Why Do So Few Women Hold Superintendent Positions?
We all have that one coworker that comes to mind when you think of a model teacher. She’s always seeking out professional development opportunities, she keeps her team on track with deadlines, and she does the most for her students. While my teaching career has just begun, I have already had the pleasure to work with multiple teachers that inspire me every day.
This brings me to a story from my student teaching days. It was my junior year of undergrad, and my mentor teacher for my placement that semester was an absolute teacher rock star. She had been teaching for over 20 years and was still coming to school every day with the energy and passion of a brand new teacher. I remember talking to her about her teaching career, and she mentioned how she had thought of trying to become an administrator, but she never ended up going through with it. I told her that I thought she should still try to do it, as I could see her being an amazing superintendent. She casually brushed me off by saying, “Superintendent! I could NEVER do that!”
Why not?!
It was after this experience that I began wondering, “Why don't more great teachers pursue high profile positions?” I fully understand that some teachers have no desire to be administrators, which is completely fine. The issue that I want to dive deeper into involves the teachers that want to be (and absolutely should be) pursuing higher leadership positions within their school districts, but for some reason they aren’t.
As I further pondered this question, I began researching the statistics of it all. We are all aware that education is a female dominated field, with 76% of public school teachers being women. Then why are only 54% of principals and 27% of superintendents women?
Why are there these gender gaps in the field of education?
Women have to work harder to become principals and superintendents, and women who are highly qualified for administrative positions are not considered in the same way as their male competitors.
Additionally, I learned that middle and high school principal roles can often lead to a superintendent position. With this in mind, it is important to note that only around 33% of high school principals are women and only 40% of middle school principals are women, while 68% of elementary school principals are women.
Women are discouraged to pursue higher positions of power, as they are then perceived as pushy, moody, and even vicious. This is even more relevant for female minorities who hold positions of power.
Aresta Johnson, former superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools was constantly criticized and put under immense pressure, which ultimately led to her resignation in 2019.
Even more recently, Dr. Aurelia Henriquez, former superintendent of Riverhead Central School District in New York, resigned after receiving racist hate mail that led to an FBI investigation.
Both of these unfortunate situations highlight the sexism and racism that women in powerful positions, such as a Superintendent role, are faced with regularly. I can only imagine how emotionally exhausting that would be, and I understand why teachers would not want to put themselves in that position.
Here Are Three Things We Can Do:
1. Start having these hard conversations with your peers.
Take social action by starting conversations that will be eye opening for many, and ultimately productive.
Take a look at this article to help navigate having conversations about racism and sexism with your coworkers:
2. Encourage the women you work with to pursue leadership positions.
We’ve all heard of the saying “women empowering women.” I firmly believe that we can make a difference by supporting each other throughout our careers, and by offering constructive advice that will lead to these big promotions. You can be the teacher in your school to lead a women’s empowerment group that engages in critical literacy practices and creates a safe space to have conversations about career growth.
3. Create a safe space for your students to have conversations about these important topics.
Representation matters so much for young children. They notice if people like them are represented in the books they read, the movies they watch, and the jobs they aspire to have.
Check out Rowen Cox Rubien’s TEDx talk about gender bias in the Western educational systems.
References:
Barshay, J. (2020, June 18). White men have the edge in the school principal pipeline, researchers say. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/white-men-have-the-edge-in-the-school-principal-pipeline-researchers-say/.
Civiletti, D. (2020, September 2). Riverhead asks FBI to investigate racist hate mail sent to former school superintendent. RiverheadLOCAL. https://riverheadlocal.com/2020/09/02/riverhead-asks-fbi-to-investigate-racist-hate-mail-sent-to-former-school-superintendent/.
Lambeck, L. C. (2019, May 1). Bridgeport school superintendent quits. Connecticut Post. https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Bridgeport-school-superintendent-quits-13808201.php.
Perry, Andre. (2020, August 18). Education needs more ambitious women. https://hechingerreport.org/column-education-needs-more-ambitious-women/.
Ramaswamy, S. V. (2020, February 20). School superintendents are overwhelmingly male. What's holding women back from the top job? USA Today. School superintendents are overwhelmingly male. What's holding women back from the top job?
Hi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting topic this is. While many of us are unfortunately familiar with the gender gap in our country, I never thought about it in the education field. I think this is because the majority of teachers in my school, and most others that I have been in, are female. Although, most schools i'm in are elementary level. In middle and high school I had more male teachers and even at the collegiate level. Why is that? Are men less comfortable or willing to teach/ manage young children, does the age scare them away? In my opinion, the older they are the more they know and they pushes me away! As you mentioned, not everyone has the desire to be in an administrative position, which is very much so ok. I wonder though, if more women were offered and or encouraged to apply, would they do it? Perhaps less women apply than men which results in the inequality. I would like to do more research on this, thank you for bringing this to our attention.
-Amanda Orvis
Hi Colleen!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to write about such an important topic. I feel like this is something that we are all aware is an issue but don't necessarily understand why or how it has come to be this way. I really liked how you broke down the issue and provided ways that we as professionals in the field can help bridge the gap. The TED talk was amazing as well. Overall, you did such a great job!
-Grace
Hi Coleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for choosing this amazingly important topic! I actually listened to the whole Gender Bias Ted X video and I am really inspired as a woman trying to get into a leadership role, and as a teacher with a HUGE responsibility to try to eliminate gender bias for our next generation of children. I completely agree with the point you are making about women in leadership. I was chosen to be a teacher leader for my team a few years ago. When my reading coach came to me to tell me, I honestly couldn't imagine why she chose me for the role. I immediately began to name all of the "better qualified" teachers that I worked with that should have been chosen. She shook her head "NO" and said that I was the one that the administration had chosen. I complied because I didn't want to say no. However, it has taken me a few years to realize that I could be a teacher leader. As I slowly gain confidence, I realize that my role in my family and upbringing has held me to viewing myself as being a very "traditional" woman. I am trying and I think I'm succeeding in changing my view of myself. Thank you for providing me with this information to help me on my journey!!
