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)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/27431 |
| Date | 07 June 2021 |
| Creators | Tafano Ouke Labiso |
| Contributors | Lekhetho, Mapheleba |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xvi, 322 leaves) : color illustration, application/pdf |
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