Emergent African American Female Educational Leaders: Exploring the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Leadership

• In Event: Overlooked No More: Postsecondary Educational Research Informed by Wisdom, Race, and Gender for the Greater Good

Abstract

The attribution of leadership traits and characteristics as natural, inborn, and divine gifts to the “great men” or “heroes” who, as individuals, shaped the course of history, known as “great-man-theory” (Carlyle, 1888), is oftentimes the starting point of leadership studies. This and other traditional leadership literature focuses on males as the informants about leadership. More specifically, the image and presence of the “great” leader is most commonly associated with the White male. While important to understanding the social foundations and historical context of educational management, administration, and leadership, gender issues were not on the table when the 'Great Man' theory was proposed and the thought of a Great Woman was generally in areas other than leadership. However, in recent years, more research has been conducted about how gender might influence leadership. Race is rarely considered, and even less frequently is there a discussion of how the intersection of race and gender might influence one's conception of leadership. The “great-man-theory” and other commonly-accepted concepts and theories of leadership is promulgated as well throughout the history of educational administration from a predominately, if not exclusively, White male perspective, and in the case of educational leadership, the White male administrator. Since the “great-man-theory” and similar commonly accepted conceptions of leadership have generally excluded representations of African American women, this paper critiques such conceptions, interrogates the use of race and gender constructs, and explores how the intersectionality of race and gender (Crenshaw, 1990) inform and influence the theorizing, research, and practice of African American women scholars in educational leadership today.

Persistent under-representation and inferior success rates of African-American women in educational leadership might suggest that these women continue to encounter barriers and challenges that possibly serve as impediments to their advancement (Grant & Simmons, 2008). Therefore, findings will be situated in the foundation of critical race theory (CRT) to support the assumption of the social creation of realities and the intersection between daily lived experiences and methods for which individuals negotiate those experiences (Crenshaw et al. 1995; Santamaría & Santamaría, 2012). Deconstructing and analyzing the socially-constructed realities and experiences of African American women scholars helps others to understand the struggles and positionality of African American women in society, and empowers us and other women to affirm, redefine, reinterpret, and reclaim the value of own experiences and aspirations as voice to express hopes for ourselves. An additional reason for utilizing CRT in this research is to transform Eurocentrism, paternalism, and classism of the U.S. higher education community (Grant & Simmons, 2008). This research confirms the importance of race to these women's identities and as a motivator for assuming leadership positions.

Author

• Cosette M. Grant, University of Cincinnati