Women perceive disadvantage in competition for leadership roles

Seventy-two per cent of women working in UK universities believe men are at an advantage when pursuing top jobs, Advance HE survey says

Almost three-quarters of women working in UK higher education believe that men have a better chance of achieving a leadership role, a new poll suggests.

Some 72 per cent of more than 2,000 women surveyed for a study by Advance HE’s Aurora initiative, which aims to support women in higher education leadership, agreed that they were less likely to gain a leadership role than a male colleague, despite 80 per cent saying that they had the confidence to seek out opportunities to lead.