Women Academic Leaders and Self-Care During a Crisis

This chapter presents actual accounts of women academic leaders who led their students, teachers, and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's experiences, challenges, and self-care routines are presented in their own words in order to gain a true understanding of what it was like to be a woman academic leader during a crisis. The chapter begins with a review of research related to women academic leaders specifically describing the successes and challenges women face when in an academic leadership role. Next, the topic of self-care is discussed focusing on the need for self-care among educators and leaders during crises. Woven throughout the descriptions of past research are the stories from current women academic leaders to describe ways in which these leaders approached self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women Leaders in Higher Education in Turkey During the Pandemic

This chapter presents the lived experiences of women academic leaders in higher education during the pandemic period in Turkey. The chapter elaborates on the illusion of gender equalities for women in higher education through formal and informal support mechanisms. The authors then present recent knowledge and experiences of women academics in the country during the pandemic and how these experiences have impacted all aspects of life. The authors conducted online interviews with 20 women leaders at varying levels of higher education. The overall findings show that the lack of support mechanisms due to quarantine measures has created an overwhelming workload and challenging personal life experiences for the respondents. The women leaders observed in our study utilized strategies like collaboration, shared decision-making, and constant communication to motivate their colleagues and staff. The idea of “help” and fair share needs to be further examined due to its significance on gender equality for women leaders in academia.

Leading in the New Normal

This chapter focuses on the experiences of women who were P-20 educational leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via electronic surveys from 20 respondents. Survey questions included information about demographics, professional duties, and personal responsibilities. This chapter includes a discussion of the authors' positionality, analyzes findings (situated in relevant literature), and presents implications for practice and further study. General findings indicate that the personal and professional lives of women educational leaders were significantly affected by the pandemic, with increased demands and limited support in both areas. Related implications include practices that support a healthy work-life balance and address the expectations affecting women educational leaders.

Reflections on Motherhood and Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This chapter explores the impact of motherhood on the professional identities of female leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on five principles related to parenting a young child that one might apply to one's experiences as a female leader during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) listen with your eyes, 2) recognize that not knowing is part of growing, 3) release the need for perfection, 4) engage in restorative rituals, and 5) focus on those things that are within your control. It also expands upon the notion that creating an emotional climate where faculty, staff, and administrators can bring their “whole selves” to work would be beneficial, both during a pandemic and beyond.

Ladies Leading Ladies Who Lead Ladies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, women in academic leadership positions were faced with an unprecedented career challenge. While data previously existed to show that female leaders face an uphill battle in obtaining promotions, tenure, and leaderships positions within academia, the COVID-19 crisis that ensued within higher education created an unstable work-life balance, inequitable work expectations, and a need for increased psychosocial support for these already disadvantaged leaders. This chapter will explore the power and challenge of women mentoring other women in the midst of a global crisis. Using a personal perspective from a mentor and mentee, the authors will comment on current and extant literature on the challenges facing women leaders in academia.

Motherscholar

Academic women leaders are teaching, conducting research, running departments, making policies, and overseeing their faculty and students, all while taking responsibility for their own homes, families, and children, and doing it all under one roof. Motherscholars (i.e., academic mothers who accepted administrative and/or leadership positions in higher education) have a particular story to tell during this pandemic. This chapter will highlight the issues confronting these MotherLeaders and illustrate how institutional gender inequities and societally imposed responsibilities in the home, and with children, impact women's ability to lead in colleges and universities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Characteristic and Agentic Qualities of Women Leaders Amidst Global Crises

This chapter serves to deconstruct the characteristic and agentic qualities of women leaders amidst global crises, which are also reflected in the traits of women managing in more recognisable and relatable leadership roles in the context of HE. Within this will be the core acknowledgements that on a global level the impact of crises inevitably leads to a disproportionate impact on women, a lack of prioritisation of global impetus to address levels of gender inequality, and the embedded role of gender equity in relation to human progression and development on a macro level. This global perspective illuminates the inequalities that women educators face and the impact that this has on the broader scope of human development through educational impact. Whilst situational specificity is significant in terms of the context of HE leadership, the universality of human experience underpinning them remains the connecting thread, which enables the deconstruction of meaning making in applied educational leadership.

Creative Leadership in the Face of Crisis

This chapter will look at leadership approaches, especially through the lens of a woman leader in higher education. What types of leadership approaches might be best suited in times of broad reaching crises? The author explores transformative and creative leadership approaches and approaches and attributes of leadership that are often displayed by women leaders. In times of widespread personal crises that extends outside the immediate workplace, for example hurricane destruction or pandemic, it may be that a communal approach to leadership, based in honesty and compassion and traditionally attributed to women leadership style, might be the appropriate choice.

Balancing Career and Caregiving Roles in the Midst of a Global Pandemic

This chapter introduces the audience to the world of four females working in higher education during COVID-19. The narratives provide a glimpse into the roles women in the workforce and specifically mothers in academia played and continue to play throughout the global pandemic of 2020 and 2021. In each narrative, the authors discuss the mental, emotional, physical, and relational tolls of striving to balance the many roles faced during the global pandemic. After exploring personal experiences, the authors look to the future and provide recommendations for how universities can strive to advocate for their female employees, specifically women of color and women serving in caregiver roles, in the forthcoming policies and initiatives.

Women Higher Education Administrators

In the multiple crises of 2020, a common narrative emerged about the effectiveness of women leaders in responding at the local, national, and international levels. Their behaviors suggested a reliance on adaptation. As microcosms of the social structures in which they exist, postsecondary institutions are not exempt from the task of leadership through crises; however, little is known about women leaders in higher education administration in times of crisis. Though having the ability to adapt has shown to be paramount for organizational success and thriving, it is virtually unknown whether women higher education leaders take an adaptive approach during crises. Thus, the authors went beyond recent headlines to understand women higher education leaders in contexts riddled with crises. Findings provide illustrative evidence of the six tenets of adaptive leadership to inform practice and future research.