Breaking through the glass ceiling : a case study of women in three institutions of higher education in Lebanon

Abstract

Purpose -- the purpose of this study is to explore the barriers that hinder women’s advancement to leadership positions in higher education institutions in Lebanon, based on the perception of female academics in three prestigious universities that follow the American system in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach -- the research is qualitative. The literature review and face to face semi-structured interview are adopted to have a holistic understanding of the glass ceiling type barriers in academia. The in-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 34 academic women who have different academic ranks and administrative positions. Findings -- the findings suggest that despite educational attainment and devotion, female academics still face discrimative practices that hinder their advancement. The Middle-Eastern patriarchal society still favors men in senior positions and confines women into less influential roles. Research limitations/implications -- the research limitation is that it only investigates universities that follow the American system. Another limitation is sampling procedure; purposive sampling was used to gauge the opinion of female academics on the issue but the method was maximum variation sampling in order to investigate the subject from different angles. Practical implications -- this paper provides insights of the internal structural barriers that face female academics, who are able to balance family and work, and still cannot advance in their career. The findings suggest that internal structural barriers exist, not written barriers but practices that form the invisible barrier, the glass ceiling. Originality/value -- the originality of this paper is that it did not look at barriers that women encounter as related to family-work conflict, but at the internal structural barriers that hinder women advancement taking into consideration the socio-cultural beliefs.