Objective/Research Question: Research indicates that work-life integration is linked with career satisfaction for women administrators in higher education. This study focused on midlevel women leaders who are an essential component of higher education organizations and asked the question: how do mid-level women leaders in rural community colleges experience work-life integration? Method: Seeking to understand if the gendered ideal worker norm was prevalent in the work-life integration experiences of mid-level women leaders, we employed a qualitative design that drew upon phenomenological methods, to explore the work-life integration experiences of 12 mid-level women leaders in a rural community college system in the Northeastern United States. Results: Data gathered from both individual and focus group interviews with 12 participants yielded new knowledge about those participants’ experiences and had implications for practice. Conclusions: Emergent themes in this study help to fill gaps in previous research by offering a tentative framework for understanding specific characteristics that may increase successful work-life integration for women mid-level leaders in a community college setting. Implications and recommendations are discussed. To understand unique individual experiences and institutional cultures, further research is suggested in the area of community college leadership.
AckerJ. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, and bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender and Society, 4(2), 139–158.
2.
AfifM. R. (2019, March). Millennials engagement: Work-life balance vs work-life integration. In Strielkowski, et al. (Ed.), Social and humaniora research symposium (SoRes 2018) (pp. 284–290). Atlantis Press.
3.
AmeyM. J.EddyP. L. (2018). Leading in the middle. In LevinJ. S.KaterS. T. (Eds.), Understanding community colleges (Core Concepts in Higher Education) (pp. 203–225). Routledge.
4.
AmeyM. J.VanderlindenK.BrownD. (2002). Perspectives on community college leadership: Twenty years in the making. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 26(7), 573–589.
5.
BaileyJ. (2008). Work and life balance: Community college occupational deans. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32(10), 778–792.
6.
BechtoldB. (2008). Theorizing gender for community college research and practice. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32, 750–761.
7.
BensimonE. (1995). Total quality management in the academy: A rebellious reading. Harvard Educational Review, 65(4), 593–611.
8.
BroughP.O’DriscollM. (2011). Organizational interventions for balancing work and home demands: An overview. Work & Stress, 24(3), 280–297.
9.
CohenA.BrawerF. (2003). The American community college. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
10.
DiCroceD. (1995). Women and the community college presidency: Challenges and possibilities. New Directions for Community Colleges, 89, 252–257.
11.
EaglyA.CarliL. (2007). Through the labyrinth. Harvard Business School Press.
12.
EddyP. L. (2005). Framing the role of leader: How community college presidents construct their leadership. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 29, 705–727.
13.
EddyP. L. (Ed.) (2012). Managing today’s community colleges: A new era? In Understanding community colleges (pp. 141–154). Routledge.
14.
EddyP. L. (2013). Developing leaders: The role of competencies in rural community colleges. Community College Review, 41(1), 20–43.
15.
EddyP. L.CoxE. (2008). Gendered leadership: An organizational perspective. New Directions for Community Colleges, 142, 69–79.
16.
EddyP. L.Garza MitchellR. L. (2017). Preparing community college leaders to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education, 2, 127.
17.
EddyP. L.KhwajaT. (2019). What happened to re-visioning community college leadership? A 25- year retrospective. Community College Review, 47(1), 53–78.
18.
EddyP. L.WardK.KhwajaT. (Eds.). (2017). Critical approaches to women and gender in higher education. Springer.
19.
EdwardsA. F. (2017). Achieving gender equity for women leaders in community colleges through better communication. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2017(179), 23–24.
20.
EstillG. (2022). Helping students in the heartland: Student affairs at rural community colleges (Publication No. 28868858) [Doctoral dissertation, Illinois State University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
21.
FordL. E. (2016). Two steps forward, one step back? Strengthening the foundations of women’s leadership in higher education. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 4(3), 499–512.
22.
FosterM.DionK. (2003). Dispositional hardiness and women’s wellbeing relating to gender discrimination: The role of minimization. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27, 197–208.
23.
