This up-to-date, candid examination of women's careers in education and leadership in education describes the pitfalls, triumphs, and future promise of female leaders in education. Overall, education is a field still dominated by women, yet women do not typically pursue or attain leadership positions at the administrative level. Research has revealed some of the reasons for this: women still experience gender discrimination in education careers, experience higher attrition rates, and have slower career mobility than do men. Additionally, women in education are apparently less valued, and their performance is more critically evaluated, as in other fields. This insightful text shows the gender-based inequities and discrimination women face when aiming for leadership positions in education, and lays out a plan to bring success to this level of the field that is still male-dominated. Women as Leaders in Education: Succeeding Despite Inequity, Discrimination, and Other Challenges is the result of a team of leading feminist educators and scholars. It delves into feminist women's leadership in education from kindergarten to graduate school. This two-volume work assesses the historical and current political landscape with regard to women hitting a "glass ceiling," issues of social justice, and the unique challenges women face in educational leadership as well as the new field of teacher leadership.

Leadership in universities is physically, intellectually and emotionally demanding work. It involves multiple and complex tasks and responsibilities such as staff management, strategic management, operational planning, financial and resources management, policy development, quality assurance processes, improving student outcomes, and engaging with community and the professions/industry. Leadership is not simply the act of being a leader, it is the act of leadership that projects ‘success’ and ‘desirable’ attributes. Leadership has the capacity to be deeply seductive yet it is not an immediately attractive option for women, particularly for those who carry the burden of family and domestic responsibilities, for whom finding a space for leading is no easy task. Yet despite the almost pessimistic research evidence, women are in senior leadership positions in higher education, however precarious their numbers. There can be little doubt that universities benefit from diversity in their student and staff population This book addresses the central questions; Who are the women who survive and occupy elite leadership roles in universities? How might their leadership be shaped by and a consequence of institutional climate? What strategies do they learn and adopt and how do they lead and manage their female colleagues? What about those women who do not ‘fit’ the gender script? The chapters overview the changing policy landscape in higher education; provide a critical commentary on the interplay between gender, leadership, higher education, and organisational diversity, and draw on education and critical management literatures in order to offer a broader understanding of gender and elite leadership; This book will be essential reading for anyone involved or interested in higher education policy and management, academic leadership, organisational diversity and gender studies.

This book delves into critical factors for women’s success in academia, offering strategies, and counsel anchored in a robust theoretical framework. Hozien’s thoughtful, interdisciplinary approach to women leadership culminates in a comprehensive understanding of the critical factors that can influence career success in higher education. Grounded by an intersectional lens and data-driven analysis, the book’s focus on minority female populations informs the inherent challenges and shifting representation in educational leadership. Each chapter integrates real-world examples, case studies, and immediately actionable advice to advocate for and support current and aspiring female leaders, administrators, and policymakers. A masterful blend of theory and practice, this book’s timely insights empower women to take charge of their leadership journeys with the intention of fostering a generation of confident and capable academic leaders who can drive positive transformation.

In the intricate tapestry of life there exist moments in our lives that define us as individuals and as part of our communities. To gain insights into what makes a great leader, we can learn from those who have built the road before us. A profound exploration of pivotal experiences that shape the personal and professional trajectories of women in academia will help pave the way for the leaders of the future. Navigating the intersection of both personal and professional spheres, the book, Narratives on Defining Moments for Women Leaders in Higher Education, delves into the profound impact of high-impact moments in the lives of women in leadership roles. Drawing on personal anecdotes and evidence-based practices, readers gain insight into the strategies, solutions, and resilience cultivated by women leaders in colleges and universities. From tales of perseverance and empowerment to reflections on reframing and reinvention, each narrative offers a unique perspective on the journey of women in academia.

This book assists aspiring and current women leaders on how to advance into higher education leadership roles. Drawn from research and the lived experiences of women and non-binary people in higher education leadership, this book serves as a guide in understanding the gender disparity in higher education leadership and how women leaders forge pathways to promotion and success through systemic barriers, obstacles, and a lack of representation. A critical review of traditional leadership theory offers an opportunity to reimagine how effective leadership is framed and valued in higher education. Chapter authors and case studies explore the intersections of multiple identities and their impacts on leadership through lenses, including institutional type, functional areas, ability, gender identity, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Focusing on a bridge from theory to practice that is designed to empower and inspire women leaders at all levels of the spectrum, this book is ideal reading for higher education scholars, students, and faculty aspiring to become leaders.

