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Exploring the Leadership Journeys of Women in Uk Higher Education REACHING THE TOP OF THE IVORY TOWER: EXPLORING THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEYS OF WOMEN IN UK HIGHER EDUCATION By Wendy Fox Kirk Resubmission of thesis to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Birmingham Business School No. of words 70,076 College of Social Sciences University of Birmingham March 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This exploratory theory building research examines women’s leadership journeys within Higher Education in the UK. It takes a critical management perspective and draws on Bourdieu’s Social Action theory to provide a view through a new lens to answer the following question. Why, despite advances in equality legislation and policy, are there still so few women in powerful leadership positions in the UK HE sector? A positive deviance sampling approach was used to identify women who have reached very senior positions in HE in pre- 1992 universities in the UK. Analysis of career narratives was conducted focusing on women’s world views and drawing on their sensemaking to provide new insights into how gender and power shape the modern, complex world of work. Findings demonstrate that structural power inequalities persist resulting in discrimination and sexism throughout women’s career journeys. Bourdieu’s concepts of the field, capital, habitus and symbolic violence are used to shine a light on the key role of cultural hegemony and symbolic violence. The concept of the internalisation of structural constraints, resulting in psychological constraints to agency and action is introduced. Research Question: What do the career narratives of women in senior leadership positions in elite UK universities illuminate about the reasons for the persistent dearth of women in positions of power? ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Undertaking this PhD has been a truly life-changing experience for me and it would not have been possible without the support and guidance that I received from many people. I would like to first say a very big thank you to my supervisor Professor Joanne Duberley for her unending support and encouragement throughout. Without her guidance and constant feedback this thesis would not have been achievable. I’m also grateful for the insightful and thoughtful feedback from Professor Laurie Cohen and Professor Fiona Carmichael. Many thanks also to Birmingham’s Business School and its staff, especially Marleen Van Stockem, for both funding support and guidance through administrative processes related to my PhD field work. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support I received towards my PhD from Professor Richard Lilford, without which I would never have started this educational journey. I would also like to thank all those who agreed to participate, your contributions are the foundations of this study. I have been very fortunate to have had support from others at different points in the development of this work. I will always remember and be thankful for the iii mentoring and guidance I had from my first supervisor Dr. Max Boisot. His deep love of all things intellectual was highly infectious and I will forever be grateful to him for introducing me to the field of epistemology. Although he has left us now, I do hope that his family recognises the enormous impact he had on his students. During the middle phase, as with many PhD students, I had doubts about my ability to continue. At this time I had the benefit of the support of some great thinkers who took the time to listen and to share their insights, thank you to Dr. Patricia Jones, Dr. Stephen Kempster and Dr. Paul Lewis. In the latter days, support came from my new colleagues at Weber state University. I would like to say a special thank you to Dr. Michael J. Stevens who has become a mentor and a friend and to the Dean of the Goddard School of Business and Economics, Dr. Jeff Steagall for his patience and confidence in me. Finally, I would also like to say a heartfelt thank you to my family and friends for always believing in me and encouraging me to follow my dreams. iv List of Tables Table 1. Interviews by University Type ........................................................................ 157 Table 2. Interviews by Academic Discipline ................................................................ 157 Table 3. Interviews by Organisational Role ................................................................ 158 Table 4. Interviews by Organisational Size (No. of Students) ..................................... 159 Table 5. Interviews by World Ranking Position (Times Higher 2014) .......................... 159 Table 6. Example of Theme Development Through Analytical Stages ....................... 163 Table 7. Managerialism by Organisational Type ......................................................... 165 Table 8. Organisational Support by Organisation Type ............................................... 166 Table 9. Networking by Organisation Type ................................................................. 168 Table 10. Family socialisation by Academic Discipline ............................................... 169 Table 11. Participants by Categories........................................................................... 179 v Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Where are the Women?............................................................................... 3 1.2 Education a Female Profession? ................................................................. 5 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................ 9 2.1 Exploring Women’s Careers ...................................................................... 12 3 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................. 95 3.1 Ontologicial and Epistemological Stance ................................................... 95 3.2 Bourdieu’s Theory of Social Action .......................................................... 103 3.3 Conceptualising Gender .......................................................................... 112 4 Methodology ............................................................................................... 119 4.1 Epistemological Position .......................................................................... 119 4.2 Research Strategy ................................................................................... 124 4.3 Reflexivity ................................................................................................ 128 4.4 Methods for Data Collection and Analysis ............................................... 131 4.5 Research Procedure ................................................................................ 146 4.6 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 161 4.7 Ethical Concerns ..................................................................................... 170 4.8 A Reflexive Account ................................................................................ 173 vi 5 Findings ...................................................................................................... 176 5.1 The Participants ....................................................................................... 177 5.2 Structural Power – HE a Gendered Field................................................. 184 5.3 The Impact of Cultural Norms and Hegemonic Discourses ..................... 221 5.4 Symbolic Violence – Women Blaming and Policing Themselves ............ 248 6 Discussion .................................................................................................. 259 7 Conclusion and Implications ....................................................................... 272 7.1 Implications of Findings ........................................................................... 272 7.2 Research Limitations ............................................................................... 275 7.3 Suggestions for Future Research ............................................................ 277 7.4 Implications for Organisational Change ................................................... 280 8 Appendices ................................................................................................. 283 8.1 Introductory Email .................................................................................... 283 8.2 Participant Information Sheet .................................................................. 285 8.3 Research Participant Consent Form ........................................................ 288 8.4 Interview Agenda ..................................................................................... 289 8.5 List of Equivalent Titles for Senior Roles in UK Universities .................... 292 9 References ................................................................................................
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