Women Still Behind in Leadership Roles in Massachusetts Higher Ed Institutions

Worcester Business Journal
By Timothy Doyle

Since 2018, the percentage of women of color who are presidents of higher education institutions in the state of Massachusetts has doubled from 6% to 12%. But none of those women identify as Latinx or Indigenous, and overall, there has been minimal progress for women in positions of leadership.

Women presidents make up just 34% of the 88 sitting presidents in Massachusetts, climbing just one percentage point in four years. That’s according to the latest progress report issued by the Women’s Power Gap (WPG), a campaign created to increase the number of diverse women as CEOs and institutional leaders. WPG is a part of the Eos Foundation, a private, philanthropic group working for a more equitable society.

“We’re understandably disconcerted at the fact that the number of women presidents hasn’t increased, really,” said Andrea Silbert, president of the Eos Foundation. “We have a pool of about a third of our positions that we can allocate among women. So, we just need a bigger slice of the pie.”

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