Women continue to be underrepresented in superintendent roles in public schools. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of women superintendents regarding the professional and personal factors that impacted their ability to be promoted to the position of superintendent in Texas public school districts. I applied role congruity theory (RCT) to participants' shared stories to ascertain how their promotion to the superintendency was affected by gender-related role stereotypes. Based on that lens, my findings revealed that every woman believed both formal and informal mentorship and networking opportunities were critical factors in being promoted to the superintendency and their continued success in that role; they perceived they had control over deciding how to balance family and work-life, they agreed they needed to have a supportive family; they perceived that hard work was directly correlated to promotion to or success in the superintendency, more so than gender. While each of the women may have experienced gender-related issues in their career, none perceived that gender-related issues impacted their ability to be promoted. Most of my participants said the career path they followed was a factor, and suggested that other women should be strategic about which superintendent position they should accept. As a result of my findings, I make recommendations that should be offered to women who want to pursue the superintendency and for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1873841 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Cunningham, Shannon |
| Contributors | Sailors, Misty, Pazey, Barbara, Templeton, Tran, Acuna, Kym |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | ix, 158 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Cunningham, Shannon, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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