The information revolution has precipitated one transformation after another across colleges and universities. One emerging development is the increasing number of women in technology-related positions. And, while this emerging trend cannot be attributed solely to distance education, one can make a convincing argument that distance education has been a catalyst for attracting more and more women into the technology-related professions. What is less apparent is whether this trend has resulted in more women assuming high-level leadership positions or whether we are seeing new manifestations of the glass ceiling. Perhaps both perspectives are valid, with the latter being somewhat perplexing.
Today, on nearly every university and college campus, you will see more women in positions that directly or indirectly support the application of information technology in teaching and learning. There are more women serving as instructional designers, evaluation specialists, online program developers, distance education marketing specialists, directors of technology partnerships and campus centers, and certainly many more women teaching with the vast arsenal of modern educational technologies. At first glance, it appears that a brave new world has evolved for women in distance education and information technology professions. Or has it? As Mark Twain once remarked, “of course truth is stranger than fiction . . . fiction has to make sense.”
The contemporary truth that doesn’t make sense is this: there is still a disproportionate number of men in engineering, business, and science faculties and even fewer female deans, vice presidents, CIO’s, provosts, and presidents on the majority of campuses. These disturbing facts are accentuated further when one considers the gap between white males in top leadership positions and their minority male and female counterparts. This brave new world isn’t quite as brave and things are not all-white (all right) in the hallowed halls of the academy.
Given we cannot fix the aggregate socio-ethnic-gender disparity in American colleges and universities with one silver bullet solution, lets focus on distance education and information technology. Let’s start with some guiding assumptions for women to consider in opening the leadership doors for themselves:
American higher education’s historic culture, governance, and policy infrastructure was created, reinforced, and sustained by males. Given that women are commonly labeled as the emotional gender, it is ironic that the persistent dysfunctions of the academy historically are the creations of males.
Males make the rules and when the rules don’t work, men break the rules or create short-term status quo protection strategies that don’t work either. Why? Because the system that has sustained their careers and rewarded them is broken; severely broken, as a matter of fact, and the only answers they have are embedded in the past. Boys will be boys and there is not one male on the planet who doesn’t hope that his daughter will be given every opportunity to shine in her career and personal life.
The only thing more fragile than quicksand is the male ego, and when men don’t have the right answers, fear sets in and academic paralysis is pervasive across the academy. Retrenchment replaces leadership.
None of these have anything to do with visionary and empowering leadership. The primary reason that there is a leadership void in higher education, and society in general, is that our male leaders still believe the art of leadership lies in the past. Women have figured out that visionary leadership lies in the future.
So, ladies, for those of you in distance education, engineering, science, business, and the information technology professions, here’s what you need to do. Send your male counterparts shopping and try these on for size:
Recognize first and foremost, that the female attributes of empowerment, collaboration, and relationship-building are invaluable attributes for creating distance education and information technology partnerships. Colleges and universities with viable and thriving technology programs are characteristically build around partnerships.
Network, network, and network some more. Women in the academy across all professions need to build professional networks among themselves. Professional associations provide periodic renewal and opportunities to network with other women, but collective influence and leadership must emerge and solidify at the institutional level to make real change.
Scope out professional development opportunities that focus on women and leadership (USDLA 2004 IFWE Conference in Phoenix). The traditional male models are obsolete, so all of us, men and women, must create new models of leadership that work in an information society.
If you work in the distance education profession, use this as a springboard to discuss all career possibilities with young women, your daughters and, yes, the men in your life. In an age in which we are in desperate need of new role models, you can begin being a role model for those in your life.
So it’s up to you to create new leadership opportunities for women in distance education and the technology-related professions. Are you going to wait for males to do this for you? If we are to relegate the glass ceiling into the history books, then your choices, your networks, and your visions have to be heard. Silence is only golden for protecting the status quo, no matter how antiquated and obsolete the status quo may be. Remember, history does not, in fact, repeat itself: foolish people repeat history. A brave new world is waiting for you. The choice is yours.
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