“It seems the women are taking over": Stereotyping around women in top-level leadership positions in Ghana's universities

Abstract

abstractThis article explores patterns of change in the advancement of academic women’s leadership at universities in Ghana. Referred to as the ‘glass ceiling’, women generally suffered great setbacks in their advancement in leadership positions, although recent events have led to the appointment and election of women into top-level leadership positions at universities. At a conference at the University of Ghana, organised by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa in September 2022, one attendee commented that “It seems the women are taking over”, due to the number of women occupying top-level positions at the university. Existing literature on women’s leadership at the universities have not adequately explored the implications of the recent appointment of women vice-chancellors on the perception of women’s leadership and advancement of the careers of other women at universities. This article sets out to investigate the challenges women face in the advancement of their careers, and implications of the recent appointment of women into leadership positions. Using a feminist decolonial lens, it inductively analyses semi-structured interviews with key academic women as well as men in leadership positions at selected universities, backed with the authors’ experience as female academics, and employment records. It adds to knowledge on the gradual advancement of women to top leadership positions at universities.keywords: universities, women academics, women’s leadership, feminist decoloniality, glass ceiling Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 In Ghana the senior management level used here refers to both academic and administrative professionals such as Professors, Senior Lecturers, Senior Researchers, Registrars, Deputy Registrars, Finance Officers, Deputy Finance Officers and other analogous positions in higher education institutions (Adu-Oppong, Aikins & Darko Citation2017).Additional informationNotes on contributorsEugenia AB AndersonEUGENIA AMA BREBA ANDERSON is an adjunct lecturer and feminist historian affiliated with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. She holds an MPhil and a PhD in Historical Studies, specialising in the gender question in Social Movements in Africa through the lens of student activism. Her expertise cuts across variant research themes and methods, with a key interest in student activism, gender, higher education, and healthcare. She is currently a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, working on decolonisation and student activism in postcolonial African universities. She is part of a Feminist Africa Research Consortium on religious digital activism in Africa. Email: amaeugenia24@gmail.comNora K NonterahNORA KOFOGNOTERA NONTERAH is an ethicist and a lecturer in the Religious Studies Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Her research focus is on how the study of religions has a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of people and its relevance for holistic education in contemporary societies. Her research interests include peacebuilding, social justice, women’s development, religious education, social ethics, interreligious dialogue, human rights, and the safeguarding of minors. Email: nnonterah@gmail.comMargaret M TayviahMargaret M. TAYVIAH is a Lecturer at the Department of Religious Studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. She is a historian of religions and her areas of expertise and research are Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations. Email: makafuimtavyiah@gmail.comSally Opoku AgyemanSALLY OPOKU AGYEMAN is a teaching/research assistant in the Department of History and Political Studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. Her research interests include gender history, environmental history and economic history. Email: sallyopoku.a@gmail.comRufai MahamiRUFAI MAHAMI is a teaching/research assistant in the Department of History and Political Studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and his research interests include traditional leadership, gender, and science and technological history. Email: rufaibelzy@gmail.com