Quest for Success: Ladder of School Leadership of Women in India

Abstract

School leadership in traditional and developing societies offers several challenges, especially for women. This article argues that women succeed in this area because of those very leadership values which they have drawn from their lives and are not limited to school leadership alone. They also make the most of this inherent advantage. For the purposes of this research a narrative form of inquiry has been adopted to study twenty women who head schools. Seven broad themes have emerged from the qualitative data analysis as well as from the path these women have traversed as school heads. This path consists of five stages—aspire, acquire, achieve, ascend and transcend. The research reveals that most leaders are independent, self-confident and fearless, yet cautious. They have built a foundation of trust powered by their agency. Familial support has also played an important role in shaping them as leaders. In fact, a few have moved beyond positional leadership roles, transcending the normative framework.

Keywords

Ladder of school leadership women leaders agency familial support gender

Introduction

Several existing studies state that women school leaders in traditional and developing societies are characterised by specific historical contexts such as monoculturalism of power (Blackmore, 1999), orthodox stereotypes (Fitzgerald, 2003), gender discrimination (Aslanargun, 2012; Shapira, Arar, & Azaiza, 2011) and a perception that school leadership is conventionally a male domain (Preciumantuntu & Bolt, 2012). Among women, there is also a lack of leadership preparation (Mutopa, Maphosa, & Shumba, 2006; Sperandio, 2007), discouragement of women to take up leadership roles (Gaus, 2011; Limerick & Lingard, 1995) and negative perception about women’s leadership roles (Makura, n.d.). These factors have caused an under-representation of women in leadership positions (Jane, Shalom, Bessie, & Daisy, 2010). But the reduced role of women could also be due to career breaks because of childcare, ethics of care (Popescu & Gunter, 2011), passive racism (Abu-Tineh, 2012) and even marginalisation of an ethnic minority (Lugg & Tooms, 2010).

In India, some studies have discussed the impact of social norms, family mores, social class, socialisation and caste on women’s career aspiration, choice of profession and income in the employment (Banerjee, 2002; Jandhyala, Mehrotra, & Ramachandran, 2014). A few other studies refer to women teachers in which women headmistresses (HMs) and principals are also included. For example, Nair (1988) in her study refers to ‘respectability’ as a factor that weakens the rise of women teachers in the education department and increases their occupational role. Women fall short of the required visibility and lack bargaining power as they hesitate to participate actively in professional organisations (Srivastava, 1997). The percentage of women as principals and designated HMs is lower than men although as vice principals their percentage is higher in India (Mythili, 2017). Family is an important structure that is directly responsible for the career choice of a woman and its realisation which stays resilient through the choices of women and challenges they face along to create a strong work ethic and behaviour (Shenoy-Parker, 2014). In contrast, women are typically characterised by a lower socio-economic status especially after marriage and becoming a teacher is a powerful way to participate in the community, as observed in the interior parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan (Kirk & Winthrop, 2008).

Women succeed as school leaders because they naturally prefer relationship and consensus building, motivating others and are considerate of individual differences (Cubillo & Brown, 2003); they are by nature democratic and have transformational leadership styles (Trinidad & Normore, 2005) and they try to achieve a balance between conforming to dominant attitudes and resisting patriarchy (Ashraf, 2008). Other studies say they have a managerial ability, and although they repress personal emotions in the early stage of their careers, they change during their mid-careers and become self-confident individuals, experiencing a sense of relief in their work (Arar, 2017).

The studies briefly referred to above describe women’s struggles with gender stereotypes and discrimination as well as their successes while traversing the path of school leadership. However, these studies shed little light on the process by which women succeed as leaders, and the road they traverse during their life’s course. So the core meaning of school leadership for women is not addressed satisfactorily. The article argues that women succeed because they practise those leadership values that they have drawn from their own larger lives and make the most of their inherent capacity. They choose to do so because it yields positive results and with a sense of achievement rather than perpetually fighting against gender stereotypes and discrimination. Therefore, the question one has raised is what is the path that women school heads traverse to succeed as leaders in India?

In the following sections, the study develops a multidisciplinary theoretical perspective for studying school leadership of women through methodology, narratives, agency of women and the emerging pattern of the path traversed by women school heads. In the end, the meaning of school leadership of women is defined.

