Holding the Line and Each Other: Disrupting Isolation in the Superintendency for Women

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Women and the Superintendency

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how women superintendents experience and make meaning of participation in a gender-based affinity group within a broader professional learning community. Framed by intersectional feminism and the concept of counterspaces, this work centers identity-affirming dialogue, emotional sustenance, and collective resistance in navigating the superintendency. Data from session observations and individual interviews reveal that affinity spaces reduce professional isolation, foster trust and reflection, and support both leadership resilience and strategic growth. These findings contribute to research on equity in educational leadership and offer actionable insight into cultivating inclusive leadership pipelines. By honoring women’s lived experiences, this study affirms affinity spaces as critical to both retention and reimagining future structures of educational leadership.

Authors

• Katrina Struloeff, University of Pennsylvania

• Shanae Neal, Southern Methodist University

• Megan MacDonald, University of Pennsylvania