Gender stereotypes in higher education: academic leadership as a way to neutralize social risks

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to study gender stereotypes in the field of Russian higher education, where, in the context of updated modernization measures at the organizational, personnel, functional, and socio-motivational levels, gender stereotypes as awareness of gender differences being socially and professionally determined contain real and potential risks of dysfunction and stagnation of higher education. The authors of the article in the formulation of the problem note that a new gender order has been formed, aimed at achieving gender proportions, but not eliminating the -glass ceiling‖ effect in gender relations. As the results of sociological studies show, even in the current situation, the personnel -bias‖, the dominance of men in the management of higher education, the leadership of research groups and the maintenance of the image of a -wise mentor‖ in relations with young people, compared with women-actors of higher education, who are given the opportunity to realize cognitive resources, but the bar of low career expectations is stated. As a result, the authors of the article come to the conclusion that in Russian higher education, despite certain positive changes in gender relations, the new gender order, being a step forward compared to the previous Soviet period, where the equality of men and women was a consequence of the consolidation of gender disparities, does not contain a trend of fundamental changes through a radical revision of existing gender stereotypes. Thus, we can say that Russian higher education is influenced by gender stereotypes as barriers to improving the efficiency of the educational system, moving along the trajectory of academic leadership, for which the priority is to create equal conditions for academic mobility and academic career for higher education actors, regardless of gender stereotypes.