Telling Their Stories: Women In Nigerian Higher Education

Abstract

This study investigated the successful experiences of the few Nigerian women who have ascended to leadership positions in Nigerian higher education institutions. In spite of the fact that Nigeria is hyper-masculine in culture, these women ascended to and are thriving in these posts. The study sought to understand the factors that influenced their ascendancy and enabled them to break the glass ceiling. The qualitative portraiture study interviewed six women leaders within Nigerian higher education. The belief was that a narrative of the individual women’s stories will lead to a clearer understanding of the dynamics between male-female domination within the hyper-masculine Nigerian higher education institutions. The conceptual framework was feminist theory (Chapman, 2007; Crossman, 2016) and a situational framework imbedded in the hypermasculine and socio-cultural barriers of Nigeria (Bianze, 2017; Kini, 2016). The identified themes were analyzed to get in-depth understandings of the insider’s view of women in leadership positions. It was also used to paint individual woman’s portraiture of the experiences, and the strategies employed to overcome the challenges in their path to success. Similarly, an aesthetic portraiture depicting the trajectory of women in Nigerian higher education was painted. Emanating from the study are revelations about issues and factors that affect the women’s work and private life experiences. There is substantial evidence that Nigerian women’s “location in, and experience as leaders in higher education is different from and not the same as that of men” (Capuzo, 2014). Nevertheless, there is a measure of hope and of a shift of power. The findings proffer an insight into a collective journey of resistance in diverse ways as well as strategies for surmounting hegemonic ideology created professional and personal challenges. The women’s success was grounded in the possession of: exceptional intellectual ability, capability to stand their ground, effective fusion of home and career responsibility, benefiting from intellectual guidance of mentors, local and international networking with other women leaders, conference attendance, in addition to acquisition and empowerment with the needed knowledge and skill for their individual offices. These coupled with the innate drive of resilience and determination to succeed, were the driving force behind the women’s success stories.