Women at the Threshold of the Presidency: Interim Female Leadership and Male-Dominated Headship at Northern Caribbean University

Women have become increasingly visible throughout higher education as students, academics, administrators and senior managers, yet the university presidency remains disproportionately male in many national and institutional contexts. This study examines that leadership paradox at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Jamaica, through the interim presidencies of Professor Marilyn J. Anderson in 2016–2017 and Dr Vivienne L. Quarrie in 2026. Using a qualitative historical case-study and critical gendered-organisational analysis, the paper reconstructs NCU's presidential succession, examines the professional trajectories of Anderson and Quarrie, and evaluates the institutional significance of women being entrusted with presidential authority temporarily while permanent presidential appointments have remained male-dominated. The study addresses a specific gap in the literature because scholarship on women in higher-education leadership has extensively examined glass ceilings, gendered organisations, role incongruity and the glass cliff, but little research has investigated how interim female presidencies may coexist with the continued masculinisation of permanent headship in Caribbean faith-based higher education. The analysis finds that both women possessed substantial academic-administrative credentials before assuming interim leadership and that their appointments provide evidence of recognised executive capability; however, the temporary character of both presidencies, followed by permanent male appointments, raises important questions concerning succession pathways, symbolic inclusion, institutional norms and the difference between being considered capable of holding presidential authority and being selected to own the presidency permanently. The paper proposes the concept of the Interim Leadership Paradox, through which women can cross the operational threshold of the presidency without necessarily crossing the institutional threshold of permanent presidential succession, and argues that NCU should move from episodic female headship towards transparent, gender-inclusive executive succession systems.

Northern Caribbean University; women presidents; female leadership; higher education; interim presidency; gendered organisations; glass ceiling; glass cliff; Jamaica

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