Re(considering) Gender Scholarship in Educational Leadership

• In Event: 35.058 - Women Leading for Social Justice Across P–20 Contexts

Abstract

As we settle into the 21st century and take stock of where women have made inroads into the leadership arena, we begin to understand more about how leadership has been (and is) gendered. Despite an increase in women "doing" leadership in public roles such as running for political office, taking on high profile political jobs, serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, leading universities and school districts, attention is always given to the fact that they are women. And they are often criticized for using stereotypically female leadership approaches (see the recent press about President of UVA, Teresa Sullivan, who was initially charged with spending too much time gaining consensus and building faculty support for her ideas.) Although we have used feminist theories in the past to understand the leadership discourse, there has been little recent discussion of gender and leadership – particularly from a theoretical perspective.

Some of the markers used to distinguish the genders in the past have changed. For instance, early sociological studies of gender concentrated on male and female roles in the so-called “separate spheres” of home and outside the home. “Widely accepted by the late nineteenth century in the United States, this doctrine stated that males and females should dominate in different kinds of social activities because of purportedly essential differences in the biological and psychological natures of men and women” (Kramer, 1991, p. 15). With the recent economic crisis, we have seen the lines of these spheres blur. Women are participating much more fully in the global economy. “In 2009, in the United States, women held 49 percent of all non-farm jobs. The number of women earning $100,000 or more tripled between 1991 and 2001. Between 2000 and 2008 women’s average weekly wages grew steadily, while men’s didn’t grow at all” (Dychtwald, 2010, p. 5). Many men lost their jobs in sectors like construction and it is not clear the extent to which such employment will return. On the other hand, although women also lost jobs through cutbacks in civil service positions and, in some states, teaching, women have found part-time work to help pick up the slack. Many women are doing this work in the home as they juggle their family responsibilities.

Thus, gender, gender roles, and gender identity need to be revisited. This paper aims to fill these gaps. This paper shows how the intersection between gender and leadership is less obvious than it was in previous centuries. Yet, gender seems to matter just as much today as it always has. Drawing on robust feminist theories that shed light on current constructions of gender (and race, class, ethnicities, sexuality etc.), this paper explores the ways in which notions of gender help to define leadership.

Author

• Margaret Grogan, Chapman University