Women’s presence in managerial positions at Spanish universities is still far from being equal to men’s, especially regarding the top positions in the hierarchy. This article will discuss the results obtained by two consecutive inquiries into the leadership styles, training needs and power bases deployed by women (the first study) and men (the second) in charge of higher education organizations. It focuses on the first, descriptive stage of the two studies, based on an ad hoc questionnaire that was responded to by 136 women and 129 men. The data were processed using SPSS 11.0. Results showed only subtle differences between the leadership styles deployed by the two groups. As no dramatic differences between male and female leaders were found, it is suggested that research into higher education organizations from a gender perspective should rather focus on the way both men and women managers tackle specific problems and situations instead of seeking differences between their leadership styles.
Sánchez-Moreno, M., López-Yáñez, J., & Altopiedi, M. (2014). Liderazgo en la universidad: perfil de mujeres y hombres gestores académicos. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 12(5),
21-42.
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