Thesis (M.Ed. (Educational Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2011 / The purpose of the study was to investigate the experiences of female educators with regard to promotion posts in educational institutions such as schools. The problem which led to the investigation was that female educators allege that they are discriminated against with regard to promotion posts. Hence teaching is predominantly occupied by women but they are under-represented in the management positions. The study was ethnographic and qualitative because the researcher tried to understand the complex settings through the eyes of the informants and assume that, to understand a social setting, one needs to connect the observed behaviour with the rationales for that behaviour. Human life was studied as it was related to education. The literature review highlighted why women do not occupy high positions in management. The study also focused on the perception held by most stakeholders with regard to promotion posts. The study indicated what causes female educators not to occupy higher management posts and strategies that can be employed in addition to the experience of female educators with regard to promotion posts in educational institutions. Data was collected through interviews in order to provide in depth understanding of what is studied. Sample selected was purposeful and non random. Data was analyzed inductively by organizing data into categories and identifying relationships among the categories. Data was selected, categorized, compared, synthesized and interpreted. Data was also analyzed by using descriptive statistical tables. The study discovered some aspects that support what female educators experienced in schools such as discrimination, harassment, negative attitudes, unfair-treatment, inferiority complex and gender-bias which lead to small number of female educators to be in the managerial positions and further research was recommended.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-143).

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-314).

Community college enrollment doubled during the 1940s and 1950s, but during the 1940s and 1950s, it was not common to compare male and female enrollment patterns. For this study, I disaggregated male and female enrollment information from four editions of American Junior Colleges (1940, 1948, 1952, and 1956) in order to explore the gendered meaning of access in regard to two-year colleges during the 1940s and 1950s. The analysis compared male and female enrollment and graduation in pacesetter states within the community college movement. By using descriptive statistics, I gave voice to a story that previously had been untold – the story of women’s access into one segment of higher education – two-year colleges. In order to provide context for the numbers I compiled, I investigated the literature on women in higher education in the post-World War II period – a literature almost completely focused on four-year institutions – to examine the degree to which that literature captured, or failed to capture, meanings of access for women. With the overcrowding in higher education due to the preponderance of veterans returning to colleges and universities immediately following World War II, women were often crowded out of four-year institutions. The two-year college provided a means for many women to enter higher education but did not provide them the same level of access as males. For the most part women had access to programs preparing them for the dual labor market and/or reinforced their status as wife and mother.

No description available.

The research interest is in the area of leadership and gender, with specific reference to promotion prospects of female educators in predominantly black schools. I seek to establish internal and external factors that contribute to women educators being marginalised. The investigation is carried out in the uMgungundlovu region of the KwaZulu-Natal's Department of Education. This region covers the rural areas of Vulindlela and the urban and peri-urban circuits of Pietermaritzburg. I made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data from a random sample of twenty one out of twenty five deputy principals from the two circuits. This was followed by a detailed interview of seven of the twenty one who formed the purposive sample The central thesis of this study is that constitutional laws which outlaw unfair discrimination and academic qualifications play a subsidiary role in the upward mobility of women. The study will seek to confirm or refute this claim. A major finding in this study indicates that hindrances to promotion among married women include family responsibilities of being mother and wife; disruption of career advancement as a result of husband relocating. Low self-esteem among some women also acts as a hindrance to promotion. However, the more intractable hindrances turned out to be external. Cultural conditioning and tradition both combine to relegate women to domestic responsibilities. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women in the work place and, in some instances, the failure to apply anti-discriminatory legislation during interview processes. It therefore made little or difference whether the research was carried out in an urban area like Pietermaritzburg or a rural environment like Vulindlela. Hindrances to female promotion were very similar. This study concludes by suggesting that women should form lobby groups to challenge unfair labour practices. They should also increase their visibility by placing their curriculum vitae in the hands of people of influence. A further suggestion is that they take an active part in professional bodies and publish academic articles. At the school level, they should resist all attempts at being treated in a condescending manner. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

Social discourses and gender equality policies in South Africa has enabled the entry of significant numbers of women into predominantly male domains of educational leadership. In this study, the lived experiences, of four women heads of department in four historically race classified schools in the Durban Metropolitan area, are explored. This study probes the gendered experiences, in which, race and class are inextricably interwoven, as heads of department in commerce and questions the extent to which their leadership positions are a reflection of gender equality. Based on semi-structured interviews with the research participants (black, coloured, Indian and white), this study argues that despite occupying the status of head of department the research participants still assume gender subjective roles. Although, some evidence exists of changing patterns of these women's lives at different stages, the study reveals that the public and private spheres of work and family are not separate entities; they intersect and impinge, with particular implications for the position of women within the sphere of education leadership. The study reveals that despite an overarching discourse of gender equality, discourses of leadership are primarily about gender, race and class structure in the lived experiences of the participants. The gendered experiences overall was such that they inhibited these women from applying for further promotion. In effect, the study shows that these women, irrespective of being educated and occupying positions of leadership, are still in a state of subjugation and male domination. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

