Examining student mothers' and female academics' experiences of higher education in the United Arab Emirates through an Organisational Culture lens

Dickson, Martina (2025) Examining student mothers' and female academics' experiences of higher education in the United Arab Emirates through an Organisational Culture lens. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

In this PhD by Publication thesis, I present a portfolio of ten publications: eight journal articles and two book chapters, centred on women in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I use arguments to extend the existing research and discourse in the field of women’s accessibility to higher education, specifically in the UAE, a small but wealthy Arabian Gulf country. In the UAE, as in several other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, women outnumber men studying in higher education (70% to 30%, according to latest figures1) and there is near gender parity in the workforce, including in academic institutions. These statistics are often showcased as evidence of the high status of women in the country. The empirical research carried out in the studies represented in this portfolio curates work completed over a period of around six years; between 2017 and 2023. The studies centre upon the experiences of two groups of women: students who are mothers, and women academics (many of whom are also mothers). Nine of the publications are empirically data driven, while one used secondary data sets from institutions across the country. I believe that the synthesis of these articles in one submission helps to concretize the status of women in university by bringing together the experiences of these two key stakeholder groups of women in higher education. By exhibiting the work together I am able to consider the organisational culture and structures which impact both groups of women, including the structural aspects not currently addressed and which continue to remain roadblocks into women’s academic lives. This portfolio contributes to understanding the barriers and challenges which women - both students and academics – encounter. These are important to understand and are often overlooked in the face of much lauded statistics of women’s participation in higher education in the UAE. Bringing together the empirical evidence from these publications, along with a conceptual line of reasoning through an organisational culture lens, I argue that statistics of gender parity in higher education are no substitution for consideration of gender equality within this setting. In short - it may be that women are thriving in parity terms in spite of organisational structures and organizational culture, rather than because of them. Understanding the complexity of these tensions is important. By combining work from two distinct demographic groups in this submission, there is novelty in that the focus then becomes broader than challenges facing particular groups of women (although this is of course important) and instead allows for more of an institutional focus. This, I would argue, is more likely to facilitate the provision of concrete recommendations to address issues of gender inequity in practical terms.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Keywords: Higher education, gender, United Arab Emirates, students, mothers, organisational cultures.
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
Supervisor's Name: Slade, Professor Bonnie
Date of Award: 2025
Depositing User: Theses Team
Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85485
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2025 16:16
Last Modified: 01 Oct 2025 16:18
Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85485
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85485
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