Navigating the river Nile: the chronicle of female academics in Ethiopian higher education

ABSTRACT

Beyond the statistics, the underlying causes for women’s absence as academics and leaders in higher education institutions (HEIs) in sub-Saharan African countries have not been sufficiently understood. Taking Ethiopia as an example, this study offers unique insights into the careers of female academic staff. The study employed exploratory sequential mixed method design using secondary analysis of nationwide data, institutional survey, and a follow-up qualitative in-depth interview with 13 female full-time academic staff purposively selected from three major public HEIs. The findings reveal that relative to men, the likelihood that women academics hold the rank of ‘lecturer’ decreases by 50% while the probability of assuming assistant professorship or above declines by 72%. Furthermore, it was found that women’s entry into, and success in academia is impacted by complex set of factors ranging from hegemonic gender beliefs that trigger the use of double standards disfavoring women to deliberate exclusion during selection, employment, promotion, and appointment in leadership positions. Finally, the implications for policy and human resource management practices of HEIs are identified.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic leadership
• academic rank
• gender
• higher education
• women
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Louise Yorke, Research Associate, Cambridge University, UK and Alexandra Trant, a graduate student at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for reading the earlier version of this article and for their valuable suggestions and excellent language editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Tesfaye Semela is professor of educational psychology and sociology of education at the College of Education, and Director of the Center for Policy and Development Studies, Hawassa University, Ethiopia. Professor Semela is a Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS), and a recipient of the prestigious research fellowship award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

Hirut Bekele (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Policy and Development Research and School of Governance and Development Studies, Hawassa University. Dr. Bekele is a Development and Gender Specialist with local and international experiences in the academia and development works. She has published her works in journals and as book chapters in the field of gender, microfinance and food security. Currently, Dr. Bekele is engaged in different researches in the areas of women in higher education leadership, socio-economic and gender analysis studies for adoption of improved seed verities, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and reviewing policies and institutional arrangements related to urban green infrastructure.

Rahel Abraham (M.A) is a lecturer in curriculum and instruction at the School of Teacher Education and Professional Development, College of Education, Hawassa University, Ethiopia. Her research interest include gender and curriculum development, women in teaching and school governance.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NORHED-DEG Project [grant number NORHED-DEG SS-D-13/0022], Hawassa University.