Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Challenges Facing Female Leaders Of Color In U.S. Higher Education, Fredah Mainah, Vernita Perkins

International Journal of African Development

Despite a myriad of challenges including the slow pace of rising to the top and the low compositional diversity in most university leadership, women of color are becoming increasingly visible in higher education leadership. This paper investigates the phenomena of the growing numbers of women of color in top positions, with the aim of debunking the myth of the invisibility of black women in leadership positions in higher education. The findings indicate that although women in the U.S. earn the majority of postsecondary degrees and 26.4% of college presidents are women, with 4.5% of them being women of color, women …