Organisational Philosophy and Culture

Abstract

This chapter considers the ongoing issues faced in relation to gender discrimination and change in relation to global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. A theoretical approach is adopted to consider the agency women are afforded within the context of leadership generally and change management, specifically. These debates are contextualised within global higher education and examined through theoretical lenses of influence, such as neoliberalism, which have impacted so much on the context specificity of change management in higher education and the cultures within which it has influenced so greatly. The recent global COVID-19 pandemic is used as a vehicle by which to drive thinking around concepts, which have had such an impact on women during this time, such as emotional labour, systemic equity, and structural inequality. The chapter concludes with a consideration of organisational structures and the agency that this has afforded women both historically and within the leadership challenges they currently face.