Women in Senior Leadership Roles: A Quantitative Analysis of Representation Across Texas Public Universities

The quantitative study examined women in leadership positions in academic and non-academic roles across 36 public institutions in Texas. Despite women attaining higher levels of educational credentials than men (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023), they remain underrepresented in senior leadership roles. Using secondary data from publicly available sources, the study analyzed proportional measures of women's representation in faculty and leadership positions. Descriptive statistics were used to describe leadership representation; multiple regression analyses examined whether faculty gender composition predicted leadership outcomes; and a one-way analysis of variance assessed differences across university systems. Faculty data were available for 34 institutions. Results showed that approximately 39% of senior academic and non-academic leadership positions were held by women, falling short of parity. The regression analysis demonstrated that neither the proportion nor the total number of women faculty significantly predicted women’s leadership representation. Additionally, no statistically significant differences were found across multi-institutional systems. The findings suggest that women's advancement into senior leadership roles is influenced less by faculty pipeline representation and more by institutional-level factors. The study highlights the need to focus on equity- focused leadership practices and structural reforms to promote more inclusive advancement pathways within higher education.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education, Leadership, and Organization

Grantor

Texas Woman's University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Doring, Kari

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fredrickson, Rebecca

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ausburn, Jerry
• Trujillo-Jenks, Laura
• Tabor, Joshua

• Leadership
• Women representation

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/11274/17829

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:twu-ir.tdl.org:11274/17829