Abstract/Summary

The identity of the academic leader answers the question ‘Who am I?’. It is a deep and complex topic, especially as applied to women in conservative societies, which tend to dissolve the identity of women, thus affecting their empowerment. Studying this topic is important for women as leaders and also for decision makers, as identity studies reinforce the importance of identifying problems and factors that may delay women’s empowerment. Grounded in Saudi feminism, which is concerned with the struggles women face in oppressive regimes that limit their freedom, this thesis focuses on identity development, occurring through leadership opportunities and the achievement of empowerment, which women continue to find difficult around the globe and specifically in Saudi Arabia. To this end, it examines the concepts of women’s identity, leadership and empowerment and the relationships between these concepts in the context of Saudi Arabia’s higher education sector. The study adopts the interpretative paradigm, applying a narrative methodology to the collection and analysis of qualitative data. The researcher conducted 24 interviews with Saudi women working as leaders in government universities within the higher education sector of Saudi Arabia. Thematic analysis of the narrative data followed an inductive approach. The findings reveal how the women constructed multiple identities, one of which was their leadership identity. Important prerequisites to leadership identity development and empowerment emerged from these findings, showing that the process of identity development is affected by who supports and influences it. Empowerment was found to be either individual or collective or both, depending largely on what kind of resources, support and decision-making autonomy were available to women. The thesis concludes that while women’s empowerment appears to be very much in its infancy in Saudi Arabia, women are nevertheless constructing identities as leaders and that this development appears to be fully underway. It ends with some practical recommendations for the Kingdom’s higher education sector.