The state of Massachusetts is touting some positive news: the increasing number of female college and university presidents.
According to a recent study released by the Women’s Power Gap Initiative of the Eos Foundation, the number of women of color in the state have more than doubled over the past three years, with six women welcoming their first women presidents.
Intentionality, industry leaders say, can be credited for the dramatic increase among women. The Massachusetts College and University Presidents Progress Snapshot has followed the hiring of college presidents from 2018 to 2021.
“We cannot emphasize enough how significant these gains are,” said Andrea Silbert, President of Eos. “Bringing attention to the underrepresentation of women and BIPOC leaders in 2018 and working in partnership with a dedicated group of college and university presidents over the past three years has led to significant gains, particularly for Black women leaders. We are trending in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done.”
The progress report is an update from the Women’s Power Gap first report which ranked all colleges and universities in Massachusetts according to gender and racial representation in top leadership positions. In this regard, The Bay State may be leading other states across the country. It is also important to note that Massachusetts has approximately 114 colleges, far more than other geographic areas.
Still, experts note that over the past three years, women of color presidents have more than doubled from 6% to 13%. The number of women presidents has increased overall from 33% to 36%. Additionally, 40% of community college presidents in the state are women and 33% are people of color. Six schools recently welcomed their first women presidents.
While work needs to be done to boost female leadership in the Commonwealth’s higher education landscape, the Eos Foundation and its partners said that they believe power parity is within reach and attainable with conscious, concerted efforts and an intentional shift in outreach, recruitment, and hiring practices.
