Women's Management Empowerment Strategies: Studying the Role of University Counseling and Psychological Services

This article aims to present a theory of foundation data regarding the role of counseling and psychological services in empowering women in universities in a systematic way. Therefore, the data was collected from a semi-structured interview with 22 people selected in a purposeful and criterion manner from among the members of the university community during six months at Kurdistan University in Sanandaj city. The data were analyzed using a new method and continuous comparative analysis through three-step theoretical coding. In this research, it was first revealed that empowerment is a process, not a product, and if all the people involved in the empowerment process at the university do not have a correct understanding of the requirements and methods of women's empowerment, counseling, and psychological service programs cannot be effective and ultimately, it is probably the women themselves who determine the success of these efforts. As much as empowerment is important in the university, it is also important to create a positive organizational atmosphere and a supportive culture of empowerment in which empowerment originates spontaneously from female students, employees, and managers. Second, the establishment of empowerment strengthens the turn towards the independence of universities and the perception of higher education centers as unique entities with a specific culture. Thirdly, the importance of context and situation in the implementation of empowerment and the necessity of avoiding patterns unrelated to cultural contexts were emphasized, and finally, university administrators should be personally committed to empowering women.