The year I found my voice: Transforming self-confidence through a women’s leadership programme

Abstract

Women-only leadership development programmes are vital for reducing the global gender gap in senior management; however, research on their impact is limited. This study explores the effect of a transformational women’s leadership development programme on self-confidence among female academics in a South African higher education institution. A mixed methods approach combines quantitative analysis to assess the changes in women leaders’ communication confidence, while the qualitative analysis explores the women leaders’ experiences in adopting new behaviour patterns. The quantitative results reveal significant enhancements in women leaders’ confidence, underscoring the programme’s ability to drive transformational change. The qualitative insights uncover a four-phase transformational learning process, which includes encountering a disorienting dilemma, meaning-making, achieving transformational insight and integrating these insights into leadership practice. Contribution: This study provides new insights, recommendations for future research and guidance on developing, evaluating and implementing women’s leadership programmes in higher education. It contributes significantly to understanding the role of women-only leadership development in addressing gender equity.

Keywords

• women leadership development program
• higher education
• confidence
• identity development
• self-efficacy
• transformational learning
• communication