COLLAGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENT FOR BACHELOR OF
ART IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTENATIONAL RELATIONS

TITLE: AN ASSESSMENT OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP POSITION:-

IN CASE OF BONGA UNIVERSITY (IN 2024)

BY: TESHOME FIKIRE ID 2677/13

ADVISOR. AKILILU ABIY(MA)

FEB 2024

BONGA ETHIOPIA
Table of Contents
Chapter One....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Back ground of Study....................................................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the problem.................................................................................................................3
1.3. Objective of the Study......................................................................................................................4
1.4.1 General Objective.......................................................................................................................4
1.4.2 Specific Objectives......................................................................................................................5
1.4. Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
1.5. Significance of the Study...................................................................................................................5
1.6 Scope of the Study.............................................................................................................................5
1.7 Limitation of the Study......................................................................................................................6
1.8. Organization of the study.................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER TWO.............................................................................................................................7
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE......................................................................................................................7
2.1 Theoretical study...............................................................................................................................7
2.1.1 Concept of Leadership....................................................................................................................7
2.1.2 Women leadership.........................................................................................................................8
2.1.3 The Women and Leadership status................................................................................................9
2.2 Empirical study................................................................................................................................12
2.2.1. Factors that Affect Women’s Leadership Position.......................................................................13
2.2.1.1 Solis Cultural Factors..................................................................................................................13
2.2.1.2 Organizational Culture Barriers.................................................................................................15
2.2.1.3 Gender Stereotype Factors........................................................................................................16
2.2.1.4 Work Place Policies....................................................................................................................17
2.2.1.5 Discrimination in Appointments................................................................................................18
2.3. Conceptual Frame work..................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER THREE......................................................................................................................20
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES.............................................................................................................20
3.1. Description of the study area........................................................................................................20

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 3.2 Research Design..............................................................................................................................20
3.3 Source of data and data collection techniques..............................................................................20
3.5 Sampling Size and technique...........................................................................................................21
3.6. Method and process of data analysis.............................................................................................21
3.7 Time schedule and budget breakdown.................................................................................22
3.7.1. Time Schedule.....................................................................................................................22
3.7. 2.Financial Budget................................................................................................................23
References.....................................................................................................................................24

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Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Back ground of Study
Leadership is the action of leading employees to achieve goals. It plays an important role in employee
performance and productivity. A good leadership Guides employees by defining their role in the work
process, providing them with the tools needed to perform and participating in their effort along the way.
The importance of leadership in society should not be underestimated. People need laws and rules to
govern their actions. Organizations of any size take on the personalities of their leaders. Good leadership
helps shape a positive attitude, promotes harmony and facilitates maximum productivity. Highlighted
below are benefits of a good leader in a business venture: Improved productivity of the workforce,
improved ability to succeed under pressure and increased emotional intelligence According to
(Iyanda,et.al ,2024).

Women have Unique Qualities of Leadership. Women leaders are more persuasive than their male
counterparts, learn from adversity and carry on with an "I'll show you" attitude, demonstrate an inclusive,
team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making. Women leaders are also more
likely to ignore rules and take risks According to (Shafaei et al. 2024). The participation of women in
the workforce has been argued to bring particular gender-specific capabilities (relationship focused, open
communication styles, motivating abilities toward followers, and the sharing of power According to
( Aroussi, .et al 2024) to the economic sector. An increase in the acceptance of women in leadership
may imply a recognition of the value of women specific capabilities( Kahlan & Al-
Khasawneh,2024) as well more opportunity for women to achieve gender equality and
independence.

In this globalization, the issue of gender equality has become an area of concern in development planning.
The marginalization from development programs of women for a long period of time in challenged with
changing policy perspectives from Women in Development, with aims to include women in development
projects in order to make the latter more effective, to Gender and Development which aims to address
inequalities in women's and men's social roles in relation to development. As stated by( Grimett ,2024),
in the 21st century women are more presents in the workplace than at any time in the history. Dramatic
progress is shown in numbers of women's who succeeded to join managerial and professional careers.
Over and done with, women, in their capacity as leaders, are working through many public and private
sectors.

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According to (CSA, 2007) report, Ethiopian women cover almost half of the population of the country.
Without the active participation of those women at all levels of leadership and managerial position the
goal of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved. Due to these reason, recently in Ethiopia
various policies and strategies adopted by the government to promote gender equality and protect
women‘s rights, including the National Plan for Gender Equality (Wu, 2024, January) the Plan for
Accelerated and Sustainable Development to Eradicate Poverty (Satornino & Grewal, 2024). which
included ―unleashing the potential of Ethiopian women‖ among its eight strategic elements, the
Development and Change Package for Ethiopian women, seeking to promote the economic and political
participation of women and to eradicate harmful traditional practices, and the joint United
Nations/Government of Ethiopia flagship programs on gender equality and maternal health.
Moreover, Ethiopia is one of the countries which signed the international declarations affirming the legal
rights and equality of men and women. In addition to this it has incorporated such a point in the
Constitution in Article (9)4 which states that All international agreements ratified by Ethiopia are an
integral part of the law of the land (Constitution of the FDRE, 1995, p.79).

