Breaking Glass Dam: Women's Journey to Faculty Membership

Abstract

Considering the significantly lower percentage of Female Faculty Members (FFMs) compared to Male Faculty Members (MFMs) in Iranian universities, this cross-sectional mixed-methods study aims to identify and prioritise the barriers preventing women's entry into academic positions. Specifically, it explores the challenges faced by female PhD holders in securing such roles. The qualitative phase of this research involved in-depth interviews with 32 faculty members from public universities. These interviews led to the identification of four main categories and 20 initial sub-barriers. In the quantitative phase, a survey was administered to 358 faculty members from public universities in Tehran, and the collected data were analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), resulting in the refinement and validation of four main barriers and 18 sub-barriers. To assess gender-based differences in the perceived importance of these barriers, the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test was employed due to the non-normal distribution of the data. In the final step, the identified barriers were prioritised using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), conducted separately for FFMs and MFMs. This study deepens our understanding of the structural and perceptual barriers that women face in accessing academic positions and provides evidence-based strategies to address these challenges and promote gender equity. As a key theoretical contribution, this research introduces the concept of the ‘Glass Dam’ to describe the subtle and invisible barriers that impede women's entry into professions such as academic roles.