Making the glass ceiling visible: vertical segregation in Mongolian public universities

ABSTRACT

This study examined vertical segregation in Mongolian public universities, making the formation of the glass ceiling visible. Due to its socialist foundation, the Mongolian university sector has long been masculinized, wherein the two systems of socialism and democracy exist simultaneously, and this coexistence is clumsy rather than harmonious. Hence, there are two isolated paths towards investigating gender and leadership practices in this sector: political appointments of senior leadership positions from the government and the collegial type of elections in middle management. This study has focused on the more democratic practices of elections in middle management. The main goal of this study was to define what factors the voters/academics consider when they evaluate the candidates competing for leadership positions in Mongolian public universities. A total of 312 academics from Mongolian public universities participated in the survey. The results indicated that academic leadership positions were seen as more of an academic duty rather than a leadership responsibility. Interestingly, males and politically affiliated academics tended to strengthen the masculinized culture, perpetuating the practice of the Boys’ Club in academia.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic leadership
• feminization
• gender stereotypes
• Mongolia
• university sector

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the National University of Mongolia for providing the resources and funding to conduct this research. We thank the participants who contributed their time and experiences to our study. We also appreciate the valuable feedback from the anonymous reviewers and the guidance from the editors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding and ethical approval

This study was supported by the National University of Mongolia Team of Young Researchers Grant [Grant number #P2021-4208]. This study was conducted according to the Faculty Members and Students’ Ethical Code of Conduct at the National University of Mongolia. Available at: https://www.num.edu.mn/Home/Content/399.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anar Purvee

Anar Purvee is Researcher at the University of the Humanities, Mongolia and Co-Founder of Neon Edu, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She completed her doctoral studies in educational leadership at Monash University, Australia. She is a former Senior Lecturer at the National University of Mongolia and Lecturer at the University of the Humanities, Mongolia. Her research interests include leadership, innovation, educational leadership, and gender studies.

Altanchimeg Zanabazar

Altanchimeg Zanabazar is Head of the Department of Management and Associate Professor in Management and Human Resource at the National University of Mongolia. She completed her doctoral study in organizational culture at Mokpo University, South Korea. Her research interests include organizational behaviour, leadership, human resource management, and gender studies.

Erdenedalai Bat-Ulzii

Erdenedalai Bat-Ulzii is Associate Professor in Political Science in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Mongolia. She received her MA and PhD degrees in political science from the National University of Mongolia. Her research interests include democracy, political party, election, voter behaviour, human right, and political research methods.