Developing a Gender-Equitable Leadership Framework

• In Event: Research Studies on Female Executive Leadership

Short Description

This presenter will describe the process of the development of a unique leadership framework that advocates for gender equity among leadership practices. Grounded in feminist theory and framed using the UN Women’s HeForShe movement, this newly developed framework aims to advance female leadership throughout post-secondary institutions.

Detailed Abstract

The best decisions are made when multiple and diverse perspectives are taken into account (Eagly & Chin, 2010). As those in leadership positions are often tasked with making tough decisions, diversity among leadership teams is critical to effective and productive outcomes (Eagly & Chin, 2010). Despite the need for diversity, gender representation is often lacking as there is a strong under-representation of women in leadership positions (Eagly & Carli, 2004). There are many reasons that underpin a lack of diversity, all of which connect to systemic barriers that simply make it more difficult for women to advance professionally (Blau & Hahn, 2006; Grodsky & Pager, 2001). Various attempts have been made to combat gender issues within leadership (e.g. affirmative action in the United States), but to date, none have addressed long-term, comprehensive, sustainable gender equity (Zweigenhaft & Domhoff, 2006). Indeed, what previous attempts have demonstrated, is that gender equity within leadership is a systemic issue, and thus, surface-level policies will not create equity and long term change. One solution lies with changing the way leadership is understood, supported, and proactively organized within institutions. With this in mind, this presentation explores the creation of a leadership development program for all genders, but with targeted aspects for those who self-identify as women. Grounded in feminist theory, the presentation described here facilitates an equitable leadership program that encourages, educates, and advances women into leadership positions. Moreover, the program then supports and rewards women once they are in leadership positions.
The development of the leadership program was grounded in a university in Southern Ontario’s participation in the UN Women’s HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 movement. The UN Women is a subsidiary of the United Nations that is dedicated to the empowerment of women and gender equality (UN Women, 2016). To further their mission of the empowerment of women, the UN Women launched the HeForShe movement, focused on engaging men and boys in removing the social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving their potential, and together positively reshaping society. To advance the values and the vision of the HeForShe movement, the UN Women launched the IMPACT 10x10x10 bringing together ten leading universities, ten heads of state, and ten global corporations (HeForShe, 2016). The university used in this project was one of the ten universities that was invited to join, and committed to the IMPACT 10x10x10 in May 2015 and is the context for the current project.
Under the IMPACT 10x10x10 the university made three commitments to gender equity including: increasing female participation in science, technology, engineering, and math outreach experiences and activities; increasing the number of women in faculty positions across all six facilities, and, attracting and advancing female leaders into senior academic and administrative university positions. Women in such roles are integral to the functionality of the university, and thus will serve as positive role models for students, staff, and faculty who have leadership aspirations.
At the outset of the commitment to the IMPACT 10x10x10 campaign, 24.5 percent of the university’s senior academic and administrative leaders were female. Our commitment is to raise that number to 29.5% by end of the IMPACT 10x10x10 in 2020. To achieve this commitment, the aforementioned leadership development program was created. The elements of the leadership program emerged through a literature review and round table discussions with female faculty regarding their experiences, aspirations, and perceptions of leadership positions and opportunities on campus. Of the 624 women working in teaching positions as of June 30th, those with an active, fulltime position; non-sabbatical; in tenure, tenure-track, and definite term positions were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion. A total of 302 female faculty received an invitation to participate with 74 faculty attending one of ten roundtable discussions between September 25th and October 22nd 2015.
The comments from the roundtable were thematically analyzed resulting in nine themes: (1) becoming a faculty member at the university, (2) Orientation within a faculty/department, (3) Orientation to faculty benefits, (4) Networking opportunities, (5) Promotion and tenure, (6) Work environment, (7) Diversity within the Workplace, (8) Student issues, and (9) Mentorship/leadership. These thematic areas were then used to craft a professional leadership development program comprised of four main areas: networking, leadership recognition, leadership skills, and mentorship and career sponsorship.
Each of the four themes has specific initiatives to help achieve the overall goal – comprehensive, long-term, sustainable gender equitable leadership thereby contributing to our goal of 29.5% female leadership by 2020. The development and implementation of this leadership development program at the university can provide insight into how an equity driven leadership program can work at other institutions and contribute to society-wide change toward more equitable leadership practices.

Participants

• Marilyn Thompson, University of Waterloo

• Diana Parry, University of Waterloo