Abstract:

Introduction:
Nowadays, leading Russian universities are changing their organizational structure to increase their effectiveness, experimenting with new management styles that increase the level of participation of major stakeholders in management. Moreover, gender asymmetry has always been a characteristic feature of the management of Russian higher education. The purpose of this article is to find out the level of readiness of women teachers to implement participation in university management.

Data and methods:
The article is based on the materials of a sociological study conducted by the research team of the Ural Federal University in 2017–2018, which included a mass survey of teachers from the Ural Federal District. The total population included 51 higher educational institutions of the district; quota sampling was implemented. It was formed on the basis of statistical data on the community of teachers of individual regions that are members of the Ural Federal District. Within each region, quotas were made in the areas of training (engineering, technical, natural sciences, humanitarian, socio-economic). The sample population of teachers is 810 people.

Results:
Within the course of the study, three blocks of tasks were realized that reveal the nature of women's participation in university management. The first “value” block of tasks allowed us to study the ideas of women teachers about the general situation in the management of higher education and the prospects for its development. It became obvious that the existing authoritarian model of university management was assessed by women as ineffective and should be radically transformed based on democratic values. Here, their opinions coincide with those of male teachers. The second “communication” block of tasks made it possible to identify the communicative activity of women teachers aimed at discussing problems of higher education and university management. There are also no significant gender differences, the communication models of women and male teachers are the same. The third “behavioral” block of tasks revealed the willingness of female teachers to manage the university.These studies have shown that behavioral standards vary between men and women teachers. Women teachers are less than men willing to take on formal managerial functions. They are characterized to a greater extent by situational, informal participation.

Conclusions:
Participation in university management is an important element of the teacher’s professional culture. The culture of participation of Russian teachers is generally gender-homogeneous. Teachers demonstrate a willingness to move to a more democratic university management model. However, women significantly less than men consider themselves ready for managerial activities at the university. They are limited not only by the possibilities of real participation in the management system, but also by subjective ideas about their own unpreparedness for managerial activities, formed in a situation of gender asymmetry in higher education, as well as a number of other factors.

Keywords:

Participation, public participation, higher education, management in higher education.