The study sought to explore eight women school principals’ management experiences and challenges that these women encounter in their day-to-day management duties. It used semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis as its methods of data collection. The findings revealed that women principals encountered the challenge of being caught in the middle of having to balance domestic chores (being mothers and wives) and work responsibility (as school principals). The simultaneous demands of domestic and work responsibilities ensured that the women principals were inequitably pressured in their roles as school managers compared to their male counterparts. Other challenges related to gender stereotypes (perceptions held by some teachers and parents that women are care-givers, nurturers, and therefore not suited for management positions) and lack of women role models in school management positions. Even though women principals were challenged in their management duties they engaged in empowering management approaches by means of involving all the staff members in the decision making processes. The study highlighted the challenges that women principals encountered in maintaining their identity as women (feminine) in a male orientated field of school management. In managing the schools they used different approaches of management depending on the situation, and these included the adoption of masculine and authoritarian management strategies. By and large, these women principals insisted on using management strategies that are associated with femininities, such as empathy, cooperation, pastoral care and so forth. These strategies seemed more appropriate in promoting democratic participation in schools, as stipulated in South African education policies. The study recommended that holding induction programmes, building women networks, workshops and seminars could be a useful strategy in supporting women school principals. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of women principals in high schools when executing their management functions at Obonjeni District. It is hoped that the study would contribute to the understanding of the challenges woman principals encounter on their work and how they dealt with them. The methodology used was qualitative. A case study method was adopted. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with two school principals, two deputy principals and four heads of department in two selected high schools. Documentary analysis was used to triangulate data obtained through the interviews. Two high schools at Obonjeni District were purposively selected for the study. The data gathered was transcribed, coded, organised into themes, categories and sub-categories. Finally, the data was analysed using content analysis technique. The study was located in feminist theory; this is because what is happening in high schools today can be explained in terms of assertions made in feminist theory. This theory provides an explanation as to why women are under-represented in management positions. Findings indicate that staff members that were of the view that women principals were incapable of leading based this view on gender stereotypes, societal norms and cultural factors. Furthermore, some staff members view female principals as capable of managing and providing effective leadership in high schools. The study also revealed that women principals experience challenges, but despite them, they managed to perform their official duties effectively and also provided good leadership quality in these schools. The study recommended that in-service training, sufficient workshops and seminars must be organised to empower women in leadership positions. Again, it was recommended that women principals must avail themselves with numerous educational opportunities to upgrade their knowledge. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

This study explores how women in management are perceived especially in a Kwa-Dukuza Lower Tugela primary school (with the pseudonym, Mbonisweni). Mhonisweni is situated 5 kilometers away from my school. I was motivated to conduct this study by the negative perceptions of women in management positions that I detected in my own school (with the pseudonym, Vela). Vela is a new primary school, which was established as a result of overcrowding at Siyathuthuka senior primary school, which was at first a combined primary school. I was interested to see if a similar situation pertained at Mbonisweni and to find out what might he the reasons for any negative perception of women managers. Data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight educators from Mbonisweni Primary, including the principal of the school, 4 management team members and the 4 educators (two females and two males). The study found that evidence of some negativity towards the school principal and in some cases such negativity was based on gender stereotyped attitudes. The situation was not, however, simple. Prior to conducting the research I had anticipated that there might be strong support from female HODs and educators for the female principal (manager) but this was not uniformly the case nor was it the case that all males in the study were opposed to the female manager. The situation was more complex. Three quarters of the males interviewed supported the female management although their support did not mean that male teachers were in necessarily in favour of gender equity more broadly nor did it preclude some men from expressing view that could be seen as sexist. While three quarters of the females interviewed also supported the female management it was clear that no encompassing bond of sisterhood exited by which women automatically supported the females in the school's management team. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

The study sought to explore four female school principals’ management experiences and challenges that these females encounter in their management duties. It adopted a qualitative approach inquiry, and used semi-structured interviews and observations as its methods of data collection. The objective was to examine and unveil the challenges that these principals encountered when applying for promotion into school management; some gender-based dynamics related to executing their duties and responsibilities as female school managers; the management strategies that the female principals used to cope with their management responsibilities, as well as the support they required in order to enhance their effective management in the schools. The findings reveal that female principals have, indeed encountered challenges at schools owing to their gender as females. These range from the very long period of time it took for them to be promoted into management positions to the dynamics related to managing staff meetings, which included female principals being regarded as tokens by some teachers and not being taken seriously, thereby undermining the female principals’ authority as school managers. Mainly based on the societal expectations on females to perform domestic chores, female principals in these schools have to struggle with a heavy workload of their school work which runs concurrently with their familial responsibilities (domestic chores) at home. The negative attitudes of staff and the community, which cast doubt on females’ capacity to become managers, are shown to have far-reaching adverse consequences, which affect the female principals’ ability to effectively manage the schools. However, the female principals in this study innovatively employ various management strategies to mitigate the effects of these challenges on their ability to manage the schools. These include adopting collegial (and democratic) management strategies that enable them to raise above the tide, thus challenging the stereotypic conceptions that females do not have the capacity to become effective school managers. Based on the female principals’ views and experiences, the study suggested some strategies that could be employed to support and enhance female principals’ abilities for effective school management. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

This study reports on a qualitative study that sought to explore the experiences of female Heads of Department in Primary Schools. The study was carried out in KwaNdengezi, Pinetown South. It made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data using semi-structured interviews and observations as its methods of data collection. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants of the study, and the study sample consisted of four female heads of department in four primary schools, with whom the interviews and observations were conducted. The main findings of the study revealed that female heads of department experience and internalize negative stereotypes and believe males do not listen to them and they also experience gender stereotypes and their impact when performing their management duties in schools. Other findings include the experiences related to dynamics of being mothers and teachers at the same time. Further the communication with teachers, teacher discipline and the role that gender stereotyped held by members of the society. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women within the schools, which is an underlying factor behind all the gender-based experiences of female heads of department in the schools. Despite the fact that female heads of department encounter gender-based experiences in their management roles and responsibilities, they are engaged in empowering style of management by means of involving all the colleagues in the decision making processes. The study concludes by recommending that female heads of departments require support from all the stakeholders of the school, and that the government should hold workshops and seminars to support them. At the school level, they should resist all attempts at being treated in a condescending manner, and become role models to other aspiring females to assume school management positions for effective management and delivery of quality education. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.