Power and leadership of women heads of university organizations

This article discuss the results of a research project on the leadership styles and the power networks deployed by women who head higher education organizations. Two questionnaires addressed to both the women heads and their fellows were used in order to collect data about the professional profile and the opinions of the participants in the study. We maintain that it is possible to recognise new forms of leadership in the way that women exercise power, which could contribute to the development and improvement of higher education organizations. To this end, some results of the above-mentioned research will be shown, related to (a) the characteristics and the orientation of their leadership, and (b) the power basis or sources upon which this leadership is built.