Date Approved
12-18-2015
Embargo Period
1-4-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed.D. Educational Leadership
Department
Educational Services and Leadership
College
College of Education
Advisor
Johnson, Ane Turner
Committee Member 1
Cox, Carmen Jordan
Committee Member 2
Bryant, Kelly Duke
Keywords
African American, carelessness, higher education, phenomenology, South African, women
Subject(s)
Women college administrators; African American college administrators
Disciplines
Higher Education Administration
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and compare the lived and career experiences of Black women higher education administrators in the United States and South Africa. This comparative study elucidated the women’s experiences while giving voice to Black women, whose experiences and status are often further marginalized under new managerial practices. This research used the theoretical lenses of intersectionality and carelessness, a new managerial practice within higher education, to uncover the challenges, opportunities, and contexts experienced by these women within gendered, racialized organizational structures and practices. A major finding of the research is that Black women shared many commonalities in their lived and professional experiences, despite context. Constructs such as cultural, organizational, and community expectations informed their career paths and lived experience, while also playing an integral role in the participant’s developing malleable extensions of their identity. The participants effortlessly transitioned through the various roles prescribed to them as Black women in their community and as leaders on campus, to help them negotiate highly gendered institutional culture.
Recommended Citation
Singleton, Dawn S., "A hidden culture of carelessness: a comparative qualitative study of gender inequality and its implications for African American and South African Black women higher education administrators" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 567.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/567