In South Africa women are grossly under-represented in educational management. This study reports on the possible reasons for gender imbalances in positions of leadership at schools. The study uses feminist theories as a lens to understand the various forces that give rise to gender imbalances in positions of leadership at schools. In order to arrive at an understanding of how women managers perceive their under-representation in school management, quantitative data was gathered from 53 women managers in the North Durban Region using the survey questionnaire. This data was used to provide the study with baseline information to pave the way for an in-depth qualitative study. As part of the qualitative study, four respondents were selected using the purposive sampling technique to provide rich data. The data was then collated with the intention of understanding possible reasons for gender imbalances from the perspective of women educators within a broad social, political and historical context. Evidence from the data reveals that while gender equity policies have signaled the need for social justice and transformation of management structures in schools, there appears to be a serious disjuncture between policy and practice. It is apparent that equity policies have failed to address the 'gendered' crisis at grassroots level. Men's dominance in educational management and the numerical marginalisation of women remains a hurdle. Data reveals that women are highly qualified, highly skilled and intrinsically motivated, and yet grossly under-represented in management structures in schools. The women managers in this study reflected on the gender stereotyping that pervades both their personal and professional roles. They recommend the creation of organisational cultures at schools that reflect a commitment to gender equity. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

In South Africa, one site where women in management are most underrepresented is educational management Equal opportunity for women as a political objective is entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. A gendered shift in educational management is an emerging phenomenon in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This study explored the experiences of eight women holding education management positions in one region in the province of KwaZulu-Natal through a qualitative case study approach. The research method was the semi-structured interview. The aim was to examine the reasons they entered management, the routes that led them to acquiring the positions, the management strategies they employed, their experiences in a male dominated environment, and their views on the issue of gender equity in educational management. The findings revealed that most of the women had a motivation and drive to progress through the ranks in the profession and enter management positions. This drive appears to be linked to early socialisation of the women and the development of an autonomous, self-controlling identity. In their perceptions of their experiences as managers, findings suggest a high degree effectiveness amongst the women managers evident in the value they place on management strategies such as effective listening and communication, building trust, people centred approaches, team building, and networking. However, participants in the study all alluded to the fact that they still had to deal with the gendered dynamics of organisational life. Men's dominance in educational management and the numerical marginalisation of women remains a hurdle. No matter how career oriented and motivated women may be, they still have to engage with the constant immersion in a masculinist work culture. The findings suggest that the women have to constantly prove their worth, deal with gender stereotyping, and negotiate their private and public roles. All the women in the study suggested the need for women to build networks of support, and for creating more inclusive organisational cultures that reflect a commitment to gender equity. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 2003.

This study answers the critical question: How do women leaders experience gender equality in the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU)? It focuses on five women leaders in the union, illuminating their experiences and evolving gender consciousness. This qualitative study addresses a gap in research on gender in teacher unions, to understand and reveal how women who have accessed previously male-dominated spaces experience gender equality. The women leaders’ experiences are a prism through which to understand the “depth” of the substantive experience of gender equality in the union. It examines how the union through its organisational bureaucracy, culture and politics shapes their experiences. Through a historical analysis of the gender and liberation struggle, I demonstrate the trajectory of achievements, challenges and visions for gender equity in South Africa within the trade union movement, noting the achievements and highlighting lost opportunities to advance gender struggles of its members. The study theorises different conceptions of feminisms and imagings of organisations to understand the women’s experiences in relation to the union and to broader society, within the culture, politics and bureaucracy of the organisation. I extended this lens by exploring differing conceptions of feminisms to understand the gendered experiences of the women leaders as they traverse life from childhood to adulthood. Conceived with the broader realm of feminist methodology, I use elements of life history research, notably in-depth interviews to produce narratives in the form of “harmonised poems” to illuminate the public and private experiences of the research participants, providing deep insights into their evolving gender consciousness. The analysis is multi-dimensional, traversing the influence of the family, school, and the historical and political contexts that shaped the women’s gender consciousness. The findings indicate that teachers’ contradictory class location, history of patriarchy and acceptance of sexual division of labour contribute to the women leaders’ experiences of gender inequality in the union. These experiences of inequality were magnified by apartheid’s1 structural and ideological roots, which shaped gender roles while simultaneously catalysing the development of gender consciousness and advancing political activism. In this regard, the family served as a crucial site of gender socialisation, while the school formally reproduced a hierarchical gendered society. At the organisational level, hierarchically bureaucratic structures maintained and reinforced particular patterns of control and power through the formal system of trade union governance in which gender oppression is institutionalised and legitimised under its banner of emancipatory politics. However, women in the organisation are by no means innocent victims of hostile patriarchal forces, but are active participants in their own oppression as they strategically comply with institutional norms. Significantly, the findings indicate that equality of opportunity for women leaders in the union does not translate into equality of outcome. This thesis contributes to the theoretical debates on evolving gendered consciousness by advancing an extended conceptual lens to interrogate women’s gendered experiences in predominantly patriarchal spaces. It identifies four domains of evolving consciousness. Starting with the divided self in the domain of home, girl children imbibe the dominant hierarchical social structures, and fixed gender roles are inscribed here. However, the family domain provides the catalyst for a developing consciousness among the women as children. The socialised self emerging in the domain of the school emphasises the gender socialisation, both overt and covert, that occurs in schools. It illuminates their evolving gender consciousness by resisting such subjugation initially as students and later as radical teachers. Progressing to the domain of the union, the women embody a strategic self in response to gender inequality in SADTU, which often takes an organisational form that contradicts its espoused policy and public pronouncements. Armed with the maturity to transcend their individualised gender consciousness, the women leaders emerge with a collective consciousness determined to break down the barriers to equality at the structural level. Finally, in the emerging collective self, the women simultaneously embody elements that constrain their individual emancipatory impulses while trajecting them to potentially higher levels of consciousness as change agents. Their willingness to embrace a shared consciousness and their call for activism indicate a shift towards heightened collective consciousness. As they move from their individual subjugated selves to their heightened collective, transformed consciousness, they express a compelling desire for collective agency to challenge structural drivers of inequality and enact change at the systemic level. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.