Women constitute around 40% of the world labor force but not achieved much gender equality in any
countries of the world. Despite women‘s inspiring gains in education and the workplace over the past 50
years, men greatly outnumber women in leadership, especially in top positions (Longman & Bray .
2024). From corporate boardrooms to the halls of Congress, from universities to the courts, from
religious institutions to philanthropic organizations, men ar e simply much more likely than women to
be leaders. In many societies, women are still assigned a secondary place by the prevailing
customs and culture. In education and academic circles, the picture is not different especially if one
looks at higher education ( Kurt & Bayyurt, 2024). Despite the progress made globally in improving the
status of women, gender disparities still exist in regard to participation in Executive and electoral political
positions. The extensive effort to increase the number of women in organizational leadership, recent
research on the participation rate of women in leadership shows modest results. This proves that even
though extensive work and study on women in leadership had been done, women representation in
leadership is still marginal. As stated by (Forsythe , 2024), internationally, with a few exceptions for
many centuries almost all organization are headed by influential men.

Traditional societies understood widely and wrongly that women are not born to lead. Their major
responsibilities were assumed as giving assistance to their bosses than leading and direction an
organization regardless of their educational accomplishments and experiences. Due to the above
assumption the numbers of women holding leadership position in any type of organization is lower in

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developing countries than the developed world According to ( Murphy,et al ,2024).

While accommodating outside values has become recognized as important, these values may not have
penetrated individual-level behaviors According to ( Iqbal et al ,2024). This research aims to assess
women in leadership position. In public life, achieving inclusive and representative policy outcomes,
trust in government, and the responsiveness of public service delivery

depend on policy decisions that integrate the perspectives of both men and women. Despite
growing awareness of the benefits of gender equality in decision-making, the pace of progress to
achieve it is slow and varies considerably across countries.

As far as the knowledge of the researcher will be concerning, no intensive study has been conducted out,
so far on the leadership participation of women in the Bonga university. Therefore, this study will be
focus on Bonga University to identify the women in leadership position in the case of Bonga University

1.2 Statement of the problem

The sustainability of the country's economy depends on the extent to which women have participated in
public decision-making and the inclusion of their needs and interests in politics, which ultimately helps to
ensure good governance. (Miloud, 2024). Internationally, the right of women to participate in decision-
making processes at the local, national and international levels has been recognized
by conventions and declarations on the elimination of internationally, women right to participate in
decision-making processes at local, national and international levels was recognized by different
universal Convention and declaration on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women.
For instance, Art(21) of the universal declaration of human right affairs, the right of every man
and woman to participate in every aspect of the government of their country of discrimination
against women. For example, in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every man and
woman has the right to participate in all aspects of the governance of their country.. (UDHR, 1948) and
the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), have been formulated to enhance women participation in
leadership position.

However, in today's world, more women are entering the workforce than ever before, but the majority of
top management positions in almost all countries are predominantly held by male leaders. And at the
same time, women still traditionally focus on "woman andquot; functional areas of companies such as;
human resources, corporate communications, community and management relations, marketing and

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finance. ( Park & Jiang, 2024). According to( Grimett, 2024), women are still under represented
compared to their male counterparts regardless of their higher contribution to every sphere of the nation‘s
economy.

As a result, the majority of administrative positions were held by male managers, and the representation
of women in administrative and decision-making positions is almost insignificant. ( Hsu,, & Riccucci,
2024)This shows that women are still a minority in key sectors and in decision-making positions, and the
higher one is in the hierarchy, the greater the inequality of women in sectors. The low participation of
women in leadership positions also affects the growth and development of Bonga University.

Finally, if this situation continues, the MDGs will not be successfully achieved. Although several studies
have been conducted in our country on factors influencing the participation of women in leadership
positions, motivated the researcher to lack of information, lack of finance, there has been little research
on Bonga University's cultural factors, workplace policies, capacity building, and domestic
responsibilities. Currently, the participation of women in senior leadership positions in the House of
Federation corresponds to 50%. Despite the wide gap, the researcher underestimated the factors
influencing the participation of women in leadership positions and also recommended these factors to
Bonga University management and responsible sectors to formulate possible strategies to increase their
participation in leadership positions. in Bonga University.

