TITLE Recipes for Avoiding Limpness: An Exploration of Women in Senior Management Positions in Australian Universities.

This paper describes a study that explored assumptions regarding the role of women in higher education set forth in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) in June 1995 by Dame Leonie Kramer, a prominent academic. She contended that "women go a bit limp when things get tough...." The study was based on semistructured interviews with seven women in senior management positions in Australian universities. The interviewees were asked what factors had been important in achieving their present positions; how important mentoring had been; what they perceived the relationship between gender and power to be; whether their gender had been an issue in achievement; if they had experienced personalized criticism; and whether management style was an issue. Overall, there was agreement that academic qualifications were important in reaching senior positions. However, once senior rank had been achieved, these qualifications were less relevant. Demonstrated managerial skills were also seen as necessary. None of th