Dive Brief:
- Of the country’s eight Ivy League schools, half are led by women. But of the 19 non-Ivy League, private universities that are members of the Association of American Universities, only four have had a woman as president in a permanent role at any point since 2000.
- In all, about 25% of higher ed institutions in the country are headed by women presidents, according to analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust will retire at the end of the next academic year, and it is unknown who will replace her, but experts assert that it is important to try to make gender parity a reality in all colleges and universities, arguing that female presidents can offer a different and important perspective for institutions.
Dive Insight:
Beyond just touting leadership equity, there are full-campus benefits to promoting women into leadership roles on campus. For one, research indicates that a single female president in office for ten years could increase the percentage of full-time tenure and tenure-track female professors by 36%. If colleges want to take strides towards gender parity in the profesoriate, they can help offer more robust leadership development options for interested female faculty. Female professors seeking administrative offices often face biases that are difficult to overcome, as do faculty members of color.
As the student population becomes increasingly more diverse, it is imperative that the faculty and administrative ranks reflect the population being served. Not only is it important for success modeling, it is important to have voices represented in the decision-making rooms who understand what students may be facing on campus. The perspective of one who has always been in the majority is very different from someone who finds himself or herself as one of very few like him or her on campus, and having leaders who can identify with those differences is key to promoting an inclusive experience for all students on campus.
Autumn A. Arnett contributed to this piece.