The other problems that motivated the researcher to conduct this research are in order to
provide a sufficient information, awareness and knowledge to suggest the possible solution of
women leadership position

1.3. Objective of the Study

1.4.1 General Objective
The general objective of the study will to assess women in leadership positions in Bonga University.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

1. To identify the present socio-cultural that affect women participation in leadership position in the
Bonga University.

2. To identify the organizational culture that affect the participation of women in leadership position in
the Bonga University

3. To examine the effect of gender gap (gender stereotype) on women leadership position.

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1.4. Research Questions
1. To what extent sociol-cultural affect women participation in leadership position in the Bonga
University?

2. What are the percentages of women holding higher in Bonga University

3. To what extent organizational culture affect the participation of women in leadership position in the
Bonga University

4. To what the factors contributing to the gender gap in in leadership position in bonga university

1.5. Significance of the Study

The paper will design for three purposes. Other researcher to undertake further comparative study in the
area and it will use for the sectors as a base for improving the women‘s participation in leadership
position. The study will benefit women that it helps to realize factors that affect their representation in
leadership position and by suggesting how to overcome it and to bring about changes of attitudes in the
sectors.

The suggestions from the study will also lead to policy makers‘ new orientation in formulation and
implementation of affirmative action policies that could enhance women‘s participation in sectors
management and to stimulate public sectors to give attention towards the current problem that prevent
the entry of women to the position and it may serves.

1.6 Scope of the Study

Since the conceptually and theoretically of the women leadership position is very broad and wide area.
The scope of the study will be generally to cover the specific objectives of the women leadership position
in Bonga University The study delimited only to studying the women leadership position in Bonga
University in 2024

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The process of undertaking this study will not free from certain limitations. This will lack of knowledge,
lack of adequate and well organized sources of information, unwillingness of some respondents to fill the
interview, shortage of time and lack of the relate research paper to use it as a reference.

1.8. Organization of the study

The study will organize in to five chapters. Chapter one, deals the background of the study statement of

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problem, objective of the study, general objective of the study, specific objective, research question,
significance of the study, scope of the study and limitation of the study. Chapter two, deal with literature
review and conceptual definition of the concepts. Chapter three, research methodology, description of the
study area, research design, sources of data, methods of data collection, sampling size and technique and
method of data analysis and process. Chapter four, outline data presentation, interpretation and analysis.
The last chapter outlines the summary of findings, conclusion and recommendation

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.0 Introduction
The objectives of this chapter are to established reviews of related literature and research
frameworks in which the remainder of the paper is shaped. Primarily, the chapter presented the
conceptual definition conceptual leadership, women leadership. Next to conceptual clarification,

8
conceptual framework, women and leadership status. Then theories empirical study presented
and finally empirical perspectives on factors that affect women leadership position. are discussed
from several bodies of literature.

2.1 conceptual clarifications

2.1.1 Concept of Leadership

Leadership is a complex and multidimensional phenomena. It has been defined as: a behavior; a style; a
skill; a process; a responsibility; an experience; a function of management; a position of authority; an
influencing relationship; characteristic; and an ability According to ( Zigan et al ,2024). Leadership is a
process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others According
to( Faraz et al , 2024). Leaders set a direction for the rest of us; they help us see what lies ahead; they
help us visualize what we might achieve; they encourage us and inspire us. Leadership is the ability to get
other people to do something significant that they might not otherwise do. It‘s energizing people toward a
goal.According to ( Dacholfany et al , 2024) defined leadership as ―the process of influencing others
to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, as well as the process of
facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives. “Although there are a variety
of leadership definitions, the majority of definitions focused on two components which are: the process of
influencing a group of individuals to obtain a common goal; and to develop a vision. In addition, research
shows that being an effective leader depends upon common behaviors and characteristics like:
confidence, service mentality, good coaching skills, reliability, expertise, responsibility, good listening
skills, being visionary, realistic, good sense of priorities, honesty, willingness to share, strong self-esteem,
technical or contextual, and recognition (Algathtani, 2014).

2.1.2 Women leadership

Women leadership is just one branch of leadership concept and can also be defined in diffe rent ways.
Some understand women leadership as the fact that women can be and are leaders, others may define it
from a feminist point of view and as a matter of equality and the right to have the same opportunities.
Some say, it refers to certain feminine characteristics which are valuable in today's organizations
( Ahmad,2024). Others think that leadership should not be differentiated as women leadership at all. In
addition, as a woman shouldering multiple responsibilities doesn‘t affect the capability of executing
certain tasks and leading. It is merely a characteristic among others and that is another reason why it

9
should not be emphasized ( Rosen,2024). Since the1980´s, the focus has been on emphasizing women
leaders' traits and their benefits in organizations, rather than proving women's humanity and capability to
work in higher positions ( Ruan,2024). Specifically, emphasizing femininity in leadership means that it
is recognized that there have been and still are less women than male leaders and that it is changing. In
that sense, the word women is seen to work as sort of a reminder of the fact that there have not always
been women leaders. According to ( Piha Janjuha-Jivraj et al,2024). some women want to use the
words women leadership purposefully, to bring out the competitive advantage that different skills and
capabilities can create, this way bringing up the advantages of femininity. Sometimes being a women
leader and representing minority in some sense can be beneficial as some organizations may consider a
woman as a more interesting choice or as a new asset.

