A comparison of university faculty men's and women's aspirations for administrative positions

Since the mid-1960's women have been moving into previously male-dominated professions; one exception, however, has been the administrative hierarchies of universities throughout the United States. Within these institutions of higher education, women continue to hold a low proportion of the top-level administrative positions. Their low representation is often justified on the basis that women have little interest in assuming positions of leadership in college and university administration. The purpose of this study was to determine if women faculty aspire to administrative positions in higher education in the same proportions as do men faculty. The study also sought to compare administrative levels to which both groups aspire and to compare the reasons they have for their interest, or lack of interest, in obtaining an administrative position. In addition, the variables of age, marital status, tenure status, year of tenure review, academic rank, years of teaching experience in higher education, previous administrative experience, and previous encouragement to apply for an administrative position were studied to determine whether they interacted with sex to produce an effect upon administrative aspirations. The study involved all of the land-grant universities established by law in 1862 in the contiguous 48 states. The population included all professors with the rank of assistant or above from 18 departments typically found within Colleges of Arts and Sciences. From each university ten professors, six men and four women, were selected for the study sample. A four-part, four page questionnaire was developed for data collection. A 76 percent response rate provided a usable sample of 331, of which 192 were men and 139 were women. The results of this study showed that men's and women's interests in assuming an administrative position did not differ statistically, however, a slightly higher proportion of women expressed administrative aspirations than did men. There was no difference in the administrative levels to which men and women aspired. While some professors were willing to begin at an assistant or staff position, most men and women sought a line office as their ultimate administrative goal. Generally, men and women respondents held similar reasons for their interest in administration. Both men and women ranked the same three reasons in the same order of importance. They indicated that the primary reasons for their administrative interests were that (1) they would like the challenge of the decision-making aspect of an administrative position, (2) they felt they could ultimately help more people reach their educational goals, and (3) they believed that they could be a more effective administrator than many they knew. Two out of eight personal and academic descriptor variables were found to have had a significant effect on the administrative interests of men and women respondents. Within the variable of age, men, ages 45-65, expressed little interest in an administrative position, while the women indicated a greater interest at this age level than any other age group of men or women. Within the marital status variable, the administrative interests of married men were not as great as the interests of married women. Respondents who reported that they had no interest in an administrative post often stated that they preferred continuing their work as teachers, researchers and/or writers. The second most strongly held position was that respondents did not like administrative responsibilities and/or the people who tended to serve as administrators. Even though some statistical differences were reported, the consistent theme throughout the responses was one of similarity between men and women in their interests in acquiring positions of leadership on university campuses, thereby conclusively laying to rest the assumption that the low representation of women in top level administrative positions in land-grant universities results from a lack of interested female candidates.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration

Department dc:contributor.department

Educational Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1980

Author dc:creator

• Bowker, Jeanette E. Turner

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83223

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/83223