A Social Justice Perspective on Women in Educational Leadership

Abstract

Social justice is fundamental to feminism. Feminist theorists place women's experiences of gender inequalities at the centre of their theorizations about leadership.Feminist critiques of leadership are set in a wider social context. In this chapter, the perspectives of women educational leaders are explored within the wider 'social justice leadership' perspective. Internationally, social justice leadership represents a major theme within policy, research and literature with a resurgence of interest into the experiences and perceptions of women in educational leadership. This chapter critically appraises women's perspectives on educational leadership, by drawing on the experiences of four women headteachers/principals in each of four international contexts, sixteen women in total. Case studies, conducted in Scotland, England, Jamaica and New Zealand, provide contrasting, cross-national contexts to compare the influences, possibilities and challenges that women school leaders experience.Each of the country researcher teams was guided by the same interview questions, adopting a common methodological approach for conducting in-depth interviews and the analysis of findings.

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“…Undertaking a critical autoethnography was prompted by two research projects about the intersection of race, gender, and class in headship (Moorosi et al, 2017(Moorosi et al, , 2018Torrance et al, 2017). Similarities between our stories resulted from a researcher's desire to become closer to research participants (Pillow, 2003).…”

“…Questions that guided reflections about my positionality in the social field (family, community, education, workplace), the development of dispositions resulting in a scholarly (cleft) habitus and my position-taking with respect to gender and feminist scholarship in educational leadership are provided as Appendix 1. They are adapted from questions asked of headteachers in a range of research projects focused on gender, identity, and educational leadership (Fuller, 2013;Moorosi et al, 2017;Torrance et al, 2017).…”

“…Each account is framed by a quotation from a woman of Black and Global majority heritage interviewed about the intersection of race, gender, and class in headship (Moorosi et al, 2017(Moorosi et al, , 2018Torrance et al, 2017). This serves to illustrate moments when their voices disrupted my reflection and self-narrative.…”

“…Benefits for research participants involved in research have been framed as opportunities to reflect on practice and thereby further develop a conscience for social justice (Torrance et al, 2017). This autoethnography made clear there are benefits for scholars having their identities reflected back to them, and distorted, by research participants.…”

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“…Researchers, such as Eagly (2005) and Weiner and Burton (2016) speculate some male leaders are being appointed through a process of "cherry picking" (whereby the exiting/retiring male principal picks their successor) or they experience the "glass elevator" affect (leadership pathway is smoother than that experienced by females with similar skills, experience, and qualifications). Concerns are also raised that males obtain positions through the "old-boys" network whereby experienced male leaders encourage, groom, mentor, and "sponsor" younger males to apply for leadership positions (Shakeshaft et al, 2007;Torrance et al, 2017;Weiner and Burton, 2017).…”