Workplace Barriers and Leadership Conflicts Experienced by the Women in Higher Education in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Based on the published scholarly works, this paper attempts to explore and accumulate the challenges and barriers that Saudi women leaders in higher education are experiencing in their professional lives. For this purpose, literature review method has been adopted. Relevant scholarly articles published in 2004 to 2017 have been rigorously studied and cited. Findings of this paper suggest that women leaders in higher education generally experience assorted challenges, such as 1) socio-cultural, 2) organizational, 3) economical and 4) personal. They also encounter eight workplace berries, such as 1) gender-based stereotypes, 2) work-life conflict, 3) self-imposed constraints, 4) social network limitations, 5) biased organizational policies, 6) non-gender-based discrimination, 7) inadequate qualification and 8) minimal existing representation. The findings also suggest that these challenges and barriers decrease the job-performances of the women leaders while igniting conflicts with their male counterparts. This paper can be helpful to the policy maker in formulating effective solutions for women leadership conflicts in Saudi Arabia. Besides, it may create new scopes for the researchers and academicians to conduct empirical studies in this very realm.

Breaking through the glass ceiling: The three-dimensional model (Macro, Meso and Micro) towards promoting women participation in an academic context: Insights from a mixed-methods approach

“…Furthermore, it is not an easy road for those who struggle to become leaders (Hodges, 2017). There is another misconception that women can only occupy and maintain a leadership position when they embody men's characteristics (Alsubhi et al, 2018). The stereotype and gender discrimination prevail on a larger scale (Varshney, 2019) and many believe that women must be relationship-oriented, lovely, friendly, and in charge of children.…”

“…The stereotype and gender discrimination prevail on a larger scale (Varshney, 2019) and many believe that women must be relationship-oriented, lovely, friendly, and in charge of children. This perspective does not consider that women have the skills and capabilities for leading roles in many cases (Alsubhi et al, 2018). These stereotypes had an impact on women making them more careful about accessing leadership positions due to reputation fear drives (Hodges, 2017).…”

“…Several studies found that Saudi women are not as involved as the men in formulating strategies and participating in higher discussions as the authority is often assigned to men (Varshney, 2019). In addition, these studies revealed that women were discriminated and they were offered fewer opportunities to be selected and promoted for leadership roles (Hodges, 2017;Alsubhi et al, 2018;Al-Asfour et al, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, the frustrating and uncooperative behaviors of the colleagues are among the most challenging barriers faced by Saudi women leaders (Alsubhi et al, 2018).…”

Impact of Socio-Psychological Barriers on Strategies Employed by Women Leaders in Information Technology Sector in India

“…Many societies promote equal opportunities for women in the workforce, there are often societal values and deeply held cultural schemas that affect women's career and leadership development in organizations (Mate et al, 2018). Women experience assorted challenges, such as sociocultural, organizational, economical and personal and barriers faced including difficulty in work life balance, family responsibility, gender stereotype, gender roles in the socio-cultural practices, bureaucracy and gender inequality (Alsubhi, 2018). Few studies list few strategies adopted to overcome these barriers and those studies revealed how these strategies is helpful to women leaders to achieve successful leadership position (Rahaman and Mizanur, 2018 197 samples required for each cluster based on the target population of the study.…”