The Role of Women in Academics: Issues, Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

This paper reports on the views women academics have about their career prospects, equal opportunities and the conflict they experience between their work and personal lives. However, very few women have progressed into senior academic roles. They continue to be handicapped by well-ingrained structural and cultural barriers and by promotion systems that still largely rely on the publication records of candidates for appointments and promotions. However, several issues are examined in this paper. The challenges women face in academics are not let out. What are the perspectives and the way forward are also discussed. This paper then concludes that more lecturers should be recruited in reducing high workload and stress being encountered by women in academics. Incentives should be given by the government as a way of motivating those in the system and encourage more females to take lecturing job at the tertiary level.

Keywords: Women, academics, challenges, perspectives