Using a culturally relevant leadership lens, this phenomenological study looks at the lived experiences of two female urban school leaders in Pakistani private schools. It highlights the structural enablements and barriers they faced across two different periods -- the 1990s and the 2020s providing reflectively-nuanced insight into female school…

Historically, there remains an underrepresentation of Black women in and en route to the highest levels of organisational leadership. The divide is all the more pronounced in the field of education, one in which women represent a large share of the community. Particularly relevant for Black women is the incongruence between their heightened…

Almost a quarter-century has passed in the new millennium; howoever, the phrase 'Nihil Novum Sub Sole' is still valid for females struggling to move forward amid a male-dominant world. Structural, cultural, and organisational barriers continue to prevent women from achieving academic leadership positions within educational contexts, the so-called…

This article reports on research regarding the leadership experience of women middle leaders in secondary schools. Previous research has focused on women in senior leadership in schools. Internationally, the teaching profession tends to be dominated by women, and yet in most countries, women do not occupy a commensurate proportion of senior…

This article explores the characteristics of leadership in schools where school principals are female, examining the voices and perceptions of the protagonists of female leadership. Employing a case-study methodology, data were collected through 12 in-depth interviews with female principals from the Santiago Metropolitan Region in Chile. The…

The focus of this paper lies in our special interest in women leaders and those aspiring to leadership positions in schools and other educational contexts within Australia. Leadership is a gendered concept, and due to a myriad of factors including conscious and unconscious bias, and the challenges of balancing career with other life commitment,…

Despite the progressive advance in the equality of rights and opportunities, a significant number of women who lead school organisations continue to encounter a series of obstacles when it comes to exercising school management. In this context, the article presents the experience of six women who lead educational establishments in the Araucanía…

This paper takes an interest in tackling inequalities in school communities and considers how networks of change agents can work together to enact change. To do so, an ethnographic study is conducted examining WomenEd, a charity and grassroots movement of aspiring and existing women leaders in education. Building upon the perspective of collective…

Empirical studies of crisis leadership have historically been limited to analyses of particular events, captured in themes of flexibility, care and the importance of communication as a response. Since 2020, the crisis has been global, demanding immediate and multiple pivots for school leaders. While care and communication are particularly…

Recent international research highlights the importance of a strong professional identity based on pedagogical leadership to achieve educational improvement. Several studies indicate a clear relationship between the role of gender identity and the development of a leadership identity. This article tells the story of a female school principal in a…

This article analyses the disaggregated data from the 2020 American Superintendent Decennial Study. The focus on superintendents of colour provides important insight into the ways individuals holding the highest rank in school districts govern the instructional, facilities, fiscal, personnel, and community relations matters as they comprehensively…

This paper presents findings from a study examining the career development experiences of female head-teachers in the south of England. Adapting a three-stage career model, the study examined different stages of the women's lives and careers in order to understand what encouraged and influenced them to become educational leaders and how their…

The issue of emotions in school leadership is one that has received increasing attention in recent years. In this paper we present a case study of the emotional demands upon one principal as she undertakes a programme of school reform. This case study works against the common discourse of "emotional maturity" inherent in an individual…

In the context of gender being a barrier to accessing leadership, this paper presents a comparison of the views of men and women headteachers (principals) of secondary schools in England in the 1990s and in 2004. The same survey instrument was used on both occasions. The perceptions of the headteachers show change in some areas and no change in…

Examines two orthodoxies related to leadership and gender: Leadership is vested in males, and male leadership style is "macho." Draws implications for leadership role of female head teachers. (Contains 5 tables and 33 reference.) (PKP)