Promotion of female educators into school management positions: A gendered perspective

Abstract

For centuries the lives of women have been shaped by their reproductive, domestic and nurturing roles, while men have been concerned with business, science, managerial positions, and politics. However, a combination of societal changes and technological developments in the modern and post-modern era has necessitated a broader definition of the social and professional roles of women and facilitated the entry of women into the labour market. However, despite the fact that women have the rights and qualify to occupy any management positions which have been predominantly reserved for their male counterparts, women remain underrepresented in top-management positions. The objective of this article is to find out whether there are gender-based differences in terms of factors identified by scholars as being the causes of under-representation of women in school management positions. The main finding of this research is that while there seems to be no gender based difference on some factors such as family responsibilities, lack of aspiration to management positions, lack of mobility, female educators’ fitness to hold management positions and lack of supportive networks as being the main barriers to female educators’ promotion in school management positions; the gender based differences exist on other factors such as lack of support from male colleagues, gender stereotyping, female educators’ uncertainty about their own abilities to manage. It is hoped that these findings will guide policy makers in crafting better strategies to deal with the problem of under-representation of women in school management positions.