Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership

Generally women are the majority in the teaching field especially in primary schools, yet they constitute the least number in positions of authority within the education system. This article examines, the underlying reasons for this under representation of women through a gendered analytical framewo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Muzvidziwa, Irene
Other Authors: #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
Format: text
Language:English
Published: CSSALL Publishers 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11408/784
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905246499176448
author Muzvidziwa, Irene
author2 #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
author_facet #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
Muzvidziwa, Irene
author_sort Muzvidziwa, Irene
collection DSpace
description Generally women are the majority in the teaching field especially in primary schools, yet they constitute the least number in positions of authority within the education system. This article examines, the underlying reasons for this under representation of women through a gendered analytical framework, focusing on an empirical research of women deputy heads that was conducted in one of the provinces in Zimbabwe using qualitative interviews. Despite efforts to increase the representation of women in school leadership positions, their numbers have remained very low. Research that I have conducted in the last ten years do show that gender roles, culture and gender relations influence women’s rise into leadership positions. Arising from these observations are questions such as: why do women’s numbers in managerial and leadership positions continue to be low? What messages do women aspiring for leadership positions get from their female counterparts who act as their role models? The issues that emerged from the study and literature included lack of acceptance of women leaders by both male and female teaching staff, the assumption that leadership is for men was supposedly linked to women’s lack of aspiration. The possible barriers to women’s advancement and the strategies that create opportunities for more women in educational leadership was linked to cultural constraints from both the society and organisational institutions thus including the challenges women face as educational leaders.
format text
id ir-11408-784
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher CSSALL Publishers
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-7842022-10-15T20:17:47Z Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership Muzvidziwa, Irene #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# Gender, leadership, socialisation, under-representation, organisation Generally women are the majority in the teaching field especially in primary schools, yet they constitute the least number in positions of authority within the education system. This article examines, the underlying reasons for this under representation of women through a gendered analytical framework, focusing on an empirical research of women deputy heads that was conducted in one of the provinces in Zimbabwe using qualitative interviews. Despite efforts to increase the representation of women in school leadership positions, their numbers have remained very low. Research that I have conducted in the last ten years do show that gender roles, culture and gender relations influence women’s rise into leadership positions. Arising from these observations are questions such as: why do women’s numbers in managerial and leadership positions continue to be low? What messages do women aspiring for leadership positions get from their female counterparts who act as their role models? The issues that emerged from the study and literature included lack of acceptance of women leaders by both male and female teaching staff, the assumption that leadership is for men was supposedly linked to women’s lack of aspiration. The possible barriers to women’s advancement and the strategies that create opportunities for more women in educational leadership was linked to cultural constraints from both the society and organisational institutions thus including the challenges women face as educational leaders. 2016-03-15T08:44:03Z 2016-03-15T08:44:03Z 2013 text 1023-1757 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/784 en Alternation;Vol.20 (2 ) open CSSALL Publishers
spellingShingle Gender, leadership, socialisation, under-representation, organisation
Muzvidziwa, Irene
Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title_full Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title_fullStr Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title_full_unstemmed Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title_short Gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
title_sort gender, culture and exclusion of women in educational leadership
topic Gender, leadership, socialisation, under-representation, organisation
url http://hdl.handle.net/11408/784
work_keys_str_mv AT muzvidziwairene gendercultureandexclusionofwomenineducationalleadership