In addition, there is no guarantee that women leaders will promote gender equality and there is also no
guarantee that male leaders will not do so. Bureaucratic and democratic principles dictate that leaders
should represent the interests of others, even when these interests are at odds with their own.( Afreen, &
Norton 2024). However, while some leaders can and do represent agendas that they do not share
personally, this principle is often for gotten: there is a very clear relationship between personal identity
and experience, and commitment to furthering a cause. In general, the world needs leaders who will bring
the agenda of peace, equality, and sustainable development.

2.1.3 The Women and Leadership status

Before the 1974 revolution, Ethiopian society had a strong religious base and the political culture has
derived its strength from those religious beliefs. Orthodox Christianity was the dominant religion at the
time forming the ideological base of the ruling monarchs. Within the stratification system, women were
not only placed at the lowest hierarchical level, but were also expected to show utmost respect and
submission to men and never question the motives of their husbands, fathers or male relatives. This
hierarchy was also explicitly stated in the (Fetha-Negest , 2011): ―First, he [the judge] must be a
man... the requirement of being a male is based on the consideration that man is the master of
a woman, as said by the Apostle[Ephesians 5:23]. The office of a judge belongs to the superior rather
than the subordinate; because a man is more intelligent, he must judge‖. Over centuries, such
indoctrination became further integrated as part of culture. In this manner, women‘s inferior status
became established unchallenged as universal within the traditional patriarchal ideology. So according to
Fetha-Negest women at that time were subjected to powerful autocratic ideological control that
none of them could challenge the emperor. Due to that, the Emperor had no agenda and did not consider

10
women‘s advancement as an issue. There were women‘s organized activities run mainly by non-
governmental (NGOs) bodies such as the Ethiopian Women's Welfare Association, the Ethiopian
Officer's Wives Association, and the Ethiopian Female Students' Association. These Associations
were, however, limited in scope, and only existed in the cities. Besides as it was the order that time,
the monarchy did not design special measures for women‘s liberation and also did nothing t o alter
traditional gender perceptions in the society. Therefore, they had little or no impact on
government policies, laws, regulations or development programs. Most of the educated women
(at the time there were very few) were also not sensitive to their own problems and
could not walk further than functioning as part of the society, abiding by their feminine
roles. Even though the first parliament was established in Ethiopia during Haile Selassie‘s
regime, no woman had been given a chance of nomination. Latter, only 2 women in 1965 and 5
women in 1969 have occupied the imperial‘s parliament and the senate which had 250 and
125 seats respectively( Mulugeta, 2024). When the Dergue (The Military Government) took
political power in the country in 1974, it dramatically changed the political course from
monarchy to a communist orientation.

The Revolutionary Ethiopian Women‘s Association (REWA) was established by proclamation,

but this organization was too monolithic and too close to the Dergue to be of any real use to
women (Mulugeta,2024).

The purpose of its establishment was, in fact, the consolidation of the Dergue's power. Promoting
the interests of women was not high on its agenda nor was it designed to influence government
policies or help women benefit from development programs. As a result there was little
improvement in the lives of Ethiopian women, whether in the social, economic or
political sphere, especially of those who lived in the rural areas According to ( Pandey et al,2024).

Even though a few development agencies, particularly NGOs engaged in relief and rehabilitation
work, had attempted to incorporate women's issues into their work programs, they did not show
the expected results. This was because the previous government had not given women‘s
development the priority it deserved and therefore had not created conducive atmosphere
for development initiatives for women. The Dergue made it clear that it would not tolerate any
resistance from anyone to achieving its own goals. In the first year of its power, women

11
activists engaged on state structures (peasant associations and women‘s commission) to
advance their agenda in mobilizing rural women in some regions. They exploited the
available opportunities at the time. But that did not last long. The Dengue assumed complete
monopoly on the emancipation of women, dictating its course and actions from a distorted
woman question paradigm. Within this woman question, there was no indication of altering the
traditional female and male domains. In fact, these were found to be enforced and exploited to
the maximum by the institutional arm of the Dengue representing all women in the
country, namely the Revolutionary Ethiopian Women‘s Association (Mulugeta,2024).

