadership qualities of women. To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the vice-presidents, deans and/or directors of public universities in south Ethiopia were involved as the target population. Four public universities: Wachamo, Wolaita Sodo, Dilla and Hawassa were involved as research sites. Four vicepresidents (one from each university), twelve deans and academic directors (three from each university) who constituted a focus group of four participants from each of the four universities, participated in the study. An exploratory multiple case study design was used in this qualitative study. The purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the samples. Unstructured interviews were conducted with the vice-presidents of the selected universities and focus group discussions were held with college deans and directors. Participant observation was conducted on issues related to women empowerment at universities under study. The findings showed that women were greatly underrepresented in senior academic leadership positions at all the selected public universities of south Ethiopia because of various institutional, women-related, economic, socio-cultural, and political- legal factors. The study identified some gaps in the government’s oversight role of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of women empowerment policies at universities prescribed by the Federal Government including the higher education legislation. Moreover, higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves have also failed to empower women through different mechanisms. Therefore, it could be concluded that HEIs pay little attention to empowerment of women. Currently, there are some initiatives meant to empower women. However, these, seem to a reaction to pressure by the higher political authorities. It could be concluded that women are still illiterate about their rights and are not keen to be empowered. Negative societal attitudes and lack of attractive incentives for the leadership positions contribute to the underrepresentation of women in senior positions. Furthermore, a shortage of teaching staff in academe plays a negative role in this underrepresentation. Finally, it is recommended that the government, society, institutions, and women themselves should step up efforts to empower women, particularly their appointment to senior leadership positions. This is critical as they constitute half of the population of both the institutions and the country. Finally, the study proposes a model that could be adopted by the government, HEIs and different institutions to improve the empowerment of women, especially their appointment to senior leadership positions in HEIs. / Educational Management and Leadership / Ph. D. (Education Management)