Voice Dispossession and Attributional Accommodation for Career Persistence

This chapter presents the results of a systematic review to analyze the current research since 2019 for voice dispossession as attributional accommodation among women in higher education leadership. The authors sought to quantify and categorize these attributes to better identify the verbal and nonverbal accommodations made by women in higher education leadership to extend prior critical review of gender parity and equity for these leaders. Study findings may inform higher educational leadership to better understand voice dispossession among female leaders and the resulting attributional accommodations made to improve gender equity and parity for leadership roles in higher education.

Editorial 18:3 Celebrating women in higher education on International Women’s Day

We have timed publishing our first standard issue of the year to coincide with International Woman’s Day, 8 March 2021 to celebrate the contribution women have made to higher education. The first woman documented as teaching in a university was more than 800 years ago, and yet it is only the last century that the number of female academics has started to increase (Whaley, 2011). In Australia, the first university was established in 1851, yet it would be another 32 years until Julia Guerin graduated in 1883 from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1883 (Women's Museum of Australia, 2020). And another 10 years when Leonora Little graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Science in 1983. Despite these accomplishments in the late 19th century, it was not until 1959 when the first woman, Dorothy Hill, was awarded a Chair appointment (Chair of Geology) in an Australian university, and nearly a century before Australia has its first female Vice Chancellor, when Dianne Yerbury became the Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University in 1987, a position she held for twenty years. Australia’s higher education history tells a clear story of the slow integration of women in higher education, particularly within the STEM fields. For example, Little graduated in 1893 with a Bachelor of Science, but it was 1928 before the first female Lecturer in Mathematics, Ethel Raybould was appointed, and another 36 years before Hanna Neumann became the first female Professor of Pure Mathematics in 1964. It was just over 60 years ago that Margaret Williams-Weir was the first female Indigenous Australian to graduate with a university qualification in 1959. Female Indigenous Australians remain under-represented in the Australian university graduate population. The current situation for Australian higher education still retains a dominance of males within academic roles, such as 30 percent more men in Associate and Full Professor roles than women (Devlin, 2021). And whilst there has been progress in some jurisdictions, such as the majority of Queensland vice chancellors are women in 2021, these continue to be the exception, for example only 28% of vice chancellors in Australia are women. International Woman’s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the significant contribution women make in higher education in Australia and globally. We celebrate through the publication of this issue, with many female authors from across higher education globally.

A phenomenological inquiry into the influence of crucible experiences on the leadership development of Black women in higher education senior leadership

Supported by the Crucibles of Leadership theory, this article explores how adverse experiences influence the leadership development of Black women in higher education senior leadership. I use phenomenology to explore how these leaders’ adverse lived experiences manifested as transformative crucible experiences with resilience, thus promoting leadership development. Black people have been continuously subject to adversity, while Black women have overcome the compounded adversities resulting from their intersectional identities. Reported lived adversities included physical, sexual, and verbal assault and abuse, adverse childhood experiences such as growing up in poverty, being raised by single parents, being subject to bullying, losing loved ones, discrimination, and health issues. Black women are resilient, and education has proven to be a lifeline regarding adversity, thus promoting leadership capabilities. They use adversity as fuel to overcome adverse crucible experiences, thus developing the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. The results further reveal that Black women in higher education senior leadership experienced significant adverse experiences that manifested as crucible experiences by overcoming adversity. The findings reveal an association between their ability to develop the necessary leadership skills to advance their career and their lived adverse experiences.

Resilient Leadership: A Phenomenological Exploration Into How Black Women in Higher Education Leadership Navigate Cultural Adversity

This article explores adversity and the lived experiences of Black women in higher education leadership. Using phenomenology, this study specifically explores how Black women in higher education leadership navigate the adverse challenges of intersectionality, stereotype threat, and tokenism. Black women in leadership undergo adversity including limited role models, the concrete ceiling, and the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and ageism, as well as tokenism. The current findings validate that Black women in higher education leadership experience adversity. Some of the more salient codes that emerged were discrimination such as racism, sexism, ageism, and the intersection of these challenges with identity, cultural diversity and belonging, resilience, and leadership callings. Referred to as “superwomen,” Black women are resilient and strong. The results of this study reveal that Black women use adversity as fuel, thus helping them develop the necessary skills to prepare them for leadership. Their strength through adversity is driven by the resilience that has manifested as motivation factors such as family and relationships, mentorship and sponsorship, as well as the support of cultural identity and diversity. The current findings support the notion that adversity shapes Black women into leaders with an emphasis on higher education leadership.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and women in higher education in a South African University : Academic and social implications

History and present realities have presented a dual diachronic relationship between women in higher education and gender inequality. In quintessence, women are and continue to be faced by gendered disparities and practices by institutions of higher learning, coupled with the overarching demand of academic work vis-à-vis family responsibilities. The advent of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has presented new and continuing academic and social implications for women in academia. This paper adopted a mixed methods approach. Data collection was done using in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires with a sample of 30 respondents, ranging from different academic positions such as lecturer to professor. The paper observed that women face difficulties in balancing work and family responsibilities. Moreover, the adoption of online learning and other digital platforms during the pandemic has its own shortcomings, given the lack of resources and financial support that affect their historically disadvantaged institutions. This has negatively impacted the academic and administrative work of women in academia. The paper recommended that universities and other stakeholders need a comprehensive approach through capacity-building programmes and mentoring to overcome the obstacles and pave the way for the support of women academics to carry out their duties during and after this difficult COVID-19 crisis.

Give Yourself Permission to Rest

Black women in higher education have always been under pressure to prove that they belong in their positions, and often have taken on more work to prove this. The events of 2020—the COVID-19 global pandemic and the racial and social unrest that swept through the country increased this pressure on Black women in higher education. Historically, Black women have taken on the roles of mother, professional, and caretaker of all who were around them. The events of 2020 added to those roles for Black women faculty, working from home, homeschooling online, checking on the welfare of students, and addressing the emotional needs of their families who have been stuck indoors for months. Self-care is more important now more than before for Black women faculty. To employ these self-care strategies, Black women faculty must first give themselves permission to need them.

The Politics of Publishing: A National Conversation With Scholars Who Use Their Research About Black Women to Address Intersectionality

What does it mean to expand the epistemological terrain in education research to improve educational equity? This feature article attends to this question by opening a national conversation with education researchers who take up intersectionality in their study of Black women in higher education, specifically, the application of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality dimensions—structural, political, and representational. We surveyed the authors of 23 peer-reviewed research studies that engaged intersectionality across Crenshaw’s dimensions. Findings showed that the majority of the studies were published in journals with low-impact factors. Additionally, authors indicated that they experienced pushback in the publishing process, including having to justify their work to journal editors and responding to reviewers who did not value their work. Implications are discussed.