Implicit Gender Bias in Superintendent Selection

• In Event: The World of the Superintendent

Abstract

Despite qualified women actively seeking the position, the under-representation of female superintendents leading school districts today continues to persist. The unexamined implicit bias of gatekeepers, such as school board members and search firm consultants, who control the channels of the superintendent selection process maybe a contributing factor to the gender inequity that exists. California search firm consultants responded to a cross-sectional survey that included demographic, attitudinal, and factual questions and/or statements drawn from the findings of prior research. Results, herein, suggest that search firm consultants do not consider themselves gender biased yet hold implicit biases related to gender assigned qualities, characteristics, and attributes commonly held by society which may be a contributing factor to the under-representation of female superintendents.

Authors

• Carolyn Bernal, Rio Elementary School District

• W. Charles Weis, California State University Channel Islands