Education Commons^™

Meant To Lead: Women, Equity, And Education, Elise R. Ecoff

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Women are underrepresented in K-12 educational leadership roles in public, independent, and international school settings. Numerous research studies have interviewed women who have attained leadership roles and documented the obstacles and enablers to success. Consistently, women indicate that gender bias, a lack of mentors, few role models, the challenge of work-life balance, and limited training programs and resources inhibited their progress. Conversely, when those barriers were removed, many were able to thrive as educational leaders.

This case study design explored the challenges and enablers perceived by current female educational leaders in attaining and thriving in an educational leadership role. Further, …