School leaders’ gender strategies: caught in a discriminatory web
School leaders’ gender strategies: caught in a discriminatory web
This article uses data from women school principals in South Africa to explore how women position themselves in response to their gender and ethnicity. Though grounded in their own context, the strategies they use resonate with those of women in many parts of the world. Five strategies are discerned: transforming the value of low status identities, asserting a valued identity, negating stigmatised characteristics, denial of disadvantage and acceptance of female inferiority. It is suggested that each may bring benefit to the individual woman but may also further embed sexism and racism; that women are caught in a web of discrimination. It is argued that we do not sufficiently understand why women choose particular strategies, nor the complexity and balance of positive and negative effects that follow. Individual agency may not be captured by simplistic cause and effect analysis but appears to be leveraging limited gains.
gender, school leadership, South Africa
28-45
January 2015
Lumby, Jacky
(2015)
School leaders’ gender strategies: caught in a discriminatory web.
Educational Management Administration & Leadership, n/a, .
(doi:10.1177/1741143214556088).
Abstract
This article uses data from women school principals in South Africa to explore how women position themselves in response to their gender and ethnicity. Though grounded in their own context, the strategies they use resonate with those of women in many parts of the world. Five strategies are discerned: transforming the value of low status identities, asserting a valued identity, negating stigmatised characteristics, denial of disadvantage and acceptance of female inferiority. It is suggested that each may bring benefit to the individual woman but may also further embed sexism and racism; that women are caught in a web of discrimination. It is argued that we do not sufficiently understand why women choose particular strategies, nor the complexity and balance of positive and negative effects that follow. Individual agency may not be captured by simplistic cause and effect analysis but appears to be leveraging limited gains.
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e-pub ahead of print date: December 2014
Published date: January 2015
Keywords:
gender, school leadership, South Africa
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Local EPrints ID: 359547
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/359547
ISSN: 1741-1432
PURE UUID: 693a3f68-fc1c-4d23-acd1-ef5252bd83cd
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Date deposited: 06 Nov 2013 14:43
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 15:24
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Author:
Jacky Lumby
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