Abstract

Mentorship is an important development process that is assumed to have individual and institutional benefits. Few postsecondary institutions offer formalized faculty mentorship programs despite the perceived benefits for women and minorities, and effective institutional leadership. My research was constructed on a conceptual framework drawing from feminist principles toward an ethic of care positioned through feminist Islamic scholars, sustainable leadership, and a personal lens. Through my unique research setting at a private, non-profit women’s university in Saudi Arabia, I posed the following research questions: What are women faculty members’ perceptions of mentorship in the post secondary Saudi Arabian context? How do women’s perceptions of mentorship affect their engagement with informal and formal mentorship opportunities? The findings indicated that women faculty members’ perceptions of mentorship in the post secondary context were based on superficial and constrained ideals of mentorship. Through analysis of the findings, I was compelled to incorporate a post structuralist feminist viewpoint. Through the analysis and synthesis, I developed a nuanced recognition of the power flows invisible to each participant, but an integral aspect of their reality and survival. Their perception of mentorship affected their engagement with mentorship opportunities through a proposed concept of survival mentorship. Survival mentorship was postulated as a means to provide and gain guidance to survive the daily struggles as an academic without challenging the status quo institutional power structures.