1.1 INTRODUCTION The last half century has brought about an increase in the number of women in all levels of education all over the world. Nevertheless, in spite of their highest levels of education, women’s qualifications are not translated into options and corresponding occupational opportunities for the positions of status and authority within the university (Brooks, 1977). Dybe (1989) states that “in the majority of Social Sciences, women were invisible, because their contributions were not recognized or were “absent” or were not taken seriously”. This absence or “invisibility’ of women must jointly be considered with their ‘visibility’ as passive beings (Ardener, 1989). The barriers to the promotion of women in universities are well known. For example, at the universities, men publish more than women that have to do perhaps with university structure aspects (Brooks, 1997) or with the fact that women do not offer sufficient time for their professional development, as their responsibilities are divided between household and work. Other authors talk about a “glass ceiling” which the women have to face (David & Woodword, 1998). One major concern of career research has been on the underrepresentation of women in managerial positions. In this connection, various researchers have focused on factors which lead to the progression of women managers (Kirchmeyer, 1998, Maxifield, 2005 and Garavan, O’brien & O’Hanlon, 2006). Some of the factors which have been suggested as leading to women’s career advancements include mentoring, training and development, career planning, individual characteristics, and hard work (Ismail & Arokiasamy, 2007, Burke, Burgess & Fallon, 2006) among others. In Africa and Ghana in particular, researchers have mainly focused on the barriers faced by women in higher education. This article takes the research agenda on women’s career development further by focusing in particular on the visibility of women in public universities in Ghana, case study of University of Cape Coast. 1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The study sought to assess the visibility of women in higher education in Ghana with specific reference to the University of Cape Coast. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION What is the extent to which female non-teaching staff (senior members) in the University of Cape Coast are visible? 2.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE In reviewing the literature, it would be difficult to search for the universal definition of ‘visibility’.
challenging assignments provide employees with opportunities for achievements and also motivation. Lee (2002) finds that ability to take challenging assignments helped computer professionals to fulfill growth needs. Cox and Copper (1998) states that women who had succeeded in their careers had been challenged early in their career and that gave them opportunity to prove their abilities. Also, studies done by Metcalfe (1989) showed that women who had advanced in their careers rated challenging assignments as important for career advancement. Dessler (2008) views challenging assignments as developmental opportunities. He states that women had great difficulty in getting geographic mobility opportunities and they needed to be proactive to get such assignments. Undertaking challenging assignments entails ability and willingness to assume a heavy workload and putting in long face hours (Dessler, 2008), because this demonstrates commitment to the organization and career (Snape et al., 1994) due to the increased responsibilities. Research done by Vinnicombe and Colwil, (1997) indicates that successful women attributed their career to hard work which lead to good performance. Pine (2002) and Zhong (2006) recommend that women must stand out through hard work and being good at what they do. In contributing to heavy work load, Lee (2002) posits that apart from assuming long and flexible working hours by extending the environment to working outside of normal hours, heavy work load also entails having a preoccupation with work related issues like undertaking geographical assignments. This could be an indication of commitment to the job and organization. 2.1.2 Participation in Social and Professional Events In order to increase visibility, women need to participate in social events. This includes being seen at social functions, being effective in professional associations and developing powerful allies who speak well of you (Robbins & Coutler, 1999). Attendance at social gatherings increases one’s visibility (Robbins & DeCenzo, 2007). According to Aswathappa, (2005) one’s presence at social functions and events provide social interaction and a source of information about career opportunities. To enhance career advancements opportunity, one needs to join a support group to be able to listen to others and develop empathy and other key interpersonal relationships (Zajas, 1995). Vinnicombe and Colwill, (1997) indicate that associations can make women more visible in society and encourage them to contribute and develop. The two authors add that women’s associations may provide a network for women to
Finally, the network can improve the reinforcement if the individual. Being recognized as an individual as well as a member of a group, not only provides emotional strength for the individual but also publicly acknowledge the person’s entitlement to resources. 2.1.4 Female Networks Over the past twenty years, an increasing number of female networks, both internal and external have emerged. Female networks usually offer instrumental information, job opportunities, mentors and meetings with business contacts (Davidson & Burke, 2000). He mentions three board categories of female networks which are: Professional and occupational networks. These are often formal and they bring together women with similar business and professional qualifications. The purpose is to share information about the industry or profession and to provide career guidance. In-company networks. These can be either formal or informal and bring together women that work with the same organization. Some of these are only open to women at a certain level in the organization, while others include all women in that particular organization. The Training Group. This is a kind of support group that offer guidance for its members. This type of network can be formal or informal depending on what type of support it offers. The distinction between the more instrumental network ties and those developed for social support is that instrumental ties result from the performance of a particular work role. Social support is the exchange between expressive ties and has a more informal structure. Nevertheless, they can be just as important for motivation, career development and information exchange. In fact, research indicates that informal networks that offer material, emotional and informational support are usually more vital for women than forma networks. The issue of building a network of mutual friends who can be called upon to assist in career matters can help an employee to find the best career opportunities and get in a better financial situation. For many employees, their work group is a source of social interaction where they can also share their frustrations and feelings of satisfaction. Aswathappa (2005) states that employees who communicate with fellow employees may get
The demographic respondents revealed 10 (38.5%) were between the ages of 40-49 years, 8(30.8%) of them fell with the ages of 50-60 years. Another 7(26.9%) were also in the ages of 30-39 years and only 1 representing 3.8% of the respondents was in the age range of 20-29 years. In terms of status 12(46.2%) of the respondents were Assistant Registrars, 5(19.2%) of the respondents were Deputy Registrars, in the status of Senior Assistant Registrar and Accountants were both 3(11.5%). There was one respondent each in all the other categories (Assistant Accountants, Senior Medical Officer and Assistant Librarian) representing 3.8%. Twelve of the respondents representing 46.2% had worked for 10years and above, 7(26.9%) had worked for 6-10 years and 5(19.2%) had worked for 1-3 years whereas 2(7.7%) had worked for 3-6 years. Research Question What is the extent to which female non-teaching staff (senior members) in the University of Cape Coast are visible? To find out whether female non-teaching staff are visible or not, respondents were given a five point Likert scale questionnaire to respond to. The scoring was based on the five point Likert scale of measurement of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Not certain (N), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The options of the items were weighted in the Likert format with SA = 5, A = 4, N = 3, D = 2 and SD = 1. A maximum score a respondent could obtain was 35 and a minimum score of 7. The weights were equated to a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 1 to reflect the averages, using the number of items as a denominator. To interpret the score a person obtains on the questionnaire, score bands were used as shown below. The greater the score the more a person is visible. Thus for Not at all visible we have 0 – 0.9 Not visible we have 1.9 – 1.9 Somehow visible we have 2.9 – 2.9 Visible we have 3.0 – 3.9 Very visible we have 4.0 – 5.0