Jenny Neale

Organisational barriers for women in senior management: a comparison of Turkish and New Zealand universities

This paper reports on the second phase of a multi‐country study examining cross‐cultural perspectives of gender and management in universities. The first phase of this research with eight countries found that the representation of women was consistently low, especially at Rector/Vice Chancellor level. In the second phase interviews were conducted with both male and female senior managers including current and former Rectors/Vice Chancellors. The focus of this paper is on the organisational barriers to women becoming and being managers in Turkish and New Zealand universities. Twenty‐four interviews were conducted in Turkey and 26 in New Zealand. Rectors/Vice Chancellors and other senior academic colleagues were found to be crucial in supporting academics into senior management. Barriers discussed include time management and role conflict between work and non‐work life.

Gender and Management in HEIs: Changing organisational and management structures

This paper reports on the second phase of a multi-country study examining cross cultural perspectives of gender and management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It examines the broader labour market context and legislative frameworks for higher education in each country and then analyses the literature on women in university management. The paper presents the findings of research with male and female senior managers about their perceptions of women as HEI managers within changing organisational and management structures. It concludes that although HEI’s are now largely aware of barriers to women getting into and on in senior management, they have not addressed the organisational structures and cultures that perpetuate this inequity.

Encouraging the Use of Codes of Behaviour in Evaluation Practice.

Abstract Professional associations of evaluators have recently devoted much time and energy to the development of codes of behaviour to guide the work of evaluators. However, there is a body of anecdotal evidence that many evaluations are carried out by practitioners without reference to any code of practice. This paper sets out a training strategy we have used to encourage evaluators to make sense of codes of behaviour, and to incorporate them into their work. By grouping standards into broad categories evaluators, and those commissioning evaluations, can concentrate on the relevant aspects for the particular stage of the evaluation.

Doing Senior Management

This chapter looks at the dynamics of senior managers in their universities. It focuses on how women and men work together in university senior management teams, how they are perceived, whether there are differences in management styles and whether having women in senior management positions is considered to make a difference.

Australasian university management, gender and life course issues

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues arising for women and men in senior management in New Zealand and Australian universities where life course and career trajectories intersect, and analyses how the stereotypical masculinist culture of universities can create additional problems for women. Design/methodology/approach – The data presented here comes from 47 interviews undertaken with women (27) and men (20) senior managers – a total of 26 interviews from New Zealand universities and 21 from Australian universities. “Senior Management” was defined in this study as those academic managers with university wide responsibilities, who were currently in senior management positions. Findings – Life-course issues for women aspiring to senior management roles in universities are framed around hegemonic constructions of masculinity; notions of academic careers subsuming personal life in professional roles; and structural constraints making rational choice impossible for many women. Furthermo...

It can work: Open employment for people with experience of mental illness

BACKGROUND Previous research has tended to focus on the barriers to employment for people with mental illness and the extra support they may need. This research contributes to the knowledge base pertaining to this population by looking at successful employment relationships in New Zealand. OBJECTIVE To describe factors enabling and/or sustaining the open employment of people with experience of mental illness. METHOD Fifteen pairs of employers and employees were interviewed individually but consecutively (using a semi-structured interview schedule) about their perceptions of the critical factors that enabled and sustained the employees employment. Employee participants were recruited by advertisement, with employers approached through their employees. Transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. RESULTS Themes raised in the interviews included the meaning of work, disclosure of mental illness, the benefits of working, special arrangements or accommodations, the work environment and key things employers and employees do to sustain successful employment. CONCLUSION Four critical success factors were identified relating to disclosure, the employment relationship, freedom from discrimination and workplace flexibility.

Making a Difference: National and Local Initiatives for Gender Equity in New Zealand

New Zealand (NZ) has eight universities and legislation that promotes employment equity. However, gender disparities in leadership and management positions across universities exist. Once articulated, a conscious effort has been made to address these imbalances. This chapter examines the circumstances that have led to one university retaining its top position in the Human Rights Commission censuses for the percentage of women at professorial level – at 28% compared to the NZ average of 19%. Strategies that promote diversity are canvassed to ascertain what combinations are deemed to influence the strong position of women at that university and the way in which their equal employment opportunity initiatives articulate with the national Women in Leadership development programme, established to address the identified inequalities in NZ universities.

How far are my ideas understandable to readers from other parts of the world? (Carvalho 2014, 102)

In her viewpoint, Marilia Carvalho poses the above question as a writer from the global South, a position that I also hold as a New Zealander. In her analysis of articles published in Gender and Education, she points out that the majority of items are by writers from the global North. Though, ‘... there are also authors from Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, or New Zealand, for instance’ (97), so I am part of the ‘othering’, sitting on the margins. More pertinently, the size and location of New Zealand means that at times we are seen as part of Australia rather than an independent nation. Coming from New Zealand we are faced with similar sorts of issues, though having English as one of our official languages (along with Maori and NZ Sign) we sit somewhere between the UK/USA and the global South. As an aside, I am never quite sure how people classify us as New Zealanders, when they use global South. Geographically that is where we are sited but common definitions, usually of US origin, suggest an economic imperative and series of challenges to be faced as part of the explanation of a term that is now more widely used as a replacement for ‘third-world’ or ‘developing nation’, descriptors that were not commonly applied to New Zealand. So, with English as a common language and an education system that is adapted from the British system, we are able to make reference to this aspect as a coded explanation which then enables us to be ‘placed’ internationally. I think there is a general tendency for New Zealanders to position ourselves as such because we are so far away from the rest of the world and have a small population base that we are drawing from. We also share the experience of colonisation with others from the global South. We know that we need to explain that Maori are our indigenous population and at times go into more detail around equity imperatives because our nation was founded on a partnership treaty between the British colonisers and Maori which has a strong influence on the way we interact generally and on research specifically. This provides a further example of ‘the care with which articles on the global South have their context explained, on the one hand; and on the other hand, the ease with which we accept articles without any reference to their place of origin, when they present research on the metropole (Carvalho 2014, 99).’ On the other hand, as a ‘white’ New Zealander I benefit from the colonisers’ privileged position. In the introduction to her book, Decolonizing Methodologies, the distinguished scholar, Smith ‘ ... identifies research as a significant site of struggle between the ways of knowing of the West and the interests and ways of resisting of the Other’ (1999, 2). While specifically referring to indigenous people in this instance it also resonates with other marginalised groups. It all meshes well with the on-going discussions

A Mature-age Student

New Zealand, a former British colony, is an island nation of 4 million people situated in the South Pacific. It was first colonised in the 1800s, and early settlers were defined by their possession of the land and the early gold rush. It has unique flora and fauna because of its status as a remote island. The founding Treaty of Waitangi between the British (the colonisers) and the Maori (New Zealand’s indigenous people) was signed in 1840. This so-called partnership with the Maori did not have much influence in the early years but subsequently became part of the equality agenda, particularly around the settling of land claims when the Waitangi Tribunal was set up in 1975. New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women universal suffrage, in 1893, and in 1999 the top five positions in the land were held by women — those of Governor-General, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Attorney-General and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Aes Fellows and Awards 2004

The annual conference of the Australasian Evaluation Society for 2004 was held in Adelaide in October. Under the able leadership of Susan Dawe, pictured left, the event offered a blend of workshops, paper and panel sessions and opportunities for networking, and entertainment which began at the welcome reception. An additional important function associated with the conference is the presentation of Fellowships to distinguished evaluators, and Awards to those who were successful in categories which have been struck by the Society.