FoucreaultA.Ollier-MalaterreA.MénardJ. (2018). Organizational culture and work–life integration: A barrier to employees’ respite?The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(16), 2378–2398.
24.
FritzC.Van KnippenbergD. (2018). Gender and leadership aspiration: The impact of work–life initiatives. Human Resource Management, 57(4), 855–868.
25.
GarciaK. K. (2012). The gender bind: Men as inauthentic caregivers. Duke Journal of Law & Gender Policy, 20, 1.
26.
GarzaM.EddyP. L. (2015). Moving up or moving on: A gendered perspective of mid-level university leaders. Journal of Higher Education Management, 30(1), 65.
27.
Glazer-RaymoJ. (1999). Taking stock: Perspectives on women and leadership in higher education in the UK and the US. Society for Research into Higher Education News, 41, 8–10.
28.
GreenV. (2008). Reflections from one community college leader. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32, 812–821.
29.
HardyD. E.KatsinasS. G. (2007). Classifying community colleges: How rural community colleges fit. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2007(137), 5–17.
30.
HatchJ. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. State University of New York Press.
31.
HeckR.JohnsrudL. (1996). Administrative promotion within a university: The cumulative impact of gender. The Journal of Higher Education, 65(1), 23–44.
32.
HeilmanM. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent womens’ ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 657–674.
33.
HirtJ. B.EstebanR.McGuireL. (2003). Editor’s choice: The worklife of student service professionals at rural community colleges. Community College Review, 31(1), 33–55.
34.
HochschildA. (1997) The time bind. Metropolitan Books.
35.
HutchingsP.HuberM.GoldeC. (2006). Integrating work and life: A vision for a changing academy [Paper presentation]. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, CA, United States.
36.
IshizukaP.MusickK. (2021). Occupational inflexibility and women’s employment during the transition to parenthood. Demography, 58(4), 1249–1274.
37.
KeeneJ.QuadagnoJ. (2004). Predictors of perceived work-family balance: Gender difference or gender similarity?Sociological Perspective, 47(1), 1–23.
38.
KellyE.AmmonsS.ChermackK.MoenP. (2010). Gendered challenge, gendered response: Confronting the ideal worker norm in a white-collar organization. Gender & Society, 24, 281–303.
39.
KmecJ. A.O’ConnorL. T.SchiemanS. (2014). Not ideal: The association between working anything but full time and perceived unfair treatment. Work and Occupations, 41(1), 63–85.
40.
KolbD.FletcherJ.MeyersonD.Merrill-SandsD.ElyR. (1998). Making change: A framework for promoting gender equity in organizations. CGO Insight, No. 1. Center for Gender in Organizations, School of Management, Simmons College.
41.
KossekE. E.HammerL. B. (2010). Work—Life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream. Human Relations, 63(1), 3–19.
42.
KossekE. E.KelliherC. (2023). Making flexibility more I-deal: Advancing work-life equality collectively. Group & Organization Management, 48(1), 317–349.
43.
LeistJ. (2007). External culture: Its impact on rural community college presidents. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 31(4), 305–325.
44.
LesterJ. (2008). Future trends and possibilities for creating more gender equitable Community colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 17(10), 822–837.
45.
LesterJ. (2015). Cultures of work–life balance in higher education: A case of fragmentation. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 8(3), 139.
46.
LesterJ. (2016). Complexity of work-life identities and policy development: Implications for work-life in higher education. New Directions for Higher Education, 176, 97–105.
MelnikoffD. E.ValianV. V. (2019). Gender disparities in awards to neuroscience researchers. Archives of scientific psychology, 7(1), 4.
50.
MilesM.HubermanA. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. Sage Publications.
51.
MitchellR.EddyP. (2008). In the middle: Career pathways of midlevel community college leaders. Community College Journal o f Research and Practice, 32(10), 793–811.
52.
NidifferJ. (2001). New leadership for a new century. In NidifferJ.BashawC. (Eds.). Women administrators in higher education (pp. 101–131). State University of New York Press.
53.
O’ConnorL. T.CechE. A. (2018). Not just a mothers’ problem: The consequences of perceived workplace flexibility bias for all workers. Sociological Perspectives, 61(5), 808–829.
54.
O’MearaK.CampbellC. M. (2011). Faculty sense of agency in decisions about work and family. The Review of Higher Education, 34(3), 447–476.
55.
PattonM. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Sage.
56.
PorterG. (2004). Work, work ethic, work excess. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(5), 424–439.
57.
ReidE. (2015). Embracing, passing, revealing, and the ideal worker image: How people navigate expected and experienced professional identities. Organization Science, 26(4), 997–1017.
58.
ReidE.RamarajanL. (2017). Managing the high intensity workplace. Harvard Business Review, 94(6), 84–90.
59.
ReiterN. (2007). Work life balance: What do you mean?The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43(2), 273–294.
60.
RennK. A. (2020). Creating sustainable careers in student affairs: What ideal worker norms get wrong and how to make it right. Stylus Publishing.
61.
RidgewayC. (2001). Gender, status and leadership. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 637–655.
62.
RussellG. M.KellyN. H. (2002). Research as interacting dialogic processes: Implications for reflexivity. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 3(3), 831.
63.
SalleeM. W. (2008). Work/family balance: How community college faculty cope. New Directions for Community Colleges, 142, 81–91.
64.
SalleeM. W. (2012). The ideal worker or the ideal father: Organizational structures and culture in the gendered university. Research in Higher Education, 53(7), 782–802.
65.
SalleeM. W.LesterJ. (2017). Expanding conceptualizations of work/life in higher education: looking outside the academy to develop a better understanding within. In PaulsenPena (Eds.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 355–417).
66.
SalleeM.WardK.Wolf-WendelL. (2016). Can anyone have it all? Gendered views on parenting and academic careers. Innovative Higher Education, 41(3), 187–202.
67.
SeidmanI. (2006). Interviewing as qualitative research. Columbia University Teachers College Press.
68.
TeagueL. J. (2015). Higher education plays critical role in society: More women leaders can make a difference. In Boyle (Ed.), Forum on public policy online (Vol. 2015, No. 2, pp. 30–50). Oxford Round Table.
69.
TedrowH.RhoadesR. (1999). A qualitative study of women’s experiences in community college leadership positions. Community College Review, 31, 1–14.
70.
TekleR. (2012). Compensation and benefits of community college CEOS: 2012. American Association of Community Colleges.
71.
TownsendB.TwomblyS. (2007). Accidental equity: The status of women in the community college. Equity & Excellence in Education, 40(3), 208–217.
72.
TwomblyS. (1993). What we know about women in community colleges: An examination of the literature using feminist phase theory. The Journal of Higher Education, 64(2), 186–210.
73.
ValianV. (2005). Beyond gender schemas: Improving the advancement of women in academia. Hypatia, 20(3), 198–213.
74.
WardK.Wolf-WendelL. (2016). Academic motherhood: Mid-career perspectives and the ideal worker norm. New Directions for Higher Education, 2016 (176), 11–23.
75.
WilkK. E. (2016). Work-life balance and ideal worker expectations for administrators. New Directions for Higher Education, 2016(176), 37–51.
76.
WilliamsJ. C. (2000). Unbending gender: Why work and family conflict and what to do about it. Oxford University Press.
77.
WilliamsJ. C.BerdahlJ. L.VandelloJ. A. (2016). Beyond work-life “integration”. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 515–539.
78.
WilliamsJ. C.Blair-LoyM.BerdahlJ. L. (2013). Cultural schemas, social class, and the flexibility stigma. Journal of Social Issues, 69(2), 209–234.
79.
Wolf-WendelL.WardK.TwomblyS. (2007). Faculty life at community colleges: The perspective of women with children. Community College Review, 34(4), 255–281.
80.
YoderD. (2004). Organizational climate and emotional intelligence: An appreciative inquiry into a “leaderful” community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 29(1), 45–62.
