This research had three objectives: determining the level of participation of women in the academic leadership of Addis Ababa University (AAU), specifying the types of leadership styles women leaders demonstrate, and tracing the factors that led to those styles. Two key research instruments were used: questionnaires and interview. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using the instruments. Means were used in the analysis of the collected data. Findings indicate the participation level of women in AAU’s leadership is low. As regards the key leadership styles, top-level leaders tend to have more of the characteristic types of transformational leadership. The middle level leaders tend to have characteristics from both the contingent type of leadership style and the transformational leadership style. The middle-level leaders tend to have characteristics of leadership that largely fall towards the bottom line of the Full Range of Leadership Model. They also possess some aspects of the Transformational Leadership. The enhancement of policy and service provisions is recommended to improve the role and leadership skills of women.

Keywords: Role, leadership, style, model, women.