Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania

Elias Adolf Tarimo; Idda Lyatonga Swai

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania

Elias Adolf Tarimo, Idda Lyatonga Swai

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 1)

Received: 20 December 2019 Accepted: 3 January 2020 Published: 17 January 2020

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Abstract

Tanzania recognizes that gender equality and female empowerment are important for development of the country. Despite the government efforts to put in place employment laws, policies and gender strategies to remove inequality, still there are under representation of female employees in senior positions in many public sectors. In Public Universities the situation is the same as the number of academic staff varies between female and male. There is huge gender gap in this career as it is dominated by male. Gender disparity tends to be wider in senior positions. The major objective of the study was to examine factors that affect career progression of female academics to senior positions in Public Universities. The study employed qualitative design to understand academics experiences on the female career progression. Open University of Tanzania (OUT) was used as a study case. Twenty one (21) participants were selected purposively from senior positions, junior positions and University management. Interview method for data collection was employed to collect primary data and secondary data were collected through documentary review. The study used thematic analysis in data analysis. The findings revealed that family work conflict, culture and gender, lack of mentor and mentoring program, lack of role model, low self-confidence, limited opportunities and networking were factors that discourage career progression of female academicians to senior positions. The findings implied that few female academicians managed to reach senior positions and majorities are struggling to move up. Their failures were associated with traditional gender role, society believes and gender stereotype. Generally, the study contributes to the addition of knowledge and literature on career progression of female academics which has been under-researched, especially in Tanzania.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11
Page(s)	1-8
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Career Progression, Female Academics, Public Universities, Open University of Tanzania, Tanzania

References

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Elias Adolf Tarimo, Idda Lyatonga Swai. (2020). Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Social Sciences, 9(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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Elias Adolf Tarimo; Idda Lyatonga Swai. Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(1), 1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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AMA Style

Elias Adolf Tarimo, Idda Lyatonga Swai. Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Soc Sci. 2020;9(1):1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11,
  author = {Elias Adolf Tarimo and Idda Lyatonga Swai},
  title = {Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-8},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20200901.11},
  abstract = {Tanzania recognizes that gender equality and female empowerment are important for development of the country. Despite the government efforts to put in place employment laws, policies and gender strategies to remove inequality, still there are under representation of female employees in senior positions in many public sectors. In Public Universities the situation is the same as the number of academic staff varies between female and male. There is huge gender gap in this career as it is dominated by male. Gender disparity tends to be wider in senior positions. The major objective of the study was to examine factors that affect career progression of female academics to senior positions in Public Universities. The study employed qualitative design to understand academics experiences on the female career progression. Open University of Tanzania (OUT) was used as a study case. Twenty one (21) participants were selected purposively from senior positions, junior positions and University management. Interview method for data collection was employed to collect primary data and secondary data were collected through documentary review. The study used thematic analysis in data analysis. The findings revealed that family work conflict, culture and gender, lack of mentor and mentoring program, lack of role model, low self-confidence, limited opportunities and networking were factors that discourage career progression of female academicians to senior positions. The findings implied that few female academicians managed to reach senior positions and majorities are struggling to move up. Their failures were associated with traditional gender role, society believes and gender stereotype. Generally, the study contributes to the addition of knowledge and literature on career progression of female academics which has been under-researched, especially in Tanzania.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania
AU - Elias Adolf Tarimo
AU - Idda Lyatonga Swai
Y1 - 2020/01/17
PY - 2020
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11
DO - 10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11
T2 - Social Sciences
JF - Social Sciences
JO - Social Sciences
SP - 1
EP - 8
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2326-988X
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11
AB - Tanzania recognizes that gender equality and female empowerment are important for development of the country. Despite the government efforts to put in place employment laws, policies and gender strategies to remove inequality, still there are under representation of female employees in senior positions in many public sectors. In Public Universities the situation is the same as the number of academic staff varies between female and male. There is huge gender gap in this career as it is dominated by male. Gender disparity tends to be wider in senior positions. The major objective of the study was to examine factors that affect career progression of female academics to senior positions in Public Universities. The study employed qualitative design to understand academics experiences on the female career progression. Open University of Tanzania (OUT) was used as a study case. Twenty one (21) participants were selected purposively from senior positions, junior positions and University management. Interview method for data collection was employed to collect primary data and secondary data were collected through documentary review. The study used thematic analysis in data analysis. The findings revealed that family work conflict, culture and gender, lack of mentor and mentoring program, lack of role model, low self-confidence, limited opportunities and networking were factors that discourage career progression of female academicians to senior positions. The findings implied that few female academicians managed to reach senior positions and majorities are struggling to move up. Their failures were associated with traditional gender role, society believes and gender stereotype. Generally, the study contributes to the addition of knowledge and literature on career progression of female academics which has been under-researched, especially in Tanzania.
VL - 9
IS - 1
ER -

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Author Information

Elias Adolf Tarimo

Department of Human Resource and Administration, Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere University of Agriculture and Technology, Mara, Tanzania
Idda Lyatonga Swai

Department of Local Government Management, School of Public Administration and Management, Mzumbe University, Morogoro, Tanzania

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APA Style

Elias Adolf Tarimo, Idda Lyatonga Swai. (2020). Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Social Sciences, 9(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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ACS Style

Elias Adolf Tarimo; Idda Lyatonga Swai. Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(1), 1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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AMA Style

Elias Adolf Tarimo, Idda Lyatonga Swai. Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania. Soc Sci. 2020;9(1):1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11,
  author = {Elias Adolf Tarimo and Idda Lyatonga Swai},
  title = {Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-8},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200901.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20200901.11},
  abstract = {Tanzania recognizes that gender equality and female empowerment are important for development of the country. Despite the government efforts to put in place employment laws, policies and gender strategies to remove inequality, still there are under representation of female employees in senior positions in many public sectors. In Public Universities the situation is the same as the number of academic staff varies between female and male. There is huge gender gap in this career as it is dominated by male. Gender disparity tends to be wider in senior positions. The major objective of the study was to examine factors that affect career progression of female academics to senior positions in Public Universities. The study employed qualitative design to understand academics experiences on the female career progression. Open University of Tanzania (OUT) was used as a study case. Twenty one (21) participants were selected purposively from senior positions, junior positions and University management. Interview method for data collection was employed to collect primary data and secondary data were collected through documentary review. The study used thematic analysis in data analysis. The findings revealed that family work conflict, culture and gender, lack of mentor and mentoring program, lack of role model, low self-confidence, limited opportunities and networking were factors that discourage career progression of female academicians to senior positions. The findings implied that few female academicians managed to reach senior positions and majorities are struggling to move up. Their failures were associated with traditional gender role, society believes and gender stereotype. Generally, the study contributes to the addition of knowledge and literature on career progression of female academics which has been under-researched, especially in Tanzania.},
 year = {2020}
}

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