No Room to “Lean In”: A Qualitative Study on Gendered Barriers to Promotion and Leadership

Abstract

A proposed framework depicts male and female faculty's concerns on a continuum. No Obstacle and Process Concerns were relatively gender neutral, whereas large gender disparities occurred within the Barriers to Success theme. Women's barriers largely revolved around internal obstacles (I can't do any more), and men's barriers largely revolved around external factors (leaders are impeding my progress). Resources are needed to mitigate work overload specifically for female faculty, and to ensure that all faculty are both engaged in advanced career opportunities and encouraged to pursue leadership positions.