International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 9, Issue 2 (February 2022), Pages: 41-54

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 Original Research Paper

 Title: Breaking through the glass ceiling: The three-dimensional model (Macro, Meso and Micro) towards promoting women participation in an academic context: Insights from a mixed-methods approach

 Author(s): Nouf N. Altamimi 1, *, Reem A. Alali 1, Hala F. Eid 2, Firyal A. Alhkbani 3, Ashwag A. Al-Haqbani 3

 Affiliation(s):

 1Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
 2Bisha University, Bisha, Saudi Arabia
 3Ministry of Education, Al-Kharj, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  Full Text - PDF          XML

 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7622-3038

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2022.02.005

 Abstract:

This study aimed at bridging this gap and proposed a Three-Dimensional Model (Macro, Meso, and Micro). It also attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the glass ceiling, which limits women's participation in higher decision-making positions and determined how to overcome these barriers. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach. Three exploratory workshops involving 65 academic women leaders were conducted at three Saudi universities. This was followed by a field survey of the overall population involving 213 female leaders. Then six interviews of 35 female leaders were conducted. The results of the field survey illustrated the barriers preventing women from career development. According to the participants, the most challenging barriers at the institutional level were related to administrative and organizational aspects. They were followed by the barriers related to institutional culture. The social and personal barriers were ranked the last. The results of the interviews also revealed a set of ideas, which proposed methods to support women's progress to senior positions. They included political authority, policy development, open-door policy, adherence to the standards for selecting leaders based on competence, continuous evaluation, and professional development. The important role of the academic woman leader in the development of her career requires her to take responsibility for her professional growth and meet the requirements of the leadership role. The study recommends a comprehensive and profound treatment of the glass ceiling phenomenon. The study recommends a comprehensive training plan to support the skills, experiences, and capabilities of qualified women to occupy academic leadership. Benefiting from international expertise regarding this issue is highly recommended. There must be continuous monitoring and analysis of some quantitative and qualitative indicators based on an accurate database related to the academic empowerment of Saudi women. 

 © 2022 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Academic leaders, Glass ceiling, Saudi universities, Saudi women

 Article History: Received 10 June 2021, Received in revised form 4 October 2021, Accepted 30 November 2021

 Acknowledgment 

The authors extend their gratitude to the Deputyship for Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia for funding this research work through project No. 554000. They also extend their sincere thanks to Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University for the support and attention, which was a major factor in the completion of this research.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Altamimi NN, Alali RA, and Eid HF et al. (2022). Breaking through the glass ceiling: The three-dimensional model (Macro, Meso and Micro) towards promoting women participation in an academic context: Insights from a mixed-methods approach. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 9(2): 41-54

 Permanent Link to this page

 Figures

 Fig. 1 Fig. 2

 Tables

 Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8  

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