Though the percentage of Hispanics in universities continues to grow, few Hispanic women/Latinas advance into leadership positions; instead, many are constrained by a glass ceiling. Therefore, the voices and experiences of those that have overcome these barriers in higher education are pivotal stories to be told. Ranging from the perceptions of these women’s journeys to leadership, to an understanding of the barriers they encounter, to the question of their access to the resources they need, each factor is a critical component to understanding Hispanic women/Latinas in the higher education atmosphere. Comprehensive research in this area is needed to explore the themes of identity in terms of racial/ethic identification, social perception, and gender, along with systemic themes on the institutional level regarding the recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse higher education administration. Hispanic Women/Latina Leaders Overcoming Barriers in Higher Education explores the recruitment, promotion, retention process, and the barriers and resilience needed for Hispanic women/Latinas in higher education leadership roles. The chapters use data collected via a qualitative, phenomenological research study including open-ended interviews, field notes, biographical questionnaires, and a researcher’s reflective journal. While covering topics surrounding these women’s experiences such as identity themes, self-identification, institutional shortcomings, and valuable support systems, this book is ideally intended for Latina educators, informing legislators, educational officials, and higher education administrators along with practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in institutional equality, female empowerment, and Hispanic women/Latinas’ journey in higher education.

This book offers the autobiographical reflections of prominent women school psychologists who are at or near completion of their careers. It demonstrates the varied and diverse journeys of these women in their own words. The volume examines the ways in which leading women in the field have evolved from primarily frontline service providers to full contributors at all levels of the profession. Chapters offer insights into school psychology movers and shakers and explores how many found a home in academia, where they became trainers of the next generation. In addition, chapters examine the opportunities and restraints that these women leaders confronted across the years. The book celebrates the success of these women and encourages both women and men to pursue roles in the profession. Women Leaders in School Psychology is an informative read for graduate students and scientist-practitioners as well as researchers, professors and other professionals in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, social work, public health, clinical and developmental psychology and all related psychology, mental health, and education disciplines.

Theorizing Women and Leadership: New Insights and Contributions from Multiple Perspectives is the fifth volume in the Women and Leadership: Research, Theory, and Practice series. This cross?disciplinary series, from the International Leadership Association, enhances leadership knowledge and improves leadership development of women around the world. The purpose of this volume is to provide a forum for women to theorize about women’s leadership in multiple ways and in multiple contexts. Theorizing has been a viewed as a gendered activity (Swedberg, 2014), and this series of chapters seeks to upend that imbalance. The chapters are written by women who represent multiple disciplines, cultures, races, and subject positions. The diversity extends into research paradigm and method, and the chapters combine to illuminate the multiple ways of knowing about and being a woman leader. Twenty?first century leadership scholars acknowledge the importance of context, and many are considering post?heroic leadership models based on relationships rather than traits. This volume contributes to this discussion by offering a diverse array of perspectives and ways of knowing about leadership and leading. The purpose of the volume is to provide readers with not only interesting new ideas about women and leadership, but also to highlight the diverse epistemologies that can contribute to theorizing about women leaders. Some chapters represent typical social scientific practices and processes, while others represent newer knowledge forms and ways of knowing. The volume contributors adopt various epistemological positions, ranging from objective researcher to embedded co?participant. The chapters link their new findings to existing empirical or conceptual work and illustrate how the findings extend, amend, contradict, or confirm existing research. The diversity of the chapters is one of the volume’s strengths because it illuminates the multiple ways that leadership theory for women can be advanced. Typically, research based on a realist perspective is more valued in the academy. This perspective has indeed generated robust information about leadership in general and women’s leadership in particular. However, readers of this volume are offered an opportunity to explore multiple ways of knowing, different ways of researching, and are invited to de?center researcher objectivity. The authors of the chapters offer conceptual and empirical findings, illuminate multiple and alternative research practices, and in the end suggest future directions for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed?methods research.

Women Leaders: Advancing Careers recognizes that while the majority of students enrolled in educational leadership preparation programs continue to be women; women’s advancement to top school executive roles is still not comparable to that of men. Despite significant gains in the past decade, the biased treatment of women continues to be a barrier to their advancement to key administrative positions. The authors in Women Leaders: Advancing Careers have contributed significantly to the growing body of literature aimed at assisting the career advancement of women. Their research indicates that the concepts presented herein are critical to women’s leadership preparations, advancement, and success. Women Leaders: Advancing Careers melds history, theory, research, and practice to provide guidance to aspiring women administrators in developing a career path and in attaining and successfully performing in executive roles.

Developing Women Leaders in the Academy through Enhanced Communication Strategies explores the experiences, strategies, and triumphs of women who have attained leadership roles within the academy as well as the shortfalls, disappointments, and battle scars many women leaders have experienced in their quest to lead. Clear direction, focused strategies, and enhanced communication are necessary to increase the ever-growing number of women in leadership positions in the academy. Contributions to this book discuss the ways in which these concepts have been employed to transcend the “academic ceiling” by creating mentoring networks for women, training programs, and other “ladders of ascension,” encouraging future leaders to be more assertive, self-assured, and strategic within the academic terrain. Scholars of communication, education, and women’s studies will find this volume particularly useful.