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WORDS FROM A LEADER
One of the barriers I had to navigate as a woman leader was the culture, beliefs, and practices that failed to recognize the leadership potential of women. I did this by doing my best work every day, building communities with other women, and demonstrating through results that women not only are capable of leadership, but when they are in leadership roles, the cultures of the communities in which they work are more humane, loving, and personal. (Joellen Killion, senior advisor, Learning Forward, personal communication, April 19, 2018)
Gender Expectations
Gender stereotyping, which arises from the expectations societies place on people based on their apparent gender, is a form of unconscious bias. Unconscious bias happens subconsciously based on people’s personal, environmental, and cultural experiences. People make judgments and assumptions in a nanosecond, grounded in their beliefs rather than in facts.
As discussed in chapter 1 (page 9), gender construction is the meaning that people in a given group, culture, or society attach to being biologically male or female, actively built from possible traits and behaviors. Here are a few of the gendered expectations that women must navigate.
Unconscious Bias Creeps Into Hiring Practices
Gender stereotyping lies at the heart of the conversation on women in leadership at any level. In the work world, we observe unconscious bias in recruitment and promotion processes, work allocation, treatment of staff, and performance appraisals.
In an extensive literature review of women in educational leadership, Anthony Thorpe (2016) explores not only the representation of women in leadership structures but also where these structures represent women and how leadership is exercised. Not only do schools need to increase the number of women in leadership positions but also address deeper problems. Women appear to have positions of limited power or prestige. Further, “those positions defined as powerful, responsible, and prestigious are more likely to exclude care and less likely to be held by women” (Thorpe, 2016, p. 17).
And think about the impact of the wage gap: women need at least one more degree than men in order to earn the same salary as men do (Carnevale, Smith, & Gulish, 2018).
Teachers Have Unconscious Expectations of Male and Female Principals
Some teachers, particularly men, expect female principals to exhibit taking care behaviors rather than taking charge behaviors—behaviors they were unlikely to expect from male principals. Jo, an Australian principal, has called these cases “‘I’m not your mum’ moments.”
Similarly, Jim Watterston (2018) observed that a large Australian school district anticipated that female leaders would have higher scores than their male counterparts in the areas of supportive leadership and school morale because of their more caring, relationship-oriented leadership style. The district found just the opposite; feedback for female leaders demonstrated lower ratings for supportive leadership and staff morale. With women composing more than 75 percent of the district’s teachers, a number of theories might explain this. Perhaps female teachers have different and more critical expectations of female principals. Or, female principals may adopt a more dominant or masculine leadership style, believing that teachers expect this of school leaders. Whatever the explanation, it highlights an additional complexity and challenge that has implications for leadership development programs.
In chapter 6 (page 99), we’ll explore moving away from stereotypes and toward leadership archetypes. This involves articulating a group’s values while still acknowledging individual differences and then naming the genders’ positive archetypal values.
THINK ABOUT IT
Consider for a moment whether you have different expectations for male and female leaders. Make one list of leaders you admire and one list of leaders you disliked working for or with. Jot down a few notes as to why people made each list. What do you notice?
Women Are Less Likely Than Men to Plan Careers
Since the late 1990s, in our conversations with teachers, we have observed that while young male teachers eagerly seek career advancement, even actively planning their journey to the top, their female counterparts approach it less proactively. Further, many female principals only think about a leadership role when someone else suggests it or they are required to fill in for a short period and they find that they enjoy the role.
Traditionally, women face more difficulties in planning careers, because in one way or another, they need to deal with the expectations that they will take the lead in rearing children and managing family affairs (including caring for elderly parents and running a household). Women tend to put others before themselves in making career-progression decisions. Further, planning for career moves has stayed more part of male culture than female culture.
Women encounter more disruptions throughout their careers, including, as termed by the Global City Leaders Project, “the nexus of big jobs, small kids” (Spiller, 2017, p. 7). Even when women have opportunities open to them, given these complexities and connectedness to roles they play outside of their work life, those that require relocation often involve tougher decisions than men face because of family dynamics and societal expectations. Both men and women make difficult decisions when relocating, but women experience these challenges differently, as they take a weblike view of the impact and disruption on family life, including responsibility for a greater share of domestic circumstances.
THINK ABOUT IT
Explicit and subconscious messages about gender bombard people daily. Search YouTube (www.youtube.com) for the following videos.
• 48 Things Women Hear in a Lifetime (That Men Just Don’t) (HuffPost, 2015b)
• 48 Things Men Hear in a Lifetime (That Are Bad for Everyone) (HuffPost, 2015a)
What gender biases can you identify? Before you watch the first video, consider three messages women receive that men don’t. Were your points reflected in the video? After watching both videos, write down how you feel—what surprised you, challenged you, or resonated with you? What is one thing that you can do as an educator to address the issues raised?
Women May Judge Each Other Harshly
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (2016) coined a well-known phrase when she was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and worked closely with the six other female UN ambassadors: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” Situations that demonstrate women’s inhumanity to women include, for example, when those who have succeeded in climbing the ladder of success pull up the ladder because they feel that they toughed it out and thus others should too.
When you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through the doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other
