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Abstract
In this article, the author interrogates the scholarship that emphasizes gender and racial inequities in academic senior-level leadership in the context of underrepresented groups, particularly that of women of color. The discussion begins by examining and explaining critical theories and frameworks addressing the underrepresentation of African American women in higher education high-ranking leadership positions. The author explores the nuances of leadership styles as a possible explanation for the paucity of women of color female leaders. Research on women’s leadership in the academy indicates that race is obscured due to the lack of data. The author, therefore, concludes with a call for more nuanced research. Faculty of color, including African American women, continue to be significantly underrepresented in top-level leadership roles in higher education in the United States (US) per National Center for Educational Statistics (2016). Although racial and ethnic diversity in the US higher education system presents a broad general demographic shift, administrators at predominantly White institutions have been ineffective in diversifying their own senior-level systems of governance to reflect the changing face of the US. Since desegregation and the civil rights and women‟s rights movements, Black women have made significantly less gains in higher education positions of leadership and administrative authority in comparison to Black males, White females, and White males (NCES, 2016). Gains in senior-level leadership roles in higher education have been sluggish and, in some instances, have declined for women of color (Kim & Cook, 2013). However, African American women have been appointed to upper-level leadership posts for decades in historically Black colleges and universities. They have held positions of leadership as founders, presidents, deans, and department chairpersons (Lloyd-Jones, 2009; Mosley, 1980). Nevertheless, apart from specific types of institutions, such as two-year colleges and lower-tier four-year institutions (Grant, 2016; Jackson & O‟Callaghan, 2011), the number of women of color in senior-level roles in higher education remains scant (Oguntoyinbo, 2014; Santamaria & Santamaria, 2016). At the highest levels of higher education administration, the percentage of chief academic officers (CAOs) who are women rose from 40% to 43% from 2008 to 2013.