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The purpose of this chapter is to combine research findings around gender bias and the challenges women face in academia, and to present a unified conceptual framework. Ample research indicates that the issue is far from sufficiently addressed. Even in cases where policies are in place, mediocre outcomes are observed. Fewer women climb the ladder of academic progression all the way up to senior positions, especially in certain institutions and certain disciplines.

After thoroughly reviewing the literature, the authors integrate and organize the different multifaceted causes that appear to obstruct women in academia. They propose a scheme that divides between contextual and non-contextual factors, emphasizing their interplay.

Even when policies are in place, they appear to have limited results, because they mainly address isolated factors rather than taking a multifaceted, integrative approach.

Future research should further examine the interplay of contextual and non-contextual factors by combining multiple variables that contribute to gender bias in academia.

Policy-making should consider both contextual and non-contextual factors, thus providing more integrative solutions and taking a broader perspective on the issue.

Despite the ample and rising amount of research findings, there is no coherent framework to adequately include all the factors that contribute to gender bias in academia. By integrating and organizing the different, multifaceted causes already pointed out by previous findings, the authors hope to contribute to future research with specific variables to test and correlate, as well as to the formulation of more sophisticated policies.

Research indicates that faculty of color in the United States face numerous challenges in the academy. To complicate their experiences further, children significantly impact academics’ work. Additional difficulties can arise in balancing work with familial responsibilities. Indeed, strategies to navigate parental obligations while engaging in professional activities are seldom examined among minority parents, across genders and institution types. In response, the current study investigates the intersectionality of race, gender, and parenthood on navigating a work–life balance in academia. This study examines 13 male and female minority parents from an array of institutions and explores their strategies for navigating professional advancement while managing familial obligations.

Our data suggest that parents of color often develop timesaving strategies to complete their work more efficiently. However, in order to do so, they tend to engage in professional and social isolation and to recalibrate personal expectations of work and accomplishments. Of importance, the study uncovered significant gender differences. While fathers faced comparable challenges, the findings indicate that familial responsibilities can disadvantage women more so by impacting their ability to foster professional relationships and potentially harm their emotional well-being. While most faculty of color face difficulties in the workplace, we argue that those with children, especially mothers, face additional challenges that should be addressed by home institutions to foster more equitable opportunities for professional growth.

Sweden, as a country based on extremely high secular and self-expression values, serve as an example that somewhat differ from other countries internationally, when it comes to educational leadership curriculum. The chapter takes its starting point at the governmental decision for Swedish universities to gender-mainstream their organisations, something that affects the educational leadership curriculum. To be able to discuss this, I present three research studies on gendering leader identity development processes and gender equality strategies in the Swedish higher education setting. In a longitudinal study of the process of leader identity development, the main result was the emergence of a gendering process in the discourse on academic leadership. At the end of the leadership assignment period, leader identity was described in differing terms at subject positions held by women and men, respectively. In a separate study on female heads of research-heavy departments, three conflicting subject positions appeared that showed different strategies when leaders were of the female sex: (a) a gender-conscious position, (b) a gender-neutral or gender-unconscious position and (c) a position of sex discrimination experience. In a third, large national study, based on horizontal analysis of gender equality in Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs), was found that universities internally consist of different worlds when it comes to the possibility of making academic careers and in how male- and female-dominated academic disciplines explain gender inequality and strategies to handle this. Results from these studies will be discussed, in light of the striving for (gender) equal and just organisations, since gender equality is an important aspect of Swedish educational leadership curriculum.

In a world where some (predominantly male) colleagues gets undue credit and airtime in academia and some women struggle to juggle work and family responsibilities, this chapter provides some reflections about the author’s own personal journey as a female early career academic, as well as the author’s recent experience in applying for an academic promotion. Appended within this chapter are also some advice and tips from other female colleagues who have recently been successful in their applications for promotion. The author is only a drop in the ocean of academia but hopefully these reflections will help other female colleagues who are trying to navigate the academic world.

Although progress has been made, women faculty of color (i.e. American Indian/Alaska Native, African American, Hispanic, and Asian/Asian Pacific Islanders) continues to experience a number of challenges in the academy. Without proper supports and strategies many of these women will leave the academy prematurely or will not be successful in their quest for promotion and tenure. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the challenges these women encounter, as well as the strategies they adopt in response to these challenges. In doing so, the authors argue that a strong sense of self-efficacy is a core trait of successful women faculty of color; a trait that cuts across all racial and ethnic groups. The authors conclude with implications for fostering support for women faculty of color, as well as recommendations for future research.

