Women are seemingly well represented in teaching professions, but their presence in education remains incommensurate with their career advancement to educational leadership positions (Kutu & Zulu, 2022). Although women make up about 76% of public-school teachers, women are underrepresented in leadership positions beyond the classroom. A national study confirms that "we live in a society where the current makeup of the current school board prefers a male superintendent over a female. Males are still perceived as the ideal CEO" (Christie et al., 2007, p. 2). "The broken rung" contributes to the underrepresentation of women and women of color in various fields. Social science research highlights that individuals overestimate men's performance and underestimate women's performance. Underrepresentation poses a significant problem in the educational sphere because the voices and perspectives of women of color, especially Black women, are underrepresented in leadership. The underrepresentation of Black women in key leadership positions threatens the increase of gendered discrimination and racism systems and structures in education (Sanchez & Thornton, 2010). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]