Working From Barriers to Strategies: Career Advancement for Women Administrators

Only 24% of superintendents are women in K-12 districts in the United States, though women outnumber men in these settings. There are barriers that prevent career advancement and equal rewards for women. These barriers can be internal, such as lack of confidence, low aspirations or duties in the home environment and/or external barriers such as discriminatory practices or systems and structures of society. The purpose of this study was to examine survey data on 88 women administrators (i.e., assistant principals, principals, central office administrators) regarding the internal and external barriers and strategies to career advancement that would lead to a superintendency in a Midwestern state. Participants completed a 53 item questionnaire. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data on perceptions of barriers, effects of barriers, and strategies by marital status, ethnicity, age, position, and level of education. The Pearson product moment was used to show the magnitude or strength of the relation between variables. Barriers, effects and strategies were rank ordered according to perceived significance of barriers for respondents. The results of the study added to the accumulating data on female administrators and the factors which create barriers to their full participation in educational administration.