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3THE ROLE OF WOMEN LEADERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE
Khazratova Kunduz Mamaraimovna
Senior English teacher of the Uzbekistan State World Languages University, Uzbekistan
kunduz.khazratova@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10659388
Abstract. Leadership has always been a crucial aspect of organizational success, but in recent years the role of women in leadership has become increasingly important. The main thing is that men and women are different both physically, intellectually and socially. It is necessary to pay attention to the advantages that nature has given to a woman and cultivate them.
A man who has realized himself as a politician or athlete is automatically realized in the eyes of society as a man in general: to be strong (physically, politically or otherwise), famous, independent, brave and striving for dominance. Social pressure on women in this matter can be characterized as oppositely directed, which is actually a conflict between gender and leadership roles. A woman who is generally considered a "good" leader will also be generally considered a "bad" one. And if a woman also uses an aggressive and masculine approach, then she will also lose "leadership points", even though exactly the same level of aggression from a male leader will be socially acceptable. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the patterns of action that women take in academic circles while holding leadership positions. His goal is to understand the social behavior associated with this phenomenon based on scientific research. The qualitative method was used in combination with the final descriptive documentary analysis of the results obtained. This study concludes that women occupy leading positions in the higher education system in teaching, research and management positions with unequal participation in each of them.
Keywords: women's leadership communication, women's leadership in management, importance of leadership, the role of women's leadership in society
Аннотация. Лидерство всегда было важнейшим аспектом организационного успеха, но в последние годы роль женщин в руководстве становится все более важной. Главное что мужчины и женщины разные и физически, интеллектуально и социально. Нужно обращать внимание на те преимущества что природа дала женщине и взращивать их.
Мужчина, реализовавшийся как политик или спортсмен, автоматически в глазах общества реализуется и как мужчина в целом: быть сильным (физически, политически или другим образом), известным, независимым, смелым и стремящимся к доминированию. Социальное давление на женщин в этом вопросе можно охарактеризовать как противоположно-направленное, представляющее собой фактически конфликт между гендерной и лидерской ролями. Женщина, которая общепризнанно считается «хорошим» лидером, также общепризнанно будет считаться «плохой». А если женщина к тому же использует агрессивный и маскулинный подход, то она также будет терять ещё и «очки лидерства», даже при том, что ровно такой же уровень агрессии со стороны мужчины-лидера будет социально-приемлемым.
Таким образом, целью данного исследования является изучение моделей действий, которые женщины предпринимают в академических кругах, занимая руководящие должности. Его цель - понять социальное поведение, связанное с этим явлением, на основе научных исследований. Качественный метод использовался в сочетании с итоговым описательным документальным анализом полученных результатов. В этом исследовании
делается вывод о том, что женщины занимают лидирующие позиции в системе высшего образования на преподавательских, исследовательских и управленческих должностях с неравным участием в каждой из них.
Ключевые слова: коммуникация с женским руководством, женское лидерство в управлении, важность лидерства, роль женского лидерства в обществе
Annotatsiya. Etakchilik har doim tashkiliy muvaffaqiyatning muhim jihati bo'lib kelgan, ammo so'nggi yillarda ayollarning etakchilikdagi roli tobora muhim ahamiyat kasb etmoqda. Asosiysi, erkaklar va ayollar jismoniy, intellektual va ijtimoiy jihatdan farq qiladi. Tabiatning ayolga bergan afzalliklariga e'tibor berishingiz va ularni tarbiyalashingiz kerak.
Siyosatchi yoki sportchi sifatida amalga oshirilgan erkak avtomatik ravishda jamiyat nazarida va umuman erkak sifatida amalga oshiriladi: kuchli (jismoniy, siyosiy yoki boshqayo'l bilan), taniqli, mustaqil, Jasur va hukmronlik qilishga intilish. Bu masalada ayollarga nisbatan ijtimoiy bosimni qarama-qarshi yo'naltirilgan deb ta'riflash mumkin, bu aslida gender va etakchilikrollari o'rtasidagi ziddiyatni anglatadi. Odatda "yaxshi" lider deb tan olingan ayolham "yomon"deb tan olinadi. Agar ayol tajovuzkor va erkaklarchayondashuvni qo'llasa, u "etakchilik nuqtalarini" ham yo'qotadi, garchi erkak rahbarning tajovuzkorlik darajasi ijtimoiy jihatdan maqbul bo'lsa ham. Shunday qilib, ushbu tadqiqotning maqsadi ayollarning akademik doiralarda etakchilik lavozimlarida bajaradigan xatti-harakatlarini o'rganishdir. Uning maqsadi ilmiy tadqiqotlar asosida ushbu hodisa bilan bog'liq ijtimoiy xatti-harakatlarni tushunishdir. Sifatli usul olingan natijalarning yakuniy tavsiflovchi hujjatli tahlili bilan birgalikda ishlatilgan. Ushbu tadqiqot shuni ko'rsatadiki, ayollar har birida tengsiz ishtirok etgan holda o'qituvchilik, tadqiqot va boshqaruv lavozimlarida oliy ta'limda etakchi o'rinni egallaydilar.
Kalit so'zlar: ayol rahbarlar bilan muloqat, boshqaruvda ayollar etakchiligi, etakchilikning ahamiyati, jamiyatda ayollar etakchiligining roli
Introduction
Currently, the public is discussing the draft state program for the implementation of the strategy "Uzbekistan - 2030" in the "Year of support for youth and business". The draft state program reflects the measures that will be implemented in five areas, and regulatory legal acts that need to be developed. In particular, the project gives priority to the women's issue, and therefore provides for a number of goals and objectives.
The draft state program, which includes five directions, 100 goals, is widely discussed in order to obtain the opinion of our people, - said Dilbar Mamajonova, deputy of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis. - In the 25th goal of the state program, the tasks set for women attracted my attention. The role of women in the family and their social protection were expressed in the draft document. In particular, we see that measures have been taken to ensure the legal interests of our women abroad and to provide assistance to those who find themselves in a difficult situation.
A woman is the flower of society, the mirror of existence, the educator of the nation. When a woman is happy, society is happy. And a country that revered and appreciated women is today, and the next one, undoubtedly, is prosperity.
Today, our state is carrying out a number of works to ensure the rights and interests of women and increase their prestige in society. And the fruits of these good deeds are felt by all the sisters throughout their lives, their life path. At the same time, appreciating the affection shown, demonstrating their knowledge and potential in all fields, raising the flag of our state even higher
on world arenas, working in the most famous, large companies on Earth, demonstrating their potential. Of course, people who want the future to be great, the next prosperous people will strive for the continuation of the nation, no matter what sphere it represents, for peace, for a prosperous life, to create conditions for a decent marriage. Today, Uzbekistan is implementing systemic reforms aimed at expanding the rights of women, increasing their role in all processes of public administration and society.
It is no secret that all this has become the basis of the state policy implemented in the field of gender equality. In order to increase the number of women in public administration, a personnel reserve of more than 15,000 women capable of holding senior positions was formed. For the first time in the history of Uzbekistan, the number of women in the national parliament has reached 32%. And the number of women in senior positions in the country is 30%.
The Society of propagandists "Enlightenment" of the Republican Center for Spirituality and Enlightenment is implementing a number of projects to support women, prepare girls for the family, and turn them into educators of the nation. In particular, over the past year, methodological manuals, scientific brochures of professors and associate professors have been published, as a result of psychological trainings conducted during the "Festival of spirituality", reconciliation of many families on the verge of divorce has been achieved.
Within the framework of the project "My child is the pride of Uzbekistan", the mothers of 100 talented, athletic young men were awarded and given as an example to others. 17 women were awarded the badge "Victim of spirituality" for effective work on the implementation of spiritual and educational work, the formation of a high socio-spiritual environment. Both gender studies and the theoretical postulates they are based on demonstrate that inequality, when it comes to women, results from sociocultural construction rather than being established in nature. This is derived in part from stereotypes—specifically, gender stereotypes. These relate to beliefs established throughout history that typify male and female characteristics and behaviors to perpetuate the social order established in public and private spheres. The public or productive sphere comprises paid and socially valued jobs, offering social prestige. Traditionally, men have occupied this sphere, allowing them to develop and occupy positions of power and privilege. Meanwhile, the private sphere focuses on generating goods with no remuneration or exchange value in the labor market; this sphere is usually associated with women. In the socializing processes of both spheres, institutions have played a significant disseminating role, since they have reproduced norms and values conventionally considered to pertain to each sex throughout generations, to the point that "the male/female stereotype ends up becoming deeply rooted in subjects, composing a form of apprehension in the environment and in the person". This process has established numerous obstacles for the incorporation of women into the paid labor sphere. It is precisely in the paid work environment where gender difference becomes gender wage inequality since, according this is more due to an imbalance in the relationship among the type of work, its value, and remuneration for said activity. In this way, under the principle of "equal pay for equal work and work of equal value, a baseline has been established to contribute to improving the place of women in society". Consequently, salaries and their distribution are unequal between men and women.
Women tend to use "contingent reward" more than men, while men more often use "management by exception." This important difference is consistent with women being more communal, more democratic and participative, and perhaps somewhat more socio-emotional in their orientation to group roles. As with the findings regarding democratic vs. autocratic forms of
leadership, leaders who use the four forms of transformational leadership. That is, women more often use the forms of leadership that are more effective. Finally, it is noteworthy that behaving in an androgynous manner, which many women effectively do, can facilitate transformational leadership. Beyond differences in style, women can bring to bear important and distinct perspectives, values, and priorities. Relative to men, women are more likely to demonstrate cooperation and endorse social values that promote the welfare. These differences in values and ethics can help explain important gender-linked differences in outcomes related to the public good. For example, greater gender diversity in the upper echelons of companies is associated with greater philanthropy, fewer employee lay-offs, and fewer unethical business practices. Moreover, increased leadership empowerment of women is associated with greater policy making that represents the concerns of families, women, and ethnic and racial minorities, as well as increases in standards of living, societal gender. In sum, research suggests that female leaders are more likely than male leaders to focus on the welfare of others and, though the differences are small, as a broad generalization, we can say that research suggests that women have, overall, a leadership effectiveness advantage.
Without a doubt, there have been notable changes in women's participation in higher education institutions, and predictions suggest a further increase in the coming years. However, there is still a long way to go, since growth is not equal in all fields of knowledge or in all activities carried out in academia. This is because gender biases that hinder the insertion of women at levels that involve decision making are still observed.This demonstrates that there are still marked differences and discriminatory behaviors in academic participation when it comes to gender relations. In line with this, women face a variety of internal and external barriers in this process. The former is characterized by traditionalist cultural aspects such as a lack of dedication to professional practice and the tension that work roles imply at home, while the latter includes a lack of mentoring, other members' open opposition to promotion, the female quota, gender wage differences, and the absence of female role models to look up to.
There are numerous advantages to having more women in scientific leadership positions, including: Women leaders in science serve as role models and mentors, inspiring and empowering other women and girls to pursue careers in science and technology. By eliminating the gender gap in science and technology, we can assist economic growth and development. Women science leaders can be vital in addressing global issues, such as climate change, and public health. Their distinctive perspectives and knowledge can aid in identifying innovative solutions and accelerating progress toward a more sustainable future. Women leaders contribute unique and diverse scientific research and innovation perspectives. This diversity can result in novel ideas and approaches to scientific challenges, improving outcomes. Women leaders are often skilled at establishing and maintaining solid relationships, which can improve scientific cooperation and teamwork. This may lead to enhanced research and innovation. As a female Education scientist at the University of World Languages, I provide a distinctive perspective to research on language and solving the problem in Uzbekistan. Working in a university, I feel privileged and happy to inspire and instruct future generations of female scientists. By removing gender bias, encouraging innovation and creativity, and promoting gender equality, we can accelerate progress toward a more sustainable and fair future for all. The world benefits from having more female leaders in science as they bring in lived experience, collaborative, and inclusive approaches in their work. Female leaders in science add value in research by bringing in more creativity arising from their social and public good approach to challenges, and this leads to innovation. This then becomes easily adaptable and
can be scaled up in any environment with minimal contextualization processes. Female leaders in sciences also tend to pass it forward, mentoring and raising future scientists, leaving no one behind and in appreciating that they do not occupy space forever. Women leaders in science bring a fresh perspective to the field that is essential for driving innovation and progress.
Materials and Methods
The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and analyses checklist was selected as the analysis technique, which allows for the transparent replication of a study, showing its strengths and weaknesses, and guarantees that the documents included meet the chosen criteria. First, keywords for the search were identified, then eligibility criteria were established, and finally, inclusion and exclusion criteria were established.
This study took place since January 2024 and was based on Higher education instituons indicators obtained , because it is one of the largest resources that is linked to academic activity from a wide variety of disciplines. For identification, the keywords; women; leadership; higher education; university leadership and were determined based on broad concepts involved in the object of study.
For eligibility criteria, documents were first limited to the field of philology as this field covers Higher Education as an object of study.
Results and Discussion
Top-down communication appeared to be the norm. Communication received was also of poor quality and often insufficient and unclear. A lack of interpersonal communication skills compounded the problem, as leaders exhibited insensitivity to non-verbal cues and were also unable to establish meaningful relationships with employees. Furthermore, communication was perceived as unsupportive, condescending, cold, detached and strained. As one respondent described this:
A relationship of trust is absolutely essential. When those leaders interact with the staff personally however, the staff members often perceive them as indifferent, as clinical, cold and distant (Respondent A, age 24).
Respondents also complained that they do not always receive information necessary for the proper execution of their jobs, and indicated a total disregard for communication from some leaders. As respondents explained:
I don't think everything that we need to know gets communicated to us. I think it is left to the discretion of the leader to decide what gets communicated to whom and if the leader does not have good discernment skills, then the necessary information does not get communicated.", and "There is no relationship, only instructions and they don't take any time or make any effort to try and understand what your situation or circumstances" (Respondent B, age 33).
Despite the fact that the communication that respondents were exposed to was not always experienced positively, most respondents have had prior satisfactory communication experiences. This question was focused on exploring the aspects that could contribute to a positive experience with leadership communication. Four main themes emerged from the data. Firstly, it was found that leadership communication should be communicative in the sense that communication is the central aspect of leadership and constitutive of leadership. It was stated that leaders should pay attention to important aspects such as dialogue, effective listening and understanding when communicating with subordinates: I also feel leaders should use participative management and I connect communication with this because people get the opportunity to participate and give input. An effective leader must welcome input and should
also encourage input. The importance of supplying feedback on communication received from employees, as well as receiving feedback with an open mind and without a preconceived agenda, was stressed.
Women's Leadership Communication
Globalisation, volatile organisational environments and the effect of the economic downturn, together with technological advances, are forcing scholars and practitioners to reconsider the "rational organisation" and its views of leadership, and replace it with a more relational, communicative and people-centred approach. Scientists define leadership as fundamentally concerning influencing individuals to transcend their selfish short-term interests and contribute to the long-term performance of the group. The essence of leadership is, therefore, building a team and guiding it to outperform its rivals. Employees as human capital make significant contributions to the overall success of an organisation. Research indicates that organisational performance markedly improves when communication is permitted to flow uninterrupted and employees are empowered, provided with incentives, and given the necessary resources to perform at optimal level. Communication is essential to building trust and confidence between leaders and employees. Leaders can develop good relations with employees by creating an atmosphere or environment of free, fair, and informal communication networks. These networks encourage and motivate employees to speak out and adopt a participative approach, which helps to develop a profitable organisation. Although many well-documented examples of research indicating the correlation between leadership and organisational effectiveness exist, it is still unclear exactly how leaders make a difference to the organisation's bottom line. Communication is key to relationships and coexistence in environments where results are expected. Communication is also critical for accelerating change and improving organisational performance, particularly when it comes to aligning and motivating employees. It is therefore disconcerting that the role of communication in the leadership process does not receive the prominence it deserves.
Women's Leadership in Management
Here are 8 things everyone can do to support women scientists:
1. Women scientists need allies and coaches, and these need to come from the entire scientific cohort, both men and women.
2. Nominate women for awards. Perhaps make it a yearly resolution to nominate a minimum of 2 women for an award, including graduate students, postdoctoral associates, faculty and work colleagues, etc.
3. If you are organizing a session at a conference, make sure you have women on the organizing committees and invite women speakers and moderators.
4. If you are a speaker at a conference, encourage the session organizers to invite women, especially if they are under-represented within the session.
5. The support provided by mentorship is essential to help women scientists achieve their full potential.
6. Ensure that there is gender balance on important decision-making committees and panels (hiring, promotion, proposal review, financial allocation, etc.), but do not overburden women with low-importance service committees.
7. Recognize that you may be subject to implicit bias and take steps to counteract it. Implicit bias against women is an issue for both women and men and leads to subtle acts of discrimination
such as less enthusiastic letters of recommendation relative to counterparts who are men or the automatic assumption that the man in the room is the senior person.
8. Nominate women for leadership positions including within the workplace, in professional organizations, and for editorial roles.
