Is managing academics “women’s work”? Exploring the glass cliff in higher education management

Sweden is among the countries with the highest per cent of women university Vice Chancellors inEurope. In She Figures 2012 the average proportion of female Vice Chancellors in the 27 EuropeanUnion countries is estimated to be 10 per cent. In Sweden the number is much higher: 43 per cent.Swedish higher education management has witnessed a demographic feminization during the last20 years. Which factors can explain that women have been so successful in gaining access to thesesenior management positions in Swedish academia? This paper discusses the demographic femi-nization, drawing on qualitative interviews with women in senior academic positions in Swedishhigher education. The paper suggests that women’s position in higher education management canbe analysed using the concept ”glass cliff”. This metaphor describes a phenomenon when womenare more likely to be appointed to precarious leadership roles in situations of turbulence andproblematic organizational circumstances. The findings illustrate that women have been allowed toenter into senior academic management at the same time as these positions decline in status, meritand prestige and become more time-consuming and harder to combine with a successful scholarly career.

Publisher: Academia.edu
Year of Publication: 2015
Download : 20198_educational_management_administration___leadership-2015-peterson.pdf