Frank and Fearless: Supporting Academic Career Progression for Women in an Australian Program
1
Business School, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia
2
School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Adm. Sci. 2018, 8(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci8010005
Received: 20 December 2017
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Revised: 10 February 2018
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Accepted: 22 February 2018
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Published: 27 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perspectives on Women’s Higher Education Leadership from around the World)
The underrepresentation of women in senior positions continues to be a major challenge in higher education and most other industries. In Australia, the career trajectory for academic women stalls at a lower level than that of their male counterparts. Concern about this situation in one Australian university led to the design and delivery of a career progression program to support women’s advancement from senior lecturer to associate professor. This study details the main features of the program, designed to facilitate women’s transition from being leading academics to academic leaders through a focus on leadership and career progression. We report the participants’ perceptions of its value based on survey data. We conclude that leadership development is difficult work and requires a supportive environment where risk-taking is encouraged, where frank and fearless feedback is provided, and where the individual is required to examine assumptions and biases and to assume a leadership identity.
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Keywords:
academic careers; gender; higher education; career progression; leadership
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MDPI and ACS Style
Parker, P.; Hewitt, B.; Witheriff, J.; Cooper, A. Frank and Fearless: Supporting Academic Career Progression for Women in an Australian Program. Adm. Sci. 2018, 8, 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci8010005
AMA Style
Parker P, Hewitt B, Witheriff J, Cooper A. Frank and Fearless: Supporting Academic Career Progression for Women in an Australian Program. Administrative Sciences. 2018; 8(1):5. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci8010005
Chicago/Turabian StyleParker, Polly, Belinda Hewitt, Jennifer Witheriff, and Amy Cooper. 2018. "Frank and Fearless: Supporting Academic Career Progression for Women in an Australian Program" Administrative Sciences 8, no. 1: 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci8010005
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