This study sought to examine the underlying issues and perceptions of sitting male and female superintendents in order to add to the current literature on feminism in the K-12 school setting. Specifically, this study sought to examine the perceptions of currently employed superintendents about how they experienced the intersection of gender and…

This paper looks at the stories shared by Latina school leaders regarding their ascendance to the superintendency in New Mexico. The social, political, and cultural supports and challenges that they experienced along the way to their top positions in school leadership are discussed including the impact of gender barriers, power differentials, the…

Gender, race, and class--intertwining oppressions experienced by Black women have ultimately led to barriers such as marginality, exploitation, political subjugation, and negative images of African American women (Collins, 2009). Research about the lived experiences of Black women has either been infrequently told or narrated by individuals who…

Dobie and Hummel (2001) asserted that the school superintendency is the most male-dominated position within the field of education. According to a 1992 study, 72% of educators were women; however, only 13.2% of superintendents are women (Glass, 1992). The most recent survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) found that…

Focused on the absence of a viable population of African American women in the superintendency, this study addressed barriers described by 10 credentialed, district-level Southern women who hold advanced education degrees coupled with years of leadership experience. This phenomenological study used interview methodology to uncover the lived…

Current researchers indicate that the superintendency continues to be male dominated and aspirants are often unaware of the strategies necessary to achieve the position. The purpose of this researcher is to identify the challenges female administrators face in their quest for the superintendency and to explore, through a qualitative…

This article reports the two-year tenure of a woman superintendent in a small southern city. Placed against the background of local community politics and school district politics it shows that women in the superintendency still face issues of gender stereotyping that influence the way they are perceived as leaders of school systems. A feminist…

Purpose: In this article, the authors highlight three constraints--structural time crisis (Schor, 1991) ideal worker norms (Williams, 2000), and labor and occupational queues (Reskin & Roos, 1990; Strober, 1992)--on the decisions and choices of women seeking to advance to and hold positions in the superintendency. Proposed Conceptual Argument: The…