Women Leaders in Online/Distance Education Associations/Organizations Free

There is no doubt that more women are needed in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Numerous reports (cf. Cook, Mason, Morse, & Neuhauser, 2015; Corbett & Hill, 2015; Landivar, 2013), articles (cf. Marks, 2015), books (cf. Sandberg, 2013), and data represented in infographics (cf. “Women who tech,” n.d.) substantiate the need, not only for more representation in these fields, but also for women’s leadership. However, it is unclear how many women are involved in educational technology (also known as instructional technology) or the growing field of online/distance education, an area that falls under the even broader science, technology, engineering, and math field umbrella.

Further highlighting the gender disparity in the field of educational technology, Scharber, Pazurek, and Ouyang (2015) conducted an analysis of major, refereed educational technology journals. Their analyses evidenced both subtle and dramatic gender differences in authorship for the publications they examined in their review. Their research suggests that the pipeline challenge is not only problematic at the secondary, postsecondary, and graduate education student levels, but also with those who conduct, advance, and publish research in the field. Their research showed that a large amount of the research in the field of educational technology was conducted and published by male authors, either as first or second authors. In some journals, the gender differences (i.e., publications authored primarily by male authors) were stark. Although their research did not examine the reasons for the differences, it illuminated gendered differences in authorship that should be of concern for any editor. Moreover it brings to question who the leaders are of various associations/organizations related to online/distance education. Just as authors promote a field, so do the leaders of major associations.

Table 1 outlines some of the major associations/organizations associated with online/distance education. It also highlights the gender of the individual who was the primary leader in 2015. The primary leader was defined as either the president or the chief executive officer. In cases where there was both a chief executive officer and a president, the president was identified as the primary leader. Table 1 shows that most of the online/distance education-related associations/organizations are led by males. Of the online/distance education-related associations, only one, the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, did not provide the name of its primary leader on its website; therefore, it was not counted as part of the sample but included in the list because of its work in the field of online/ distance education.

The table illustrates that 30% (N = 20) of the leadership of online/distance education-related associations/organizations is female and 70% male. Clearly, there is a need for more women leadership in these associations/organizations.