University Leadership Pipeline

I present the results from an intersectional diversity scan of central and senior academic administrators at five Canadian universities: SFU, UBC, UVic, Toronto, and York. Our findings indicate that racialized men and women are hitting ceilings in the middle administrative ranks. Conversely, we find a notable over-representation of white men and women in the senior administrative ranks. Our analysis suggests that white women, unlike racialized women and men, no longer face serious barriers to representation within these senior ranks. These findings raise concerns about processes of racialization that may impede career progress for some but accelerate it for others. They raise concerns about the politics of who lifts whom into the echelons of academic decision-making, which in turn has implications for justice, knowledge, and social meanings of competency. By calling attention to the lack of racialized people in the senior administrative ranks of Canadian universities, our research aims to spur university leadership to address this apparent inequity.

It is very difficult to get demographic data that can be cross-tabulated with career progress and administrative rank. It is especially difficult to get intersectional data, capturing both gender and racialized identity, for example. Yet, this type of data is critical for identifying barriers and inequities in career progress and administrative rank. Our work addresses this data gap. Employing a diversity scan methodology, it is a comprehensive study of gender and racialized identities within central and senior leadership roles. It represents an important step toward achieving equity and inclusion within the context of Canadian university leadership.