Abstract:
Females face multi-faceted challenges to participate in management position due to different
factors. The purpose of this research is to assess factors which affect female staff members’
participation and to show how to advance their participation in leadership positions. This thesis
is based on the fact that there are less female managers than their counterparts in the
universities. The objective of this study is to assess the factors that affect participation of female
staff members in managerial positions in some selected universities. It also aimed to examine the
major barriers that hinder female staff members from participation in managerial positions and
to evaluate the performance of those women staffs who are manager in their universities. In
order to meet these objectives, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used.
The data was collected by interviewing and conducting questionnaires for both to directorates of
the universities to explore the current management practices in the universities and to assess the
factors for low representation of female staff members in managerial positions. Consequently,
stratified sampling with simple random was used to select the respondents. The findings showed
that female staff members are highly underrepresented in higher level positions due to some
factors such as, personal factors, lack of confidence in terms of proving their managerial
capacity, home life factors, less willingness to take additional burden, high family responsibility
and lack of job division at their home. Absence of affirmative action and less confidence for the
position are also some of the factors deferring females from participation in managerial
positions. Thus, the universities need to implement affirmative action at managerial level, as well
need to set gender criteria while assigning employees at managerial positions. Gender
directorates of universities should also be one of stakeholders as explained in recommendations.
