Women and Gender Relations in University Management

Abstract

Underrepresentation of women in decision-making mechanisms is an important problem in terms of gender equality in Turkey and in the world. Feminist research in recent years, have drawn attention to the impact of gender on women's under-representation in management of bureaucratic organizations that is supposed to be gender-neutral by mainstream approaches. Based on data obtained from questionnaires and in-depth interviews with women academics and administrators working in a higher education institution, this study questions the issue of low representations of women in a public university management from a gender perspective. The findings show that, women academics have no perception of "gender discrimination" as such that affect low representation of women academics at university management. However, women academics face some gender-based difficulties, which led them to detach themselves from senior management. Keywords: Bureaucracy, gender, gender discrimination in management, glass ceiling, women in university management.