Gender and Leadership in South African Educational Administration

Abstract

Between 1994 and 1999, new discourses of social justice and gender equity enabled the entry of signi cant numbers of women into the previously all-male domains of the educational bureaucracy. At the same time, women in one bureaucracy were leaving as fast as they were entering. This article probes this phenomenon of the simultaneous transformation of the educational administration and the apparent consolidation of earlier patriarchal forms of control, albeit on a non-racial basis. On the basis of 16 in-depth interviews conducted in the Gauteng Department of Education with key decision-makers, the article argues that these developments can be explained by the particular constructs and practices of leadership in educational administration that associate leadership and competence with masculinity, rationality and whiteness. This is evident in how interviewees framed their experience of authority and leadership, visibility and recognition and balance between public and private life. The experience overall was such as to lever women out of their positions. All interviewees drew on a range of personal and social resources to deal with the stresses and strains of working in educational administration. Black women drew strength from a belief in the collective strength and capability of women rooted in maternal feminism.

South African Female Principals’ Career Paths: Understanding the Gender Gap in Secondary School Management

“…It is evident that women still face a great deal of challenges to advancement that may not necessarily be faced by men. Earlier research indicates that women enter and leave management in the same numbers they enter because of lack of institutional and professional support (see Van Eck et al, 1996 andChisholm, 2001). As Meyerson and Fletcher (1999) put it, the barriers to advancement are not just above women, but they are all around them within the structures of the organisations and their cultures.…”

“…Some studies (such as Chisholm, 2001) suggest that most women who cannot stand the lack of support accompanied by disrespectful attitudes tend to leave the educational organizations in the same numbers in which they enter thus counteracting transformation efforts to bring more women in positions of leadership. What further plays out in this section is the lack of acceptance for women as principals within the broader community area, which continues to display (as also seen in the acquisition phase) chauvinistic cultural and traditional stereotypes about women as leaders.…”

“…However, the extent to which these policy intentions were put in place and achieved is beyond the scope of this paper, but is explored elsewhere (see Moorosi, 2006). More recent studies in South Africa, such as that of Chisholm (2001), Greyvenstein (2000), Mathipa and Tsoka (2000) and Van Deventer and van der Westhuizen (2000) shifted the focus from the impact of the apartheid regime and addressed the subject from an organisational perspective and explored barriers that women in management still have to overcome even in the postapartheid period.…”

“…Mathipa and Tsoka, 2001); ignoring the preceding phase of preparation and focusing minimally on the performance phase (e.g. Chisholm, 2001). This paper locates dialogue on women and secondary school principalship within the broader context of their career paths.…”

Die aard en hantering van vooroordeel teen vroulike skoolleierskap in gedepriveerde gemeenskappe: bedreigings, benaderings, behoud

“…Hierdie vroue word egter in die uitvoering van hulle pligte gekortwiek deur die vooroordeel van onderwysers, ouers en die plaaslike gemeenskap wat vroue as onbevoeg vir die taak van skoolleierskap beskou. Om die uitdagings van stereotipering en meervoudige gebrek die hoof te bied, steun hierdie vroue op proaktiewe harde werk om rolspelers van hul leierskapvermoëns as vroue te oortuig (Chisholm 2001;Lumby 2015).…”