A Three-State Study of Female Superintendents (2004)

Women Superintendents: Why so Few? most powerful position in public schools is that of school superintendent, and it is position dominated by men. Of 13,728 school superintendents in United States, 11,744 are and 1,984 are women (Glass, 2000). U. S. Census Bureau has characterized superintendency as ... most male-dominated executive position of any profession in United States (Bjork, 2000, p. 8). Lucas thinks situation may be changing. Interest in women gaining access to top administrator posts is increasing as many current superintendents are retiring and more women are seeking top job in school districts (Lucas, 1999). Historically, women have made up majority of workforce in education. studying history of women in superintendency, Blount found that in 1910, approximately 9% of the1 school superintendents were women and this increased to 11% in 1930 (cited in Bjork, 2000). Shakeshaft refers to this period as a golden age for women in school (Shakeshaft, 1989, p.34). Women had won right to vote in 1920, and feminist groups were promoting equality for women. However, Like their teacher counterparts, women administrators sometimes attained their positions by default either because no were available or because women were bargain as they were paid less than men (Shakeshaft, 1989, p.38). Women in superintendency had declined to nine percent by 1950 and sunk to low of 1.3% in 1971 (Bjork, 2000). percentage of women superintendents remained in range less than 10% until 1990s (Bjork, 2000, p.8) when it doubled from 6.6% to 13.2% (Glass, 2000). Lucas points to fact that number of women in superintendency remains...no larger proportion than at turn of 20th century (Lucas, 1999). Several factors account for decline of women in superintendency. After World War II, returning from military service were able to go to school with assistance of Service Men's Readjustment Act, commonly known as G.I. Bill of Rights. Shakeshaft (1989) stated ...Men were encouraged to become teachers and administrators, women were encouraged to remain at home (p. 46). consolidation movement caused schools to become larger, and administration became more complex. The 1950s and 1960s witnessed revival of prejudices against women that had hindered their advancement into administration from colonial period onward (Shakeshaft, 1989, p.48). These prejudices included perception that women could not manage large school, much less school district. Various models have been offered to explain low numbers of women in superintendency. One group of perspectives is offered from psychological point of view. Estler (1975) coined meritocracy (p.370), Schmuck (1980) offered model (p. 242), Hanscot and Tyack ( cited in Shakeshaft, 1989) refer to set of concepts labeled as internal barriers(p. 82), and Ortiz and Marshall, (1988) offered the person centered explanations approach. common thread in all of these models is to provide psychological framework for explaining persisting gender segregation in superintendency. According to Estler's model, the most competent people are promoted according to their ability (p. 370). In Schmuck's model, focus is person centered, and individuals are held responsible for their own problems. Obviously, women must deal with their own problems in this model, and defect or weakness in individual (p. 9) must be remediated. Shakeshaft described this approach as blame victim perspective (1989, p.82). A second set of perspectives can be conceptualized around notion of effect of limited opportunities for women. Again, Schmuck addressed this as an organizational (p. 244), while Estler (1975, p. 370) referred to it as discrimination model. …