Paper short abstract:

Gender; Patriarchal Culture and the Influence on Women's Leadership Positions in Higher education in South Western Nigeria

Paper long abstract:

Women have not experienced much leadership advocacy from

men. Much of the scholarly works to promote gender equality in Higher

institutions centred mostly on the opinions of female. Yet, there is

little academic work on gender-based analysis on women leadership

advocacy in higher institutions. The aim of this paper is to examine

patriarchal culture and women ascendancy to leadership positions in

tertiary instructions in South West Nigeria from both gender. The

research problem of this study is articulated through the following

research questions: how do female academics experience patriarchy? How

does patriarchy impact on their upward mobility? And, how does

patriarchy affect their academic output? A purposive sampling was used

to select 40 women and men academics within higher institutions in south

western Nigeria. Data was collected through indepth Interviewing (IDI)

and information was analysed through content analysis and ethnographic

summaries. The findings revealed the responses from women at some

institutions experienced male supremacy, disempowerment, and disrespects

of womenfolk, men on the other hand believed that some women want easy

way out and not adequately empowered through research, networking

,publications that will improve their academic mobility . Another

finding is that patriarchy impacts on their upward mobility and deprives

them of promotions they deserve. The participants also felt that the

reigning patriarchal environment does not only impact on their academic

output but also on their intellectual and emotional wellbeing and their

person. The findings informed recommendations that would enable

sustainable corrective measures.