A Critical Review of Gender Parity and Voice Dispossession Among Executive Women in Higher Education Leadership

Postsecondary organizational statistics show women remain limited and underrepresented within presidential and provost appointments, and progress has slowed into the 21st century. This chapter presents a critical review of the current scholarship of gender parity among higher education executive leadership specifically for a construct of voice dispossession. In past work, the authors have discussed how voice dispossession occurs among a dominant past culture and imbalanced power domains amid hierarchical structures for evolving organizational cultures as women often adopt a filtered voice or make attributional accommodations amidst challenges within these power and gendered organizational structures. This chapter extends the conversation by examining this focus within the larger body of research into women in higher education executive leadership to reveal limits of access and career success. While these power domains have historically been predominant across North America, parallels exist among other continents.

Role of Women Empowerment in Public and Corporate Leadership

The present study attempts to highlight the social and economic benefits of leadership of Indian women based on past evidence; current trends; challenges faced and the path forward in the public and corporate arena. Women empowerment has been a vital issue that has come to limelight in the recent years. Despite numerous government schemes and policy decisions, women in India remain deprived of equal opportunities in terms of education, employment and skill development. Many social scientists have derived that economic independence plays a vital role in ensuring that women get equal opportunities in the society and thereby enjoy and benefit from their other rights. This makes women empowerment as much of an economic issue as a social one. In corporate and public life, success of policies is determined by decisions that incorporate the viewpoints of both men and women. Hence, it becomes essential to understand the nature and extent of gender equality especially in public and corporate leadership and decision making roles. The outcomes of this study from these perspectives will serve to help both sectors in narrowing the gender bias in leadership roles.

Gender Relations in the Black Church

This chapter examines the lived experiences of women in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and presents a model for partnership in leadership with clerics and churchwomen. The model is based on the premise of the visionary founder and “Chief Apostle” of this denomination. Histories of churchwomen in this organization portray them as staunch supporters of ministries in the church. Women in leadership roles were defined by the founder as overseers—a term suggesting honorary prestige to women that was equal to clerical positions in the church. Following the death of the founder, however, churchwomen encountered barriers to leadership positions which lowered their status and authority thus impacting their inclusion, agency, and voice in matters of church leadership and governance.

What Does It Mean to Be a “Woman Leader” in Academia?

This chapter seeks to determine how patriarchy and capitalism together work to oppress women in academic leadership positions. In today's globalized world, higher education institutions, both state and private, either have strong ties with the corporate world or are run as if they are corporations themselves. Women who work their way up to management positions in academia are forced to accommodate patriarchal and capitalist ways of leading, which undervalue democratic processes such as getting legitimacy from people and deliberation, as well as other ways of “doing things” or “leading” differently. This study aims to discuss the multi-layered forms of gender-based discrimination in regard to civil status, age, ethnicity, class, and pay differences in academic leadership positions.

Successful Women Leaders

This chapter examines research from the lens of women who are in mid-level and senior-level positions in their organizations. Using Mezirow's framework for transformational learning, these inspiring women leaders shared perceptions of organizational practices, work-family interface, institutional culture, issues of equity and diversity, institutional challenges, and personal mastery; they also defined their actions that contributed to their successes as well as the successes of the organizations they identified with. Additionally, within this chapter, the author compares and contrasts the barriers that limit women's ability to aspire to top leadership positions and examine the roles of their primary and secondary supports (i.e., sponsors, family, mentors, work teams, and peer networks).

Analysis Sustainability of Women's Leadership for Watershed Conservation in the Urban Area

The purpose of this study is to explore the pattern of sustainability of women's leadership roles in watershed management. A quantitative approach did the research. A survey was conducted as a data collection technique. The analysis technique used is the analysis of causality with regression, accompanied by multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis. The quantitative research samples were 120 respondents in 2 cities by purposive sampling (with the criteria of women who actively participated in watershed conservation in urban areas). The results show that women's leadership as environmental activists contribute to the sustainability of watershed management. For the sustainability of women's leadership, it is necessary to integrate social, economic, and ecological dimensions by focusing on aspects of women's empowerment to improve innovation capabilities in change adaptation, access to information and local institutions will support participatory approaches in watershed conservation to increase women's participation.

Gender Inequality in Work Organizations

In this chapter, the author aims to present, through a review of literature, that the gender equality assumption of the human resource management (HRM) approach is not taken for granted. It seems there exist two sides of the same coin, one representing the HRM approach and the other representing the gendered approach to HRM practices. This chapter reviews HRM practices in work organizations as the potential facilitator of gender inequalities in organizations. In addition, the contentious function of HRM practices in maintaining gender inequalities within work organizations is reviewed. In spite of knowing the implication of HRM practices on being a gender-diverse organization, there remain few studies on the relationship between HRM practices and gender inequality in work organizations. Such research will add a different perspective to HRM practices and contribute to the awareness related to the gendered nature of organizations and their organizational practices.

Interim Management Strategy as a Way of Empowering Women Leadership

Although major steps have been taken to increase inclusive representation of women in the workforce, there is a significant gender gap in achieving leadership roles in both developed and developing regions. In particular, many women around the world face serious challenges that prevent them from moving to leadership positions. Women's empowerment approaches are needed in order to have equal access to resources, to participate in decision-making processes, and to support career advancement. Within this context, interim management strategies can be considered as one of the empowering opportunities for women leadership. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the role of interim management on women leaders' empowerment. This is the first attempt that evaluates the notion of interim management as part of empowerment of women's leadership. It is expected to add value to literature on women in leadership positions and corporate decision-making.

Women Entrepreneurship

According to the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), not more than 14% of business establishments are run by female entrepreneurs in India, especially in rural areas. Entrepreneurship is not an easy step for women. It was traditionally considered as a man's bastion, but now with the due course of time, women are coming in the limelight to fulfil their aspiration as it is a fruitful opportunity where educated or illiterates can do wonders to achieve their dreams. Entrepreneurship is the state of mind which every woman has in her but has not been capitalized in India in a way it should have been. With the drastic change in modernization, people are more comfortable to accept the leading role of women in society, with some exceptions.

Creating Inclusive Cultures for Women in Automation and Information Technology Careers and Occupations

Automation will be central to the next phase of business technology transformation, driving new levels of customer value such as faster delivery of products, higher quality and dependability, deeper personalization, and greater convenience. This business transformation phase will require workers with new skills at all levels. There are significant shortages of women in leadership job roles in information technology and automation. There are also significant disparities with pay and opportunities for women in those fields. As a result, it is critical to understand the organizational cultural change strategies that information technology (IT) and automation companies can make to employ more females in information technology and automation positions and address gender pay issues and gender exclusivity issues currently existing in today's workplace. This article intends to influence the world of practice through the execution of a literature review content analysis.