Abstract
Even though women's participation in the workforce is 33% in 2022 and women's unemployment is 24.4% compared to men's unemployment rate of 7.1%, only 2.5% of women are working in leadership positions in government sectors (Almoaibed, 2021).The existing literature identifies that Saudi Arabian women encounter similar barriers to those faced by many other women worldwide, including a lack of mobility, the prominence of gender stereotypes, gender discrimination in the workplace's limited opportunities for growth, development, and career advancement, an excessive workload due to a lack of family-work balance, gender-based challenges related to pregnancy, and a lack of participation in strategic planning or control over financial and material resources. However, there were a lack of research about how academic Saudi women leaders overcome challenges. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research was to identify factors contributing to Saudi women leaders’ success within universities. An interview approach was used because the academic women leaders who have lived these experiences are the most accurate storytellers. The study comprised 8 volunteer participants. Through an interview process, data was collected and coded. Data analysis involved the use of process coding (Saldana, 2014) to identify common themes. Academic women leaders identified six themes: (a) Personal Attributes and Leadership skills, (b) Behavioral Patterns, Emotions and Human Relationship, (c) The Power of Gender Dynamics in Leadership, (d) Work-Life Balance, (e) Organizational Structure, Culture and Empowerment, and (f) The Multifaceted Nature of Leadership. Implications and recommendations for academic women leaders are discussed.