Abstract View references (81) Purpose: Even though nowadays more women occupy leadership roles, they still are a minority. Because aspiration is a precursor of advancement, examining conditions fostering female leadership aspiration is important, particularly in the context of Saudi Arabia where moral relativism play a vital role. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional survey design with 500 full-time employed women, working in Saudi Arabia Public University were selected using quantitative approach. PLS-SEM is used to analyse the predicted hypotheses. Findings: The initial prediction was found that gender egalitarian is significant on women’s leadership effectiveness, and government support to the extent that is associated with women’s leadership effectiveness and tend to have stronger relationship. Also, the indirect effect of government support on the relationship between gender egalitarian on women leadership effectiveness was not significant. Research limitations/implications: Due to the selected survey approach, the data are correlational using quantitative method. Thus, mixed method is needed to confirm these findings. Practical implications: Saudi Arabia Public Universities, policymakers and leaders of higher education institutions should focus on female leaders to improve their leadership effectiveness. Universities should formulate future strategies to empower women through the various stages of their career to become good leaders. Originality/value: The present study is among the first if any that examines relationship between gender egalitarian and women leadership effectiveness with moderating role of government support in developing country of Saudi Arabia. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited