Exploring the elements of women's silence in the organization

The silencing of women in academia is a global problem and the main sources and causes are usually traced to the basic unfairness manifested in employment inequities. This gender inequality is manifested in low representation of women in bureaucratic positions of seniority, in which they could manifest their leadership qualities. There is also a visible tendency to exclude women from important social networks, which often increase one’s social standing and professional chances. In the world of higher educational institutions, mainly universities, researchers detect the lack of equality in status between male and female academic professionals. Female academic professionals’ contribution to their organization’s research output and daily management are frequently neglected or downplayed. In societies where gender inequality is high, women are more likely to experience more painful and persistent inequality at work. The present dissertation is devoted to a comparative study of women’s silence in their roles as university academics in Poland and Iran.