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How Job Sharing Can Lead to More Women Achieving Senior Leadership Roles in Higher Education: A UK Study

Author

Listed:
  • Emma Watton

    (Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK)

  • Sarah Stables

    (Stables and Co Innovation Limited, Windermere LA23 1HQ, UK)

  • Steve Kempster

    (Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK)

Abstract

This article explores the opportunity that job sharing offers as a way of encouraging more women into senior management roles in the higher education sector. There is a scarcity of female leadership representation in the higher education context, in particular a lack of female leadership pipeline. The article examines the underlying influences that limit the representation of women in leadership roles. To address these contextual limitations the process of job sharing is offered as a possible solution for harnessing the skills and talents of women in leadership positions in higher education and enabling the development of a leadership pipeline. To illustrate how such job sharing could occur the article provides a detailed vignette of a job share between two senior women leaders within a single UK university context and the positive impact this had on the organisation, the individuals and their leadership development. This article seeks to make a contribution by exploring how leadership job sharing can occur and sets out some recommendations for the adoption, negotiation and establishment of job share structures in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Watton & Sarah Stables & Steve Kempster, 2019. "How Job Sharing Can Lead to More Women Achieving Senior Leadership Roles in Higher Education: A UK Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:7:p:209-:d:245922
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianne Coleman, 2011. "Women and Choices," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Women at the Top, chapter 5, pages 92-114, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Marianne Coleman, 2011. "Women at the Top," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-30678-3, December.
    3. Steve Kempster, 2009. "How Managers Have Learnt to Lead," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-23474-1, December.
    4. Paula Burkinshaw & Kate White, 2017. "Fixing the Women or Fixing Universities: Women in HE Leadership," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Fiona Cannon, 2017. "The Agility Mindset," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-45519-8, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gladys Merma-Molina & Mayra Urrea-Solano & Salvador Baena-Morales & Diego Gavilán-Martín, 2022. "The Satisfactions, Contributions, and Opportunities of Women Academics in the Framework of Sustainable Leadership: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.

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