Things looked more promising when the EPRDF took political power in the country in
1991. Many new laws replaced the abundance of state proclamations of the Dergue,
creating opportunities for society. Initially, these laws promised much freedom and space
to the people( da Silva Perez,2024). The ruling party set up its own national women‘s machinery
in the form of Women‘s Affairs Offices (WAO) and bureaus to enhance women‘s actions.
Beside the women‘s machinery, the EPRDF government also initiated numerous other well-
intended

Efforts to enhance the rights of women within. These include the promulgation of a very liberal
constitution containing women‘s explicit rights, the signing of international treaties regarding
women‘s rights and the introduction of affirmative measures to promote women‘s advancement
According to (Mechkova et al,2024).

The Federal Constitution of Ethiopia was promulgated in 1995 which has renewed the
commitment to the gender policy and clearly expressed legislative support for women through its
various articles. For example, Article 25 prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender. Article
35 is the most comprehensive law regarding women‘s rights and consists of nine sub-provisions.
These are stipulations on the equal enjoyment of rights; equality of rights in marriage;
entitlement to affirmative measures; freedom from harmful traditional practices; maternity leave;
equal participation in program planning and implementation; equal rights on property ownership;
equality in employment; and full access to reproductive health care. A number of other
constitutional provisions, namely those embodied in Articles 7, 33, 38, 42, and 89, also
have a direct bearing on the protection of the rights of Ethiopian women.

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It did not stop there. It was quite promising to see that the ruling party included an article in the
constitution meant to domesticate these international treaties. Article 9 (4) in the 1995
Constitution stipulates that ―all international agreements ratified by Ethiopia are an integral part
of the law of the land‖. Many other steps undertaken by the EFDRE government on women‘s
rights include revision of the family law in 2000; revision of the penal code in 2004; revision of
the labor law; launching of a social welfare policy in 1997; an educational policy; the
formulation of a national health policy in 1993; the promulgation of a national population policy
an HIV/AIDS policy, and many more. Besides these, Article 3 of the constitution provides equal
opportunity for women to participate in the decision making process by giving them the right to
vote and be elected.Though much still remains to be done, there are noticeable achievements in
the participation of women particularly in the parliament as well as in regional councils. The
Civil Service Reform Programs also contributed a lot to women's participation in decision-
making. Article 13 (1) of the Civil Service Proclamation No.262/2002 prohibits
discrimination among job seeker on the basis of sex.
2.2.4 Empirical study
Women leadership is not simply the subject of a management consulting report supporting
the worthwhile notion that women have a right to be located in leadership positions. This
research develops a conceptual model linking the conditions and factors associated with
women leadership in Thailand. It proposes a theoretical basis made on three levels:-Firstly,
the macro-level: involving policy, economic, social and technological issues. Secondly, the
mesa

13
-level: at industry levels, focusing on gender based organizational practice in all sectors.
Thirdly, the micro-level: at the level of the individual, concerning women leaders’
characteristics such as their personalities and competencies. The purpose of this article is
also to critically evaluate the relationship among different theories and show how they
relate to this study and what variables are involved.
2.2.5. Factors that Affect Women’s Leadership Position
Under representation of women in senior leadership is problematic for several reasons.
First, a lack of women in senior positions may discourage the lower-level women to aspire to an
upper-level position, because they feel that it is UN-tenable at all. Highly qualified and
experienced women may thus not apply for upper level positions. As a result,
organizations lose the opportunity to capitalize on the skills and talent of a portion of
their workforce. Further, when employees perceive a lack of women in upper
management, they may form ideas about the implicit values and culture of the
organization, such as it is an old-boys club,‘‘ or discriminatory in its hiring and retention
practices. According to ( Ampaw et al,2024). Therefore there are so many reasons that barriers
women from moving to upper leadership position and from those factors some of them are
described as follows:

2.2.1.1 Solis Cultural Factors

According to (Ampaw ,2024) culture is that which surrounds us and plays a certain role in
determining the way we behave at any given moment in time. By no means a static, concept
defines culture and is both defined by events that are taking place both locally as well as
regionally and internationally, it is shaped by individual events as well as collective ones, and it
is a feature of the time or epoch we live in. Because it is so vast, culture is also often used
as a tool to validate all manners of actions not, all of which may be acceptable to all
concerned and are often intimately, connected to issues of identity. Cultural frameworks are not
always imposed, but are open to manipulation and interpretation from many angles and sources.

