Journal of Higher Education Management - Vol 35(2)

However, if this is done on the same footing, then the question of bridging the gender disparity gap, might not be achieved. Dines (1993) and Morley (2013) point to the fact that women are minority and also, are faced with many challenges such as home keeping and childcare coupled with institutional and societal barriers to their career progression. A special window for women in terms of sponsorships for professional development programs, motivating mentors (men and women) and encouraging cross gender mentoring will mitigate the situation. Universities’ management could also, appoint women to certain positions to either act or be substantive heads depending on their ranks as a form of mentoring them for higher management positions.

Theoretical framework This study is informed by the social capital theory (SCT). According to the theory, individuals accrue career benefits from relationships (Morley, 2013). The SCT is an extension of the human capital theory which emphasizes the level of education, experience, intelligence, knowledge and skills that individuals possess (Helmer, Hjälmner, and Stener, 2008) in (Tonkaboni, Yousefy, and Keshtiaray, 2013: 40). It stresses on the ability, skill and capability that individuals can achieve from society as attributed or acquired. Social capital is the actual and potential sum of the result of durable networking.

A person’s ability to interact in a network should be considered a valuable resource for that individual (Bourdieu, 2003). The question of network therefore, becomes very important because it enhances mentoring. Mentoring viewed within the context of STC, aids in fostering effective relationships.

According to McCauley and Young (1993), Douglas (1997), managerial learning places emphasis on the critical role of on-the-job relationships in career development. These are often informal developmental relationships, which occur naturally at the workplace between less-experienced managers and senior managers, peers, and subordinates. The link between mentoring and career development has become increasingly important because of the advantages accrued by both organizations and individuals in such relationships (Young and Perrewe, 2000). However, the challenges for institutions are finding systematic ways to harness learning from pools of knowledge that exist within them and creating effective ways for such knowledge to be shared among faculties.

For African universities, which remain largely masculine in terms of their representational structure, decision making procedures and its culture, mentoring faculties and staff becomes a strategic tool for effecting change (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2009).

Methodology The Study Area: The University for Development Studies The University for Development Studies is one of the ten public universities in Ghana established in 1992 under the PNDC Law 279 with the mandate to blend academic work with community service.

Following this, the vision of the University has been, to become the home for world-class pro-poor scholarship with the mission of “promoting equitable and sustainable socio-economic transformation of communities through practically-oriented, community-based, problem-solving, exclusion-sensitive, interactive research, teaching, learning and outreach programs (UDS, 2016). No doubt, equity, sustainability and transformation are core to the business of UDS. However, from the articulation above, this only applies to communities rather than the institution. This perhaps, exempts the institution from its own inequities, especially with regard to women’s representation in management. Equally of interest, is the point on exclusion-sensitive, which appears to have been carefully chosen to depoliticize the commitment to equity?

The University commenced academic work in September, 1993, by admitting forty (40) students.

Thirty-nine (39) males reported and academic work commenced at the Faculty of Agriculture, its 93