Gender Filters at Work in the Administrative Culture.

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. *Administrator Education; Educational Administration; Elementary Secondary Education; *Feminism; Higher Education; *Leadership Styles; Organizational Climate; *Power Structure; School Administration; *Sex Bias; Sex Discrimination; *Women Administrators Research demonstrates that along with the usual filters for skills and competence, aspiring administrators also encounter the profession's gender filters. Gender filters appear as deeply shared understandings among female and male professional school administrators. Gender filters maintain the privilege of the dominant white male culture by silencing ideas and people that might disrupt the privilege of dominance. This paper analyzes research that examined factors in professional discourse and socialization that sustain gender filters, which exclude women and women's ways of leading from school administration. It summarizes the results of five studies conducted since 1985 and a content analysis of six professional journals. Feminist perspectives are used to explore sttategies for develon g and sustaining gender filters that confront privilege, that recognize the legitimacy of gender issues, and that support multiple perspectives within the culture of school administration. Findings indicate gender issues are marginal in the professoriate, in the curriculum, in classrooms, in ed:tcational administration texts, in theories of administration, and in professional literature. In summary, administrator education offers few opportunities to confront gender issues, practice complex gendered relations, or examine women's ways of leading. Women and minorities learn that their equity is not valued and that alternative ways of leading will be filtered out. A set of feminist filters that encourage the values of equity, diversity, and democratic practice for beginning administrators is offered: (1) construct a new set of assumptions; (2) male and female students should recognize their participation in the maintenance of privilege; and (3) universities must support a critical mass of feminist educators who model the new assumptive worlds. Two tables are included. (LMI) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION pi. , or EduCnt oral Itesea,, aoa oologveooot EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CEN TER (ERIC) Thrs docunnent has been reproduced a, received horn the person or organrIation nriginating a 0 Minor changes have been made lo improve reproduction quality Points ot view or opinions stated in Pus document do not necessarily represent official OERI positron or policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Gender Filters at Work in the Administrative Culture Edith A. Rusch Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606 419-537-2095 (voice) 419-537-7719 (fax) Internet: fac4177@uoft01.utoledo. edu Catherine Marshall Professor of Educational Leadership University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27514 919-966-1354 (voice) 919-962-1533 (fax) Internet: marshall@emall.unc. edu Presented to Division A at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association San Francisco, CA BEST COPY AVAILABLI, Gender Filters at Work in Administrative Culture Edith Rusch Catherine Marshall The University of Toledo The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Introduction Aspiring administrators work hard to gain understanding of the professional culture, the role responsibilities, and the mobility pauerns that will insure success in a school leadership role. However, research demonstrates that along with the usual filters for skills and competence, aspirants also encounter the gender filters of the profession--the profession's way of managing gender equity issues (Greenfield, 1985; Hart, 1995; C. Marshall, 1985; J. D. Marshall, Otis-Wilborn, & Sears, 1991; Schmuck & Schubert, 1995). Based on the elusiveness of equity for women and women's ways of leading in educational administration, we argue that the existing professional culture in school administration teaches deeply embedded gender filters that govern talk, interpretations of meaning, actions, and espoused values about equity and diversity in ways that sustain patterns of gender inequity in the profession. Our argument is supported bystatistics that verify the persistent dominance of white males in school leadership roles (Bell & Chase, 1993; Hansot & Tyack, 1981; Shakeshaft, 1989). The dominance holds even though abundant research suggests that women's leadership is more collegial, rimmed to instruction and children, and less concerned with politics and bureaucracy and that women's interactions and decisionrnaking are more inclusive and empowering (Andrews & Basom, 1990; Gilligan, 1982; Nodding, 1990; 1991). Despite the research, despite decades of affirmaave laws and policies, men, or women who lead like men, invariably are selected for sponsorship or available administrative positions. The reasons for this gender bias in administrative roles also continues to be verified by research. Explanations include male dominance in power positions (Shakeshaft, 1989); gender stratification in schools (Gaertner, 1981; Wheatley, 1981); sex discrimination (Bell, 1988; Bell & Chase, 1993); theory bias (Gosetti & Rusch, 1994; McCall & Lombardo, 1978; Shakeshaft, 1989; Yeakey, Johnson, & Adkinson, 1986); transition issues (Marshall, 1979); discriminatory access (Ortiz, 1982); and lack of sponsorship (Marshall, 1985). Once an aspirant attains position, socialization on the job only reinforces this inattention to equity (Schmuck, 1986). In fact, many administrators do not even see gender and gender equity as issues (Kempner, 1991). New administrators at all levels of the profession quickly learn what is leetimate talk, legitimate action, and legitimate values. Leaders who aspire to practice women's ways of leading are quickly socialized to the