Overall, the unique perspective that women leaders bring to science is essential for creating a more inclusive and equitable scientific community. We must work toward providing equal opportunities for women in science to take on leadership roles, recognizing and celebrating their contributions, and inspiring future generations to follow in their footsteps. In my own thoughts, the benefit of female leaders in science must be part of the teams that are conceptualizing, creating, testing, and delivering innovations to develop products and technologies that are inclusive, hence serving the entire population. Having more women in leadership roles in science implies that there are different perspectives at the decision-making tables, hence better outcomes for all. Female leaders are powerful catalysts of social change. They tend to be more human centric, value relationships, which in turn yields more results through the creativity, innovation, collaborative and participatory nature. These unique styles of leadership bring more success in science, as they tend to foster more cohesive, engaged, and effective teams. Female leaders also are more likely to influence systematic, structural, and societal changes, inspired by their own lived experience. In my own opinion women leaders bring transformational leadership that aims at long lasting impact. Women leaders are more authentic, empathetic, inclusive, collaborative, and strategic. They lead with purpose, fuel the much-needed resilience, inspire others to take action, influence, lead change, and play a key role in developing others through intergenerational mentorship and coaching. Women have natural leadership skills that they use to get things done. They are not afraid to show their emotions and are excellent at building relationships with their people.
Ensure your female leaders have the experiences and the resources to learn what they need most. Interventions for developing women leaders on an individual level could include targeted training, guidance for on-the-job learning, coaching opportunities, and mentoring at work.
Be of service to others. Coach your employees, mentor others, and even help those above you, to stand out as a leader. Volunteering your time, connecting others with ideas and resources, and participating in your community are great ways to demonstrate leadership. The greatest power of a woman is absolutely to be a woman! You have the power to create life, but this, everyone knows as an established fact: a woman carries a small living being inside of her. What is ever so often underestimated or unknown are all the superpowers that we acquire after this milestone is reached.
Conclusions
In the analyzed research, one relevant finding was a discovery of the fact that the approach to this study's objective seeks to understand the subjective realities of women. In this sense, studies have been reviewed that highlight the experiences that female academics have had in their professional careers where they face various difficulties and challenges, primarily because they operate in cultures where positions of power and decision-making are predominantly held by men, which hinders their full participation in research, decision-making processes, and other activities in higher education beyond teaching and management. Therefore, it is a constant theme in these studies to recommend that universities pave the way for female academics to attain high-level positions and increase their representation in university leadership, eliminating gender bias obstacles that waste talent and miss opportunities for women to contribute to the future development of higher education.
Although the situation of women has changed in recent years in the university and academic environment, there is still an unequal distribution of social rewards valued on the basis of stereotypes in general. For this reason, the subject continues to be of interest for gender studies because the participation of women in management positions is still scarce.
Thus, the harmonization of work and family life within higher education institutions presents a significant challenge for female academics seeking to balance both worlds: work and home. This challenge is especially pronounced because university structures often do not provide guidelines that address the reality of gender-related responsibilities. As a result, female academics experience a "double workload" in their daily lives. Specifically, aspects such as the "time" factor are fundamental but often unquestioned elements that determine the type of relationship that women establish between work and home: harmonious, tense, or challenging. It would be advisable, for this reason, for reconciliation policies to aim for reducing the tension that arises for women when reconciling their everyday, private, and work lives, as well as the consequences of this tension in all areas.
Affirmative actions that higher education institutions can implement are those that create mechanisms that accelerate substantive and factual equality between women and men. Reducing injustices, inequalities, and gender-based discrimination will contribute to making schedules more flexible, opening up opportunities, and preventing academics from being hindered in their aspirations to pursue certain projects, such as motherhood or caregiving responsibilities. This highlights gender inequality within the university, as in no case will a male's career advancement be conditioned by his parenthood or caregiving roles.
Women's leadership has mainly been developed in teaching activities where women have historically been more active than in other university areas such as research, where they have encountered obstacles to lead projects, obtain fundraising, or serve as principal.
This systematic review of the literature contributes to a reflection on the progress made by women in the field of Higher Education, but it also helps us to identify the challenges we face in relation to equality, empowerment, and female leadership. This review definitely sought to examine the gender patterns of action in education when it comes to leader positions and in so doing, identified issues to consider for future studies, including expanding research on this phenomenon in underserved regions and fields of knowledge, strengthening public policies that promote gender equity not only in teaching but also in the areas of research and management, and empowering women by changing their self-perceptions toward occupying positions traditionally held by men, which also implies working across the cultural structure of education.
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