Review of a Masters Thesis

Ola Gamil El-Taliawis Gender and Leadership in Egypts Public Sector: The Case of the Ministry of Finance
The following is a critique of Ola Gamil ElTaliawis Master thesis, Gender and Leadership in Egypts Public Sector: The Case of the Ministry of Finance, the American University in Cairo .submitted in January 2010 This thesis addresses the question of whether leadership style differences exist between men and women working in the public sector in Egypt. ElTaliawi accounts for the importance of her thesis topic based on a perception that exists around the world that males have more leadership capabilities than females or that leadership styles differ between the two genders. She mentions that this perception is supported by a general trend towards favoring men in promotion, payment, and access to opportunities. In her thesis, she tries to determine whether the alleged leadership style differences between men and women are based on reality or a mere perception through studying the case of mid-

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level managers in the Ministry of Finance. El-Taliawi well-illustrated the uniqueness of her study which lies in the scarcity of empirical work found on gender and leadership in the Arab world in general .and in the public sector in specific The thesis begins with a discussion of the importance of the problem; gives a background on public sector employment in Egypt, the Ministry of Finance, and the Equal Opportunity Unit; as well as a general review of the literature on leadership differences as affected by sex. However, the abstract and the introduction do not provide any clue of how the thesis will answer the research question. In fact, the closing statement in the introduction does not even mention what type of research will be used (qualitative or quantitative). The reader needs to know this from the introudtion .and the abstract of the thesis In the first chapter of her thesis, El-Taliawi states clearly the problem and provides evidence why this topic is worthy studying. An error which the researcher makes is citing the study of Mostafa, M. () and then referring to it in the following paragraph as if it is the first time used. This eventually causes the reader to lose logic in the course of reading. At the end of the chapter, the

Written by: Hoda Salah El-Din Al-Adl 27/04/2011

Last updated

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research questions are clearly stated and are well.defined and measurable The background chapter in the thesis was welldeveloped and provided a clear record for the history of women in Egypts public administration. The chapter also provided information about the Egyptian Ministry of Finance in terms of the organizational structure, and the Equal Opportunity .Unit where the researcher aims to apply her thesis The area of literature review focused on was clearly defined by the researcher, namely, leadership as influenced by gender. The researcher provided adequate literature review through this section introducing the different schools of thought which govern the study of leadership differences .between men and women Her study of literature review concluded that few research material examined the differences in leadership styles between men and women dedicated to the Egyptian context. Accordingly, ElTaliawi intoruduced the scope of her thesis .indicating the gap in research this thesis aims to fill In the methodology section, the researcher did not justify enough the reason behind choosing the target population of this study, namely, Egyptian men and women working at the Ministry of Finance
Written by: Hoda Salah El-Din Al-Adl 27/04/2011 Last updated

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in Egypt in mid-level management positions. Howver, the methods and data ananlysis were .comprehensible and unambiguous El-Taliawi pointed out the limitations in her thesis very well. A point which is worth mentioning is the researchers statement in the findings section that due to the small sample size as compared to the total number of civil service employees in Egypt, it would definitely be inaccurate to say that this can be a representative sample. In my opinion a better place for such a statement would be the .limitiations section Finally, a drawback in the thesis is the different methods of citations used in the bibliography section instead of following one method which is accepted in the department. However, the thesis of Ola El-Taliawi on Gender and Leadership in Egypts Public Sector: The Case of the Ministry of Finance was written in an organzational and well developed .way

Written by: Hoda Salah El-Din Al-Adl 27/04/2011

Last updated