Home responsibilities as well as, place-bound circumstance more spouse were early contributors
to women, lack of administrative success, either because of the demand of family on women
aspirants restricted them because those who hired believed that women would be hindered by

14
family commitments. Native American women in Montana are example reported to be
identifying family responsibilities as barriers to entering administration (Bollinger &
McSkimming,2024).The same to Brown other researcher( Ainsworth,2024). stated that "family and
home responsibilities are more likely to affect the career patterns of women than of men"

In most African culture include Ethiopia, social-cultural traditions tend to assume that women
public roles are just additional activities to their primary roles. For examples, in Ethiopia women
engaged in productive and community works. As we known women are mother, wives, and
breadwinners in their home (Anggraini,.2024). Because of those many responsibilities women are
being restricted to domestic role with small opportunities and contact to decision making and
leadership position.

According to Folorunsho.,.2024).in any ethnic group in Africa a typical woman has low status
particularly lack of power to make decisions on matters affecting her life and those of her family.
This culturally determined expectation and attitude towards the girl child influences less
allocation of resources towards the girl as compared to the boys. A boy will always be
considered first before a girl. This gender biased cultural assumption and the subsequent
differential treatment of boys and girls in a homestead not only diminish girls‘ access and
performance in the education but also tend to push girls to doing the so called feminine
careers‘. One of the earliest biological justifications for male superiority comes from Aristotle
5th century B.C (Tutrone,2024). He stated that the world is a hierarchy composed of ruling
elements and women are naturally fit to the second. In his own words he described it as ―The
male is naturally fitter to command than the female and women benefit most by being subject to
male royal authority. It is mainly because during that time the inequality of men and women was
a legally and socially accepted fact.

Therefore, this simply shows his ideological difference from contemporary thinkers. While
society believes in the superiority of men, we are in the decade of woman in which the
involvement of women in many aspects is a hot issue. The society and the individual attitude
toward women ability in holding the responsibility of leadership and decision making position
could affect the participation women significantly.

15
As stated by (Hoare and Gell, 2009).Mistrust of women ability to lead and the stereotypes and
prejudices about their roles in society and their lack of suitability for leadership roles and
decision making are also challenge for women.

These challenges are usually aggravated by cultural factors. As (Sitterly cited in Jimoh, 2024). the
women manager confirmed it as follows: ―The 1990‘s have been named the decade of Women
…changes in values technology, labor availability the work force, life styles, public
attitudes, family roles, globalization, legal requirements, company recognition, emphasis on
team work and employee involvement are all factors that will enhance women‘s opportunity to
compete and survive in tough economic time.

2.2.1.2 Organizational Culture Barriers

According to Phillips (Bjørnstad et al, 2024) organizational culture is defined as the realities,
values, symbols and rituals held in common by members of an organization and which contribute
to the creation of norms and expectations of behavior. It defines conduct within an organization,
determines what is and is not valued, and how authority is asserted. The values, which support
the great majority of organizations, and thus define success, often include money, power
and status. According to ( Cortiñas-Lorenzo et al, 2024). McKenzie the corresponding behaviors
include working long hours and putting in face time (as proxies for productivity),
competitiveness and a willingness to put work above all else. These values and behaviors, which
some authors define as being masculine, have come to dominate organizations for historical and
socioeconomic reasons but are increasingly being challenged by women, and many men,
who want to 'work to live' rather than 'live to work'. The organizational and managerial values
in some organizations tend to be characterized by stereotypical views of women's roles,
attributes, preferences and commitments. These in turn influence decisions about who is
suitable for particular positions, which is seen to have potential and so forth. When women find
themselves selected or assessed on the basis of group membership rather than on their
experience and abilities, they experience gender discrimination. According to ( Heilman et al ,
2024) leadership and management continue to be the domain of men that is thinks manager,
think male‘. This has implications for women and men, rightly or wrongly, are perceived in
a particular way in society, which permeates organizations. They are assigned gender roles,
which are shared beliefs that apply to individuals on the basis of their socially identified sex.
16
2.2.1.3 Gender Stereotype Factors
Gender stereotypes are generalized beliefs about the characteristics and qualities attributed
to men and women in a society. In general, men are characterized as aggressive, risk-
taking, decisive, and autonomous (antigenic attributes), whereas women are characterized as
kind, caring, relational, and humble (communal attributes)( Rothfuß-Hanke, L 2024; Sikdar &
Mitra, 2008). Gender stereotypes can be described as the characteristics, attitudes, values
and behaviors that society specifies as appropriate for the particular gender. The
differences may have arisen not just from biological differences but also from sex role
socialization during childhood and the way in which men and women develop
psychologically. Gender stereotypes have consistently demonstrated that men are generally
seen as more agent and more competent than women, while women are seen as more
expressive and communal than men ( Pittarello, A., & Motro, D. (2024). social norms promote a
general stereotypes of gender roles which have been cultured through process of social learning,
these social practices encourage the development of skill, traits, and behaviors that are different
between men and women which in the eyes of many men and women are perceived as contrary
to those required in the higher level of managers.