Hi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you chose this topic because it definitely is not discussed as much as it should be. It's so interesting to think about how our women dominated field is actually under the vision of a male superintendent or principal. Why is this the case? I also liked when you shared about your personal anecdote of the teacher you thought she be superintendent. What do you think is the reason why some teachers are so hesitant to become principals and superintendents? Is it just about gender? I am currently doing my internship at a private school in Fairfield and the head of the school is an amazing woman who inspires me and other women daily. Women empowering women is so important and I cannot wait to share this and have a discussion with some of the teachers at my school. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredibly well-researched blog post. Thank you for sharing this extremely important topic. I see a future in administration for myself. I plan on earning my doctorate in education. I would love to be an elementary school principal one day. But anything higher than that is intimidating to me. Although I want to be a principal, I have doubts that I could be successful as one, let alone a superintendent. I think I would enjoy the job, but I am very aware of the criticism women in power face. I have faced criticism while in power before. Criticism is something I am still learning to cope with. It is also so important to have role models in the fields I aspire to. I had excellent female principals as an elementary and high school student. I worked for a wonderful female vice principal earlier this year. I was surprised and excited when I found out both the principal and vice principal at my current school are female. They are an incredible team. The success of these women helps me believe in myself. But I know, like the superintendents you mentioned, the female principal of my high school faced harsh criticism. I could not believe the way some adults and students spoke to her. I have to wonder if they would have spoken to her that way if she were male. It makes perfect sense to me that female principals are a majority in elementary school, but scarcer in middle school and high school, and rarely superintendents. Thank you for not only helping raise awareness of this glaring issue, but for also giving us actions we can take now to address it. A doctorate and principal position are far down the line for me, especially when I have yet to finish my master's and land a full-time permanent teaching job. But I can take your steps and gain more education on this topic for myself and others now.
Best,
Kate
Colleen - what a refreshing and enlightening topic choice! Thank you for diving into a conversation that definitely needs to be had. You are so right about the ratio and stigma of female presence in administration roles, and I had noticed it myself over the years, though I don't think I would have thought to research it as you did! I've often noticed certain aspects of teachers that inspire me to want to do and move as they do, and am now thinking about the way in which not only I carry myself in the teaching work place, but how my presence might be impacting those around me, and how I could do more to support that 'empowerment' to go against the grain. Awesome job highlighting examples and providing sources for exploring this more!
ReplyDeleteColleen- you did such a great job on your blog post! I really enjoyed reading about your experience with your mentor teacher and how that inspired you to research the statistics of gender gaps in public school education. I also really enjoyed the part where you were able to provide actionable items that we can do in our buildings, regardless of what positions we hold! I think that those ideas are incredible and so important. Chapter 3 in Read the World touches upon having hard conversations with our students, and ways that we can navigate that in our classrooms. That includes trying the lessons ourselves and then communicating to parents what we did, why we did it and any resources they can use at home.
ReplyDeleteColleen! This is SUCH an important topic and I love that you chose to write about this. This is definitely something that I've noticed, but never had conversations about this. I think it is so important to have these conversations though, even if they may be really hard to do. I think it is very important for women to have more of a voice in all aspects of higher management. Reading this actually motivates me to want to make sure that woman are represented more in leadership in schools and to always have those conversations, even if they are hard. I definitely relate to your personal story of the awesome teacher thinking she wasn't qualified enough. A lot of time, there is some self doubt, especially around the best candidates. I think confidence is always a big thing too and it is so important to believe in yourself. Great content here!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you brought this topic to the forefront. I have always wondered why men seem to always hold the high profile positions in a field dominated by women. It's like the traditional gender roles are being upheld right here inside our profession. Women are the caretakers, the multitaskers, the nurturers while the men are in positions of power and decision making. This is all while many women continue to carry on the traditional roles at home as well. One of my grade partners would like to be a principal in the future but is holding off because she has two young kids. Taking on one of these higher positions comes with more responsibility, more time away from home, and a heavier work load and some women don't want to sacrifice their family life to pursue these positions until later in their career. I found the data you collected so interesting. I would like to gain more understanding into this topic by asking classroom teachers why they would or would not climb the professional ladder. I think it would be interesting to hear what teachers, both male and female, have to say about what keeps them in the classroom or what motivates them to reach a higher position. While I personally don't aspire to be a principal or superintendent I do want to encourage my fellow teachers who do to go after it!
ReplyDeleteHi Colleen. This was a very interesting blog you created. I really appreciated the research and statistics you added. I think over the years of my teaching career, I never really thought about it in this light until I read your blog. I thought back on my past teaching years and yes, all my principals were female and all of the superintendents were all male. Many principals and superintendents came and went, but the gender roles remained the same. It is a good question you asked, why is that? I sometimes think the era of the baby boomers is still evident today in our own minds. Old patterns of our societies mindsets carry over to the now. Thanks for sharing your thought provoking blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful and interesting blog post. This is a question I have wondered as well; in all of my observation, student teaching, and internship experiences every superintendent I have met has been a man. I appreciate the research and statistics you included in this post that answers this question. You highlighted an incredibly important topic, and gave us great tips to keep the conversation going. Hopefully we can continue to address the discrepancy and get more women in superintendent positions. Great job!
-Shawna Zeisner