A Review of Women and Leadership in Tertiary Education in Cameroon: Adversities and Implications for Productivity
- November 15, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: Education, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue XI, November 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Vanity Mugob Nshukwi1, Titanji Peter Fon2, Joseph Besong Besong3
1,3Department of Educational Foundations and Administration Faculty of Education ,University of Buea. P O Box 63, Buea Southwest Region, Cameroon
2Faculty of Education, University of Bamenda P O Box 39, Bambili Northwest Region, Cameroon
ABSTRACT:- This paper is anchored on leadership and women in tertiary education in Cameroon with a focus on productivity from the perspective of these women. The review dwells on the premise that possibilities for floundering among women leaders abound with adverse consequences on their productivity. There are multifold concerns regarding women in leadership positions within higher education institutions ranging from: ability to manage work and family responsibilities, difficulty of receiving adequate mentoring from women with greater longevity and issues related to gender bias. While these adversities exist, there is seemingly a low key empathetic and supportive response from their male counterparts. Albeit these challenges, this paper examines the status quo through the lenses of a conceptual review to comprehend what literature has posited in respect to the topic under discourse. While the paper acknowledges the paucity of empirical works that have investigated the topic within the context of Cameroon, calls are equally made for more research to understand women in leadership positions within higher education institutions in Cameroon as well as some possible recommendations to remedy the challenges they face. Primarily, the male administrators may engage in behavioural adjustments towards female colleagues, support the activities of their female counterparts due to their extra responsibilities and equally show more empathy to their female co-workers.
Keywords: Women, Leadership, Tertiary Education, Productivity
Introduction
Worldwide enrolment of women in higher education now exceeds that of men. Women’s participation in higher education as a result of the expansion of both capacity and opportunity has increased six-fold over the last four decades (McDaniel, 2014). Nevertheless, this good news does not go any further as this rise in female enrolments has failed to be reflected in the growth in number of women in senior leadership roles in universities (Morley & Crossouard, 2015). This trend recurs at continental and regional levels as the Global Education Monitoring Report (2018)