Women have different management style which can being benefits to the organization, women
are more inclined to take a fresh perspective , identifies, what is not working and develop new
solution compare with their male peers, women leaders are more willing to share power, make
decision and solve problems based on shared ideas and information and encourage participation
and expression. Women prefer organizational structures that enable consensual working rather
than the traditional hierarchical structure favored by men According to (Petz et al, 2024).

Gender stereotyping also explains why women and men are over-represented in particular types
of jobs. Women dominate in care occupations such as nursing, teaching, social care and
especially child-care. Men tend to be concentrated in construction and management areas
associated with physical strength, risk-taking or decision-making. Such gender biases are
also reflected in organizational practices. Male-dominated sectors tend to be more unionized,
and men are more frequently selected for managerial positions because, some argue, they
are perceived to be more willing to work longer hours and supervise others. Occupational,
directorial or time-related segregation can also be explained by women‘s preferences for job
17
security or the manner in which societies force them to balance work and family responsibilities.

According to (Heilman et al,2024) states the glass ceiling‘‘ explanations focus on discrimination
due to many, varied causes, such as sex role stereotyping (where individuals tend to
associate male characteristics and consequently men with leadership positions also called the
think leader, think male‘‘ phenomenon). Scholars have collected substantial empirical evidence
that illustrate

That we associate successful leaders with stereo typically male attributes such as independence,
assertiveness and decisiveness. So because stereotypes of what women are like’ ‘in the
workplace do not match with the male leadership archetype, women are not considered for or are
judged to be ill suited for the top jobs. Thus as Cornelius According to ( Heilman et al,2024) asserts
that stereotyping can have an influence on the way in which men and women are perceived
in the workplace. The use of stereotypes as the basis for assessment of individuals can
result in advantage or disadvantage, not because of individual ability or lack of it but
because of group membership. Gender stereotypes are still pervasive and widely shared,
according to this author.

2.2.1.4 Work Place Policies

Women are not the same as men; they have particular biological functions that make
them different, which in turn make their work experiences different. To this end, treating
men and women the same has effectively created a systemic form of indirect
discrimination for women. (Majerski,2024) asserts that pregnancy is a workplace issue that starts
well before conception and ends long after birth. It is impossible to separate pregnancy and
family responsibilities. Anecdotal evidence suggests assumptions that women will resign
when they have children are still widespread and continue to form the basis for not
hiring women among some employers. Large number of women report significant difficulties
when they return to work due to the lack of supportive policies and practices in workplace.
Issues like childcare, breastfeeding, flexible working hours and part-time work are still very
current issues for most working women.

Despite anti-discrimination legislation, a negative link continues to be made, by

employers, between a women‘s reproductive status and her employment orientation( Leberman,

18
S., & Hurst, J. 2024). The Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) has stated that this is partly
because employers fear that expense and inconvenience may be involved in managing both
maternity leave and mothers‘ subsequent return to work, when women might request
flexibility due to their maternal responsibilities. The EOC also argue, however, that such
discrimination occurs due to a belief on the part of organizations that mothers likely to lose
their career focus from the moment they become pregnant. It has been suggested that
discrimination in relation to

women‘s maternity occurs because the normative image of womanhood is gendered. While
men are seen as employment-oriented economic providers and bread makers, it is assumed that
mothers chief responsibility and interest is (or ought to be!) embedded within the home. Mothers
are therefore constructed as having a lower employment-orientation( Brehm, U., & Milewski, N.
2024) (and a higher home-orientation) than fathers

2.2.1.5 Discrimination in Appointments

Discrimination occur when an employee suffers unfavorable or unfair treatment due to their sex,
race, religion, national origin, disabled or veteran status, or other legally protected
characteristics. Federal law prohibits discrimination in a number of work-related areas, including
recruiting, hiring, job evaluations, promotion policies, training, compensation and disciplinary
action. Discrimination can be portrayed in different ways.

According to (Jiang, X., & Zhou, Y. 2024), despite the fact that many governments have
adopted and adapted affirmative action measures and the rhetoric of gender balance, the figures
still indicate that globally, despite the fact that women are half of the population, they are
nowhere near half of the decision-making structures. The threshold of 30% advocated by
the UNDP report, as a prelude to the 50% is still a dream for most women. As a matter of fact,
intelligence, ability and motivation are the attributes of a good leader. These attributes are
inherent in both men and women, and gender has no role to play in determining these
attributes. However in pursuit to investigating the factors influencing women progression
to leadership, social/cultural factors, organization culture, workplace policies and
discrimination of women in appointments have come out clearly as the factors inhibiting
women from moving up the ladder of upper managerial positions.