Research on the role of women in Public Relations (PR) has seen a notable increase in recent years (Topić et al., 2019), yet exploratory studies on the subject remain limited, particularly concerning the role of women in the academic sphere of PR in Spain. Guided by the imperative to reflect on the role of PR professionals operating within the Spanish academic landscape, this chapter aims to identify and reflect on the role of women in PR academia in Spain to discover the extent to which women are leading the communication faculties where PR is taught; to identify the presence of women in the departments where communication studies take place and to determine women's leadership in national research activity. This study follows a combined approach with two dimensions, exploratory and interpretative, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques. The interpretative approach is developed using a focus group with women currently working in PR education and leading projects and institutions in the Spanish academia. Through this research, we discover the struggles and opportunities they face and identify possible solutions and ideas to improve the situation of women in academia and, specifically, in PR.

The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of the status of African American women in academe. The primary context is the Predominately White Institution and the terms African American and Black are used interchangeably. We discuss the silencing of this group of women while privileging others. To date, little has been written on this topic. Much less has been written about the African American females’ struggles in silence, both personally and professionally (Collins, 1986). We end by putting forth strategies that African American women might consider as they soar in leadership roles.

Using bibliometrics to examine eight core journals in the year 2000 for the disciplines of higher education and library science, characteristics of the authors were determined, including gender or sex; Carnegie Classification or institutional affiliation; and position of the authors. Characteristics of the articles were also examined, including the research methods used such as descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, or qualitative analysis. A content analysis of each article was performed to determine the subjects discussed in each literature. For both disciplines, it was learned that males publish more, the highest Carnegie Classification, extensive research institutions, were represented the most, and authors came from academic departments other than their own disciplines. In higher education, inferential statistics were used frequently; in library and information descriptive statistics were used frequently; both disciplines failed to use research methodologies regularly. From these findings, it appears that both disciplines are still emerging and are in their early stages of development.

This chapter summarizes the specific challenges for leadership in academia with a focus on universities, and discusses recent approaches to facilitate the development of leadership abilities in this context. Individuals and groups in academia essentially strive for creativity and innovation through knowledge creation and transfer. Their performance is measured relative to specified targets (e.g., quality and quantity of publications, third-party funding, teaching and student supervision). We argue that in academia constant tensions between creativity and innovation on the one hand, and structures, procedures, and (legal) regulations on the other hand persist. This poses significant challenges to leadership. The chapter starts with a short characterization of the most pressing challenges and their implications for leadership. We then distinguish between leadership of universities (i.e., administrative leadership) and leadership in universities (i.e., research leadership). Next, we depict approaches that highlight leadership as a property of individuals and as a collective phenomenon in academia. Finally, we draw lessons for leaders and organizations who seek to create enabling conditions for sustained successes in the quest for creativity and innovation.

In this work, we review the interrelationship between gender, knowledge, socially imbued roles, work relations, and the impacts on society. We consider the data regarding education aptitudes for males and females in reading, math, and science and move to an analysis of wage rates and status. Our findings concur with other research. Spanning countries, economic systems, political environments, and cultures, there is a consistent and pervasive gender gap in wage rates and status. In seeking to understand such disparities, we review research on the creation of expectations and the formation of gender as a social construct. Despite various strategies and policies to overcome gender inequities at the national and supranational levels (e.g., EU and UN), gender gaps persist in education, politics, employment rates, representation on boards, and in childcare. While the knowledge-based society is perceived as a new production paradigm, using innovative and improved forms of knowledge, gender disparities remain. Questioning issues of hierarchy and inequality are fundamental to the discussion of deepening gender-accounting research. Although we look at the market place in this paper and financial well being is fundamental, it is not sufficient. Gender gaps persist due to deeply embedded cultural biases in institutions and people and the many obstacles and barriers – cultural, political, economic, social – require significant transformation in how we view the world. Reflecting on the observation that social change takes place in a myriad of ways, we seek new ways to shape deliberations, perceptions, and behavior. These are the possibilities for change we encourage.