Volume 9, Issue 2 (February 2022), Pages: 41-54
----------------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------------
References (41)
- Abalkhail JM (2017). Women and leadership: Challenges and opportunities in Saudi higher education. Career Development International, 22(2): 165-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-03-2016-0029 [Google Scholar]
- Al-Asfour A, Tlaiss HA, Khan SA, and Rajasekar J (2017). Saudi women’s work challenges and barriers to career advancement. Career Development International, 22(2): 184-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-11-2016-0200 [Google Scholar]
- Alghofaily L (2019). Women leadership in higher education in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Social Sciences, 8(2): 14-32. https://doi.org/10.20472/SS2019.8.2.002 [Google Scholar]
- Al-Moamary MS, Al-Kadri HM, Al-Moamary SM, and Tamim HM (2020). The leadership authenticity of women in the academic setting. Health Professions Education, 6(1): 99-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpe.2019.05.006 [Google Scholar]
- Alotaibi FT (2020). Saudi women and leadership: Empowering women as leaders in higher education institutions. Open Journal of Leadership, 9(03): 156-177. [Google Scholar]
- Alsubaie A and Jones K (2017). An overview of the current state of women’s leadership in higher education in Saudi Arabia and a proposal for future research directions. Administrative Sciences, 7(4): 36. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci7040036 [Google Scholar]
- Alsubhi AA, Hoque KE, and Razak AZ (2018). Workplace barriers and leadership conflicts experienced by the women in higher education in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Learning and Development, 8(2): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijld.v8i2.13007 [Google Scholar]
- Awang-Hashim R, Noman M, and Kaur A (2016). Women leadership in higher education: Can the glass ceiling be broken. The NIEW Journal, 8: 4-11. [Google Scholar]
- Aydin E (2016). Interrogating women’s leadership and empowerment. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 31(2): 154-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-08-2015-0072 [Google Scholar]
- Balasubramanian SA and Lathabhavan R (2017). Women’s glass ceiling beliefs predict work engagement and burnout. Development, 36(9): 1125-1136. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-12-2016-0282 [Google Scholar]
- Bodolica V, Spraggon M, and Tofan G (2016). A structuration framework for bridging the macro–micro divide in healthcare governance. Health Expectations, 19(4): 790-804. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12375 [Google Scholar] PMid:26072929 PMCid:PMC5152727
- Boeren E (2016). Lifelong learning participation in a changing policy context: An interdisciplinary theory. Springer, Berlin, Germany. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137441836 [Google Scholar]
- Creswell JW and Guetterman TC (2019). Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. 6th Edition, Pearson, Boston, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Dandan MM and Marques AP (2017). Higher education leadership and gender gap in Jordan. Asian Development Policy Review, 5(3): 131-139. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.107.2017.53.131.139 [Google Scholar]
- Denisi AS and Griffin RW (2005). Human resource management. 2nd Edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Estoque RC (2020). A review of the sustainability concept and the state of SDG monitoring using remote sensing. Remote Sensing, 12: 1770. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111770 [Google Scholar]
- Gazzaz L (2017). Renaissance of Saudi Women leaders’ achievement. Ph.D. Dissertation, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK. [Google Scholar]
- Giddens A (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Hardcastle MAR, Usher KJ, and Holmes CA (2005). An overview of structuration theory and its usefulness for nursing research. Nursing Philosophy, 6(4): 223-234. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-769X.2005.00230.x [Google Scholar] PMid:16135214
- Hartmann E (2017). Violence: Constructing an emerging field of sociology. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 11: a623. https://doi.org/10.4119/ijcv-3092 [Google Scholar]
- Hodges J (2017). Cracking the walls of leadership: Women in Saudi Arabia. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 32(1): 34-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-11-2015-0106 [Google Scholar]
- Huis MA, Hansen N, Otten S, and Lensink R (2017). A three-dimensional model of women’s empowerment: Implications in the field of microfinance and future directions. Frontiers in Psychology, 8: 1678. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01678 [Google Scholar] PMid:29033873 PMCid:PMC5625566
- Jackson JF, O'Callaghan EM, and Leon RA (2014). Measuring glass ceiling effects in higher education: Opportunities and challenges: New directions for institutional research, number 159. John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, USA. [Google Scholar]
- Jamjoom LA (2020). The narratives of Saudi women leaders in the workplace: A postcolonial feminist study. Ph.D. Dissertation, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. [Google Scholar]
- Jaspal R, Carriere KR, and Moghaddam FM (2016). Bridging Micro, Meso, and Macro processes in social psychology. In: Valsiner J, Marsico G, Chaudhary N, Sato T, and Dazzani V (Eds.), Psychology as the science of human being: 265-276. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21094-0_15 [Google Scholar]
- Johns ML (2013). Breaking the glass ceiling: Structural, cultural, and organizational barriers preventing women from achieving senior and executive positions. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 10: 1-11. [Google Scholar]
- Karakiliç NY (2019). Evaluation of glass ceiling syndrome in terms of gender discrimination perception. Yönetim ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, 17(2): 214-233. [Google Scholar]
- Lyness KS and Grotto AR (2018). Women and leadership in the United States: Are we closing the gender gap? Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5: 227-265. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104739 [Google Scholar]
- McKimm J, Da Silva AS, Edwards S, Greenhill J, and Taylor C (2015). Women and leadership in medicine and medical education: International perspectives. In: Tsouroufli M (Ed.), Gender, careers and inequalities in medicine and medical education: International perspectives: 69-98. Volume 2, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, UK. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-233320150000002005 [Google Scholar]
- Mulligan C (2019). How to empower Saudi women in the labor force. The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), Riyadh, KSA. [Google Scholar]
- Omair M, Alharbi A, Alshangiti A, Tashkandy Y, Alzaid S, Almahmud R, and Binhazzaa S (2020). The Saudi women participation in development index. Journal of King Saud University-Science, 32(1): 1233-1245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2019.10.007 [Google Scholar]
- Powell GN (2012). Six ways of seeing the elephant: The intersection of sex, gender, and leadership. Gender in Management, 27(2): 119-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542411211214167 [Google Scholar]
- Rauhaus BM and Carr IAS (2020). The invisible challenges: Gender differences among public administration faculty. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 26(1): 31-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2018.1565040 [Google Scholar]
- Saleem S, Rafiq A, and Yusaf S (2017). Investigating the glass ceiling phenomenon: An empirical study of glass ceiling’s effects on selection-promotion and female effectiveness. South Asian Journal of Business Studies, 6(3): 297-313. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAJBS-04-2016-0028 [Google Scholar]
- Serpa S and Ferreira CM (2019). Micro, Meso and Macro levels of social analysis. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 7: 120-124. https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v7i3.4223 [Google Scholar]
- Thompson MC (2015). Saudi women leaders: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Arabian Studies, 5(1): 15-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2015.1050880 [Google Scholar]
- Trumbic T (2020). Women, business and the law 2020. No. 145417, The World Bank, Washington, USA. [Google Scholar]
- UNESCO (2016). World social science report 2016: Challenging inequalities: Pathways to a just world. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France. [Google Scholar]
- Varshney D (2019). The strides of the Saudi female workforce: Overcoming constraints and contradictions in transition. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(2): 359-372. [Google Scholar]
- WEF (2018). The global gender gap report 2018. World Economic Forum, Cologny, Switzerland. [Google Scholar]
- Wilson E (2014). Diversity, culture and the glass ceiling. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 21(3): 83-89. [Google Scholar]
|