Abstract
This study used interviews with 18 women in positions of academic leadership at the University of Costa Rica to explore such questions as (1) why do women seem to have success attaining positions? (2) how did these women get to their current positions? (3) what obstacles did they meet along the way and what facilitated their journey? (4) what is the relationship of machmismo and institutional culture to women's professional choices and lives? A secondary purpose of the study was to provide insight into the lives of professional Latin American women, about which little is known. Traditional Western theories used to explain women's careers lead to the conclusion that Costa Rican women are oppressed and discriminated against in their quest for academic careers. An intepretivist framework focusing on the meaning women give to their lives suggests a different conclusion. Comparing themselves to women in the larger society, academic women described themselves as leading privileged lives in which rules are gender blind and women can achieve through hard work and dedication.
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Twombly, S.B. Women academic leaders in a Latin American university: Reconciling the paradoxes of professional lives. Higher Education 35, 367–397 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003165822754
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003165822754