Cafley: New woman president at uOttawa is just a first step

Ottawa Citizen

11-06-2025

For the first time in its 177-year history, the University of Ottawa has appointed a woman as president and vice-chancellor. Marie-Eve Sylvestre's historic appointment deserves celebration—loud, proud and unapologetic. It's a glass-ceiling shatter heard across campus, in lecture halls and around board tables across the country.
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But as we mark this milestone, we can't afford to romanticize it. One 'first' doesn't make a trend. It doesn't guarantee change. And it doesn't mean the path ahead will be smooth.
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Sylvestre is a formidable choice: educated at Université de Montréal and Harvard, with more than two decades steeped in the culture of academia. She knows this institution. She knows the terrain. But history tells us that knowing the terrain doesn't always protect women from the pitfalls of leadership.
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The reality is stark. In Canada, women university presidents are more likely to leave before completing their terms than are their male counterparts. Over the past decade, of the university presidencies that ended prematurely, 60 per cent were held by women — despite women making up only 30 per cent of presidents overall. Within Canada's U15 — the country's most research-intensive institutions — only 13 per cent of presidents are women. Sylvestre's appointment will bring that number to 20 per cent.
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And the trend extends far beyond our borders. Globally, only 16 per cent of university presidents are women. Even among the world's top 200 universities, less than one in four is led by a woman. That figure alone should give us pause. What message does that send to the next generation of scholars, researchers and changemakers?
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These patterns are not random; they follow a well-documented phenomenon known as the glass cliff. Women are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles during times of crisis, when success is harder to achieve and the risks of failure are high. It's a precarious path, and the fall, if it comes, is far more scrutinized.
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In their powerful memoir Nerve, trailblazing university presidents Martha Piper and Indira Samarasekera recount what it meant to be the first — and, to this day, the only — women to lead their respective institutions. Their experiences lay bare the double binds, the isolation and the relentless pressure to perform without faltering. As Piper wrote candidly: 'Being the first is not good enough.'
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She's right. A historic appointment doesn't mean we've arrived; it means we've begun. The real work lies in creating the conditions where women leaders are not only appointed but supported, sustained and succeeded.