CHALLENGES FACING WOMEN IN
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS:
EXPERIENCES FROM A DISTRICT IN
ZIMBABWE.
DR SHAVA [NWU POTCHEFSTROOM]
MRS L SIBANDA[NUST ZIM]
INTRODUCTION
• School leadership is not a simple exercise
• Requires multiple strategies and abilities,
whether assumed by men or women.
• Education systems are ever changing and
these changes demand for visionary school
leaders.
INTRODUCTION CONTD
• Leadership is the process of persuasion by
which an individual or leadership team
induces a group to pursue objectives held by
the leader (Gardner, 1990).
• Leadership involves inducing followers to act
towards achieving goals that represent the
values, motivations, wants, needs and the
aspirations of both the leader and followers.
BACKGROUND
• Worldwide, women face many challenges that stand in
their way in their effort to provide for successful
leadership.
• Studies globally have found that women are grossly
underrepresented in education management with men
outnumbering women at about five to one at middle
management level (UNESCO as cited in Ramsey, 2000).
• women on the other hand have limited ambitions, lack
of confidence in themselves and their work is affected
by discontinuity in the work place (Abu-Khdair, 2012).
BACKGROUND CONTD
• The government of Zimbabwe responded to
several national and international gender
declarations and conventions which included
1965 Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the
1979 United Nations Convention on
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) (Chabaya et al.,
2009).
BACKGROUND CONTD
• Responding to the conventions, several policy
initiatives were put in place in Zimbabwe, e.g. the
gender affirmative action policy of 1992, Public Service
Commission Circular No. 11 of 1992; Public Service
Commission Circular No. 22 of 1996 and National
Gender Policy of 2004 (Chabaya, 2009).
• In all these policy and circular initiatives, the key issues
were on the elimination of negative economic, social,
political, cultural and structural practices that impede
equality and equity of sexes and the promotion of
equal opportunities for both men and women in
leadership positions.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• The purpose of the study was to understand
the major challenges faced by women in
school leadership positions with specific
reference to a District in Zimbabwe.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• What are the major challenges facing women
in school leadership positions?
• How do cultural and structural entrenchments
affect the leadership of women in schools?
• What are the common leadership styles
adopted by women in school leadership
positions?
METHODOLOGY
• A qualitative research methodology, which is exploratory,
descriptive and interpretive was used to understand the meaning
the participants made of their world and their experience
(Charmaz, 2006; Creswell, 2007; Berge, 2009; Silverman, 2014).
• Purpose sampling for information rich cases facilitated identification
of appropriate participating schools.
• Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews
with the school heads and focus group discussions with purposively
selected teachers.
• The responses of all participants were recorded using a voice
recorder.
• Participants were identified as follows: SSH1-SSH3 = Secondary
School Heads; PSH1-PSH3 = Primary School Heads; FG1-FG6 = Focus
Group for teachers.
DATA ANALYSIS
• In this study, data was systematically built
through recording proceedings during semistructured interviews and focus group
discussions.
• The qualitative data was coded systematically
according to specific themes and then
analysed to address the research questions.
• The data was reported using thick description
and verbatim quotations.
RESULTS CONTD
• Major challenges faced by female school heads
• The participants’ responses indicated that
women in school leadership positions faced
challenges related to:
• Negative attitudes of school community towards
women as school heads.
• Family attachment and family roles.
• Social cultural barriers in the school environment.
• Gender stereotypes against women.
• Patriarchal leadership structures in society.
RESULTS CONTD
• For instance, participant SSH2 during
interview confirmed : Most of us lady teachers
do not want to move away from our families.
• The finding is consistent with Dorsey’s (1996)
view that from an early stage of child
development girls are groomed towards their
marriage roles of wife, mother and family
caretaker.
RESULTS CONTD
• Cultural factors affecting women in school leadership
positions
• Collectively, participants highlighted that culture
reflected in the set of beliefs, norms, values and
practices in the schools and the local communities
affect women’s execution of leadership roles.
• PSH2 affirmed: We have challenges especially when the
community associates the position of school head with
men and especially when the school has been
operating with male heads for a long time.
RESULTS CONTD
• The finding is in agreement with Shava and
Ndebele (2014) who assert that to most men,
a woman cannot be the head of an
organisation unless in the absence of a man.
• Structural factors and their effects on women
in school leadership positions
• Evidence from the findings indicate that
female school heads experienced resistance
from their teachers, especially male teachers.
RESULTS CONTD
• PSH4 revealed: I don’t know if Mr Mpofu
(pseudonym) was really not feeling well
because he did not attend our staff meeting
yesterday yet he was seen playing soccer with
learners at the sports ground.
• It also came out that structural factors
impacted negatively on female school heads.
RESULTS CONTD
• Major differences in leadership styles between men and
women
• The participants pointed out the differences in leadership
styles between men and women as follows:
• Women are more sociable, while men are less socially
sensitive and men are more focused on rational, practical
and commercial aspect.
• Women encourage personal development.
• However, the findings contradict with revelations from
literature that there is no significant difference between
the leadership styles of successful men and women leaders
in organisations (Hymowitz, 2006; White, 2011; Avilio,
2010).
CONCLUSION
• The study found that challenges faced by women
school leaders embraced structural and cultural
entrenchments in society and schools in
particular.
• We recommend that:
• there should be a course on gender in teacher
education colleges to empower teachers on
gender issues.
• gender issues should be included in the school
curriculum to minimize gender stereotype.