Are Indian Higher Education Institutions Doing Their Bit Towards Empowerment of Mid-Career Women?: A Study of Public and Private Universities in India

Introduction

Women currently constitute 48.1% of the population in India and account for 20.3% of the workforce (Catalyst Report, 2020). Though the presence of women has increased exponentially in the tertiary education sector over the past 50 years yet their representation in the upper-level positions in academia remains underwhelming (Bell, 2016). According to the AISHE (2019) report, women hold only 27.3% of professor and equivalent faculty positions in Indian HEIs. The statistics indicate that there is a fall in women participants as one ascends the ranks in academia, with 42.6% assistant professor but only 36.8% associate professor positions being held by women.

While there has been a significant increase in the number of female representatives at middle-level positions in Universities in India; women are rarely seen in top leadership roles. There is also a distinct lack of research on women's leadership in Indian HEIs with very little data on gender representation in staff (Morley & Crossouard, 2015). As per THE (Times Higher Education) Rankings, 2020, less than 7% of Vice-Chancellors in India are women while globally, this number is 20%. As per recent research, a majority (66.22%) of women are stagnant in middle-level positions (Banker & Banker, 2017; Ghara, 2016) in the academic space. According to a study by Singh (2008), women aspirants have found the HEI hiring, work environment, promotion policies and practices prohibitive for reaching leadership positions. This gap between women and men in the corporate world is being bridged through efforts to increase the proportion of women in senior roles. However, HEIs appear to be untouched by these developments (Chanana, 2020). Therefore, higher education institutions must bridge this gap for the women empowerment and career progression of mid-career women.

This underrepresentation of women in top roles can be attributed, in part, to the challenges that women face during the transition into mid-career professionals. The period between 35 and 45 years is considered to be years of transition in an individual’s life (Riekhoff et al., 2021). This period marks a crucial phase for both career and family progression for an individual (Marcinkus et al., 2007). This period is also considered essential for family formation; therefore, women experience career breaks while the male members work to support their families (Kuitto et al., 2019). These breaks in mid-career impact the growth and representation of female employees in top academic positions. Additionally, for female employees, these work-family issues hinder their progress as there is a collision between family needs and the expectations of the employers (Hall, 1986). These unique challenges faced by female employees can be addressed through proactive HR practices that encourage women's leadership. However, such practices are not uniformly adopted by Indian HEIs (Gandhi & Sen, 2020).

Even in HEIs that have implemented policies to create equal opportunities for both genders, women are still awarded fewer promotions as compared to their counterparts (Dobele et al., 2014; Treviño et al., 2018). This is because mid-career women professionals are not able to devote their time to activities that enhance their academic careers due to family pressures on one hand while being burdened with administrative roles (Coate & Howson, 2016) on the other. These administrative roles reduce the time available for performing prestigious activities for career advancement (Coate & Howson, 2016). Women also face difficulties in the path to leadership due to slow and restrictive organisational policies (Beaman et al., 2012).