19
 2.2. Conceptual Frame work
Conceptual framework involves forming ideas about relationships between variables in the study
and showing these relationships graphically or diagrammatically According to (Linder et al,
2024). The conceptual framework on the dependent and independent variables are

Shown on diagrammatically as follows. Independent variables woman in leadership position are

variables that are changed in a given model or equation. It is the manipulated variable in the
study whose presence or degree

Determines the change in the dependent variable socio cultural factor, Gender stereotype, and
organizational factor while the dependent variable is the variable that is being measured or tested
in the study.

Building factor 2024

Socio cultural
factor

Gender Women in
leadership position Organizational
stereotype
factor

2.2 Theoretical study

Feminism — contends that:

There is masculine hegemony in the international system. Men not only dominate the domestic
system but also the international system because they have control over majority of resources,
20
authority and leadership. Conflicts and wars are inevitable and there can be no potential for
cooperation in the international system if gender equality is not assured because men are
naturally aggressors.

Liberal feminism rejects these claims as being based on stereotyped gender roles. Liberal
feminists believe/see that essential differences in relations and women’s abilities or perspectives
are trivial or non-existent because men and women are equal. But they believe that including
women would not necessarily change the nature of the international system. They seek to include
women more often as subjects in the study of international system.

Radical feminists, critique international relations theories as well. They define the problem as
overarching patriarchy. The patriarchal system permeates national and international systems for
example making war a desirable national phenomenon. War will always be more likely, and
women will always be in a subservient position until this system is changed

CHAPTER THREE
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
3.1. Description of the study area
Bonga university is one of the national university found in South nations nationalities and
peoples region .It is located at Bonga, where the Bonga is , and Bonga town 449kms and 450
mks respectively at south west of Addis Abba in the deep and unique natural and anthropocentric
diversity. The university is founded on approximately 400 hectares of land in Bonga university.
The university started teaching and learning in 2010 by sharing building for university
administration offices from Bonga agriculture technical and vocational college by admitting few
regular students in college of social science and humanities at Bonga University. By the time the
university started its operation there were only 800 students attending their first degree classes.
Among this number of students for the first time 138 students had graduated in July 2008&2009.

21
(https/www.mtu.edu.et)

3.2 Research Design

The study will focus on the women leadership position in Bonga university and the study design
will Mixed Approach.

3.3 Research Approach

The studies will employee both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative
and qualitative research approaches are important in social science researches and both of them
will typically employing to answer questions about the complex nature of phenomena often with
the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from the participant point of views.
The reason will that both methods are employing to find data and information and the design also
given to the information opportunity to share their long time or relatives experience on the issues
of women leadership position in Bonga University and problems related with it and enabling
factors.

3.3 Source of data and data collection techniques

The study will use both primary and secondary sources data. Primary source of data will collect
from respondents. Secondary source of data will gather from both publish and unpublished
materials, newspaper and books. Primary data will collect by using Interview and questionnaire
in order to collect reliable information about the issue of this study. ( Prof AndThakur
2024)Secondary data will collect through document analysis.

3.5 Sampling Size and technique

The researcher will use purposive or judgment sampling techniques in this study. The rationality
behind using these techniques is basis up on the variety of criterion which may include
experience, capacity, responsibilities and who have ability to provide the researcher with relevant
information and the researcher take the representative of those who have information about the
issue. Hence, the researcher was take 15 respondents from target population.

This study proposal will use non probability sampling technique because ,the number of
population in study is small and the researcher can collect information from all target population.

22
3.6. Method and process of data analysis
The study will employ analytical approaches to describe and analysis the problems under the
study. The analytical approaches of the study will attempted to examine the cases and analyze
effect of women leadership position in Bonga University. After collecting the necessary data, the
quantitative data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequency, and
tables. Qualitative data that collected from secondary sources will be analysis descriptively.

3.7 Time schedule and budget breakdown

3.7.1. Time Schedule

No Activity Jan. Feb. Mar April. May June July
.

1 Topic Selection X

23
2 Preparation of proposal X

3 Collection of useful X
material

4 Data Collection x

5 Data Analysis and x X x

writing of final research

6 Submission of research X

7 Presentation of final X
research

3.7. 2.Financial Budget

Item Quantity Per unit (Burr) Total Cost (Burr)

Equipment Paper 1 100.00 100.00

24
 and
stationary
Pens 3 30 90.00

Binder 1 200.00 200.00

Total Cost - - 390.50

Personal
cost
Internet - - 50.00

Typist 1 200.00 200.00

Transport (tax) 3 80 240.00

Contingency - - 450.00

Overall total cost - - 1330.00

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