Gender in Public University Departmental Governance in Andalusia: an Empirical Exploration

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.152

Keywords:

gender gap, university government, academic leadership, university governance, university departments

Abstract

The unequal representation of men and women in the leadership of university departments remains a challenge to the advancement of gender equality. To examine this phenomenon, an original ad hoc census of departments across Andalusian public universities was constructed. The census was designed with a set of indicators defined prior to fieldwork to capture key organisational characteristics of the department as the unit of analysis. Indicators were operationalised to measure the sex composition of management teams and selected institutional characteristics associated with departmental governance, including equality plans and indicators related to academic performance. An Exhaustive CHAID segmentation model was applied to illustrate the potential of the census for identifying organisational configurations associated with female leadership. Taken together, the census provides evidence that is rarely available at the departmental level and offers a valuable resource that can be used by universities for the diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of gender equality policies.

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Author Biographies

Wilfrid Martínez Sánchez, Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA-CSIC)

FPU predoctoral researcher at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA-CSIC) and a doctoral candidate at the University of Córdoba. His research focuses on the sociology of organisations, the sociology of higher education and academic labour markets. He has conducted research on institutional quality, university governance, academic mobility, institutional inbreeding and inequalities in academic career progression. Within the framework of project PRY043/22, he contributes to the construction and analysis of databases on university departments, professional trajectories and governance structures within the Andalusian university system.

Fiorela Nestares Flores, Universidad de Córdoba

Predoctoral researcher funded through the University of Córdoba’s Internal Research Plan and a member of the Associated Unit for Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (UCO-CSIC). Her research focuses on innovation systems, knowledge transfer and the institutional determinants of innovation and patenting. She has participated in research projects related to innovation and university governance. Her academic work combines applied research with a particular interest in the dynamics of collaboration among universities, businesses and public institutions.

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Published

2026-07-06

How to Cite

Martínez Sánchez, W., & Nestares Flores, F. (2026). Gender in Public University Departmental Governance in Andalusia: an Empirical Exploration. CENTRA Journal of Social Sciences, 5(2), 131–146. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.152

Issue

Vol. 5 Núm. 2 (julio-diciembre, 2026)

Section

Research Notes

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Copyright (c) 2026 Wilfrid Martínez Sánchez, Fiorela Nestares Flores

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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