Empowering Female Leaders in Professional Spaces through Inclusivity and Leadership Skills Development
Training Module
for
Wo-Mentoring Program

Under LCF project titled
“Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Challenges and Opportunities for Women Academic Leaders in Pakistani Universities
at
International Islamic University Islamabad

One of the crucial gaps in Pakistani academia is the provision of training and mentoring services to women academics in the field of leadership in education. While various institutions have tried to overcome this gap, but these efforts are hindered by a multitude of obstacles including scarcity of funds and resource persons as well socio-cultural and gender biases. Our project attempts to identify and offset these obstacles by launching coordinated efforts via collaborations with public sector universities located in Pakistan’s Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to launch our Wo-mentoring program that allows women academics to develop leadership skills relevant to their specific academic contexts and to mentor upcoming women academic leaders. By academic leadership we imply positions of authority that cater to an HEI’s bureaucratic and academic interests while dealing with various intrinsic and extrinsic challenges. Through a step-wise progression, beginning with data collection via a survey and interviews to extract the challenges women academic leaders face in the selected universities, we mapped the diverse systemic challenges and socio-cultural prejudices they face within their respective institutional hierarchies. During this project, we collaborated with international academic institutions such as BRIDGES in the University of North Carolina, the HERS institute (Higher Education Leadership Programs for Women | HERS (hersnetwork.org)) and Deakin University in Australia to conduct webinars for women academics from the selected universities.

Through series of workshops and seminars in various universities of selected areas and an international conference organized at the end of the project, we developed a policy specifying the mentoring of women academic leaders and reducing barriers in their growth. This key document will be shared with the Ministry of Human Rights’ National Commission on the Status of Women and the Higher Education Commission to develop greater institutional support for mandatory trainings to develop leadership skills in women academics. This policy would supplement the selection process so that women academics with the required skillsets are given equitable opportunities to be selected to key posts such as those of Vice Chancellors, etc. Furthermore, research collaborations emanating from this project will yield research publications in international Q1 and Q2 ranked journals and encourage academics from both the emerging economies and developed countries to establish a strong academic nexus with Pakistani women academic leaders and to generate more research and learning opportunities for them.

In today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving world, the role of female leaders is increasingly recognized as essential for driving innovation, fostering diversity, and achieving organizational success. However, despite significant progress in promoting gender equality by bridging gender gap, women continue to face unique challenges in leadership positions, ranging from systemic biases to cultural stereotypes. In light of these challenges, the development of effective leadership skills among female leaders has emerged as a pressing priority. This introductory paragraph will delve into the importance of leadership skills development for women, exploring the impact of empowering female leaders on organizational performance and societal advancement. Additionally, it will highlight the need for tailored leadership development programs with the specific needs and experiences of women in leadership roles, ultimately paving the way for gender equality and inclusivity in the workplace.