Background: Although nursing and midwifery are female-dominated professions, both in clinical practice and in higher education, men are disproportionately represented in leadership and senior positions. The objectives of this review
are to explore the lived experiences of the female nursing and midwifery higher education workforce to better understand barriers to progression.

Methods: A systematic search of nine databases from both health and education arenas identified relevant literature; this was appraised and thematically analysed using a structured approach.

Findings: Only seven articles were retrieved, revealing female nursing academics’ experiences relating to juggling multiple roles, the competitive culture of academia, lived experiences of benevolent sexism, and the importance of early career mentoring and female role models. The importance of the female voice and role models for students and the influence of this on the future workforce was also highlighted.

Conclusion: There is limited literature available examining women’s experiences as nursing educators (and none could be retrieved that related to midwifery). Findings corroborate female experiences from other industry sectors, particularly in relation to juggling roles and caring responsibilities impeding career progression. Benevolent sexism arose as a significant barrier to leadership within nursing education as the caring role is perceived as highly feminised.