Gender bias still afflicts female academic leaders

It is a cause for celebration that, according to data gathered by Times Higher Education, more women than ever (50) are leading global top-200 universities. Yet while the progress seems solid and the importance of gender equity might seem obvious to many, the experiences of women in our female leadership network indicate that it is still too soon to take women’s path to academic leadership for granted.

Some women in our network, which includes members from the UK, Canada, Finland, Greece, India and Singapore, were the first women to achieve senior leadership positions in their departments or institutions, and all have seen positive changes in recent years. For instance, at a recent event in Greece, Anna-Maria Salmi, head of services at the University of Helsinki’s International Affairs Office, noted that “today, we have the first female director of the Research Council of Finland and the first female rector at the University of Helsinki…In fact, half of our leadership at the university [of Helsinki] consists of females.”

But in Greece, only four out of 24 state universities are led by women. And Anna Batistatou, rector of the University of Ioannina, was among those who spoke of the “misconceptions and stereotyping” that women are still up against, “with people being unaware of the injustices and imbalances they perpetuate”. Meanwhile, Panagiota Klentrou, an Athens native and currently chair of the department of kinesiology at Canada’s Brock University, described the challenges of competing against “white men, and then with all other men, since diversity and inclusiveness was for many years ‘male’”.

All the women described direct experience of navigating marginalisation based on their gender, both personally and professionally. And they spoke of their resulting empathy towards those who are marginalised for a range of reasons and the efforts they make within their own institutions to promote equity, such as restructuring processes, implementing new practices and embracing more inclusive procedures.

All expressed enthusiasm about the human-centred forms of leadership that are seen as female. Batistatou said she wanted to “showcase a different kind of leadership that is based on openness, positive change, nurturing, understanding, empathy, integrity and humility”. As a health researcher, she had “always tried to be… grateful and generous with my collaborators and to foster active participation from all individuals/groups”, and tried to “initiate health-related community outreach projects that serve the needs of the local community and advance the well-being and health literacy of the local residents”.

Kanupriya Dhingra, assistant dean in the School of Languages and Literature at India’s OP Jindal Global University, said she found “fulfilment in contributing positively to my community and fostering meaningful connections with others”. Her place on the board of the global Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing also allowed her “to amplify voices from under-represented communities and foster a more inclusive dialogue within the field of literary studies”.

Cindy Phua, director of quality, planning and global engagement at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, expressed her commitment to ensuring her team members “are given opportunities to take ownership of projects and showcase their work”. Klentrou said she had “created a collegial, respectful working environment where all faculty and students feel seen and appreciated” And Salmi, who said she was focused on “supporting early-career African talent and future leaders [with a] focus…on promoting future female leaders”, described her pride “when someone says that I have made a positive contribution to their lives, big or small”.

All stressed the need to actively encourage other women to undertake senior leadership roles, and all said they saw themselves as role models in that regard – though they also spoke of the toll that the accompanying pressure to perform could take on them, requiring determination, personal resilience and establishing clear boundaries.

They also described the courage and determination needed by individual women, teams and organisations to investigate the barriers still faced by women on account of ongoing gender stereotyping. As Batistatou explained, “fragmentation and lack of collaborative networks among academic administrative bodies do not obviously help to challenge these practices and overcome these barriers”. That is why more support networks, mentorship schemes and tailored professional development opportunities are needed.

The women saw the networks and mentors (both personal and professional) who have supported them as crucial to their attainment of their current positions and as instrumental in their commitment to creating support networks for the women that follow them. As Salmi put it, “When you see [female] talent, make sure others see her too. Encourage her to be bold, mentor her, be supportive.” A flip side of this was the trepidation some women felt about whether such support networks would exist for them should they apply for higher positions.

All were rightly proud of their achievements. Klentrou, for instance, cited her success in managing to “build a full career without compromising my family, my wonderful relationship with my husband and the well-being of our three amazing children”. Indeed, all of the women stressed the importance of family and friends in their lives and emphasised the importance of doing, as Salmi put it, “everything you can to build an environment with a good balance between family and work”.

Our conversations underlined that women in academic leadership positions across the world have similar experiences of gender bias – and similar commitments to driving institutional change, promoting collaboration and transforming policy to improve fairness for the next generation of women leaders.

Efthalia Chatzigianni is vice-rector of administrative affairs, international relations and outreach at the University of the Peloponnese. Bryony Whitmarsh is associate dean (international) at the University of Southampton.

They would like to thank Anna Batistatou, Kanupriya Dhingra, Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou, Cindy Phua, Anna-Maria Salmi, head of Services leading the University of Helsinki’s International Affairs and, for proof-reading, Jane Creaton and Mary Williams of the University of Portsmouth.