In the modern societies, an increasing number of women are providing their services in different sectors of the economy such as business and industry, entrepreneurship, and more specifically in health and education sectors. Women are also serving their remarkable contributions as leader as men do. This study investigates the potentially competitive relationship between women and their leadership competencies and the challenges that women face during their professional responsibilities especially in case of any global disaster like pandemic COVID-19. Where the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected all fields of life at the same time, it has wide-ranging impact on the higher educational sector in South Asia, specifically in Pakistan. Due to the pandemic, all governments have either had to close HEIs or have transited their system to virtual learning. Countries like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan realized that they are ill prepared for remote classes and online learning. In COVID-19, they need to manage HEIs effectively for the continuity of academic and research work.
TopIntroduction
The pandemic of COVID-19 has required the world, the work place, and also the higher education sector to instantly adapt to virtual, remote learning and remote work, at the same time leadership study has emerged from COVID-19 for many months and years ahead (Gedro, Allain, De-Souza, Dodson, & Mawn, 2020). Leadership has many definitions although there exists no clear agreement on the definition. Leadership is based upon different circumstances because the existence of leadership is often situational, sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent. Anyhow, leadership defined by Michener, H. A., Delamater, J. D., and Schwartz, S. H. (1990) is the “process that takes place in groups in which one member influences and controls the behaviour of the other members toward some common goal”(Denmark, 1993, pg.10).
As disasters are increasing in intensity and in number, the risks are comparatively higher for those countries who lack access to and control important resources and services, like education and information. This is due to the societal roles that they play, their generally lower socio-economic status, and the cultural norms that hinder women rights. Women in academia, especially in higher education face unique challenges when it comes to establishing themselves as leaders (Rammos & Lanzino, 2009). A principle objective of this chapter is to increase women’s’ motivation to become effective leaders. This involves an emphasis upon their unique strengths and skills, with a goal to increasing their knowledge about academic leadership, and empowering them to seek and provide the necessary support that they require to actively participate in the education sector, specifically in higher education as leaders even in great health crises or any other disaster.
Problem Statement
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the administration of universities to redefine their identities in a new context, and reimagine how they will deliver teaching-learning services in a remote environment that must engage students in a holistic learning experience .In Pakistan, the number of female faculty and women working as chairpersons of various departments, deans of faculties, Directors of research centres and Voice Chancellors in HEI is not significant compared to the number of their male counterparts while women leaders have actively addressed the crises and reassured their people, the problem lies in the fact that there is little or no research highlighting the effective participation of women in leadership roles, and their decisions and strategies in these difficult times. Likewise, there is little acknowledgment of the unique challenges that a women leader has to face to maintain an effective work-family balance.
At the same time according to various studies (Denmark, 1993; Farooq et al., 2020; Lowen, 2020; Rayment-Jones, Harris, Harden, Khan, & Sandall, 2019) it is acknowledged that there is an urgent need to increase the representation of women in all positions of influence. Our female students, among others, need female role models to encourage them to 'go for it’, and strive to attain the necessary skills to compete for future leadership positions in a wide range of sectors.