Theoretical Perspective on School Leadership of Women

Human development takes place across the entire ecological system which is organised into five subsystems—micro-, meso-, exo-, macro- and crono-systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). It is a complex relationship characterised by deeper interactions between people and processes, structures and agency, subsystems and systems. It signifies the importance of recognising specific groups of people having social structure power, some of whom are entities or wholes with causal powers or emergent properties distinct from human individuals (Elder Vass, 2010). Yet, these groups also depend on the contributions of the human individual. From this perspective, structures shape social practices and institutions that officially sanction, and enforce those practices (Ostrom, 1986) setting a historical context to operate at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels that are interdependent (Everett & Charlton, 2014). They empower or constrain social actions and tend to be reproduced by social actions (Sewell, 1992, p. 19).

Aspirations, self-concepts, attainment forms and development inform the ways in which women exercises their agency interacting with different structures. These structures and women’s agency have interlinkages between structural constraints and individual values on the one hand, and attitudes, capabilities, experiences, career choices and development on the other (Schoon & Eccles, 2014). The agency of individuals responds to the environment defined by value-motivated actions of individuals by accommodating them to existing rules and norms (Stromquist, 2015). It is a reflective and regulated thought, and skills at one’s command and other tools of influence affect choice and support the selected course of action (Bandura, 1982, p. 1182). It is especially promising when it involves different forms of resistance to existing structures (Stromquist, 2015).

According to the life course’s theory, human development takes place in changing socio-historical contexts where the context not merely provides the setting in which individual lives are lived but through its interaction, the individual is part of a formative process that makes people who they are (Elder, Johnson, & Crosnoe, 2004). Individual lives, lived through repeating and multiple social and relational contexts, over time tend to accumulate during the life course resulting in substantially different pathways and outcomes for both men and women (Ridgeway & Correll, 2004). Bronfenbrenner (1994) describes the process of human development as one that takes place through a process of progressively more complex, reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects and symbols in its immediate environment throughout the life course. The form, content, power and direction of the developmental processes vary systematically as a joint function of the characteristics of the developing person, immediate and remote environment wherein processes take place, and nature of developmental outcomes.

Research shows that women have significantly different perceptions and beliefs in their occupational choices and attainments especially related to skills, competencies, personal values and subjective importance attached to values and goals from that of men (Eccles, 2009). This is not only due to the social reproduction of gendered perception regarding capabilities and interests arising from differential socialisation processes from that of men but also due to the equally important goals for their lives (Eccles, 2009). Vocational anticipatory socialisation in a family influences women’s careers (Jablin, 1985). Female managers use their educational background as a tool to empower themselves (Zikhali & Perumal, 2016).

Occupational sex segregation and job-level sex segregation affect the types of work women do (Ryle, 2015). Occupational sex segregation means the concentration of men and women in different occupations as done in census surveys. Job-level sex segregation refers to specific positions that workers hold within specific establishments that allow distinctions between different types of companies with respect to the nature of jobs carried out (Ryle, 2015, p. 377). While socialisation explains sex segregation shaping women about their choices at the individual level, social learning explains how women are changing their preferences by responding to changes in gender roles, that is, choosing jobs that are less typically defined as women’s work (Ryle, 2015, p. 390). The multilayered aspects of women’s working lives, seeped in internally juxtaposed discourses, are a new normal for Indian working women—a multidirectional process characterised by active involvement, reciprocation and continuous renegotiation (Shenoy-Parker, 2014, p. 64).

Methodology

Sample

A case study of twenty women school heads working in ten states of India has been carried out. The rationale for choosing the women school heads is twofold. First, they must be working as school heads in designated leadership positions at elementary, secondary or senior secondary government schools. Second, they should have been nominated by their respective state’s departments of education to undergo a one-month certificate course in school leadership development programme (SLDP) which is conducted at the national level in June 2014 by the National Centre for School Leadership (NCSL) at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. Or they should have been members of a state resource group for SLDP in their respective states. These nominations to the national level are done by the respective state governments based on the performance to improve schools, unique contributions and student learning as well as having a proven record of excellence at least for some length of time.

Basic Profiles of Women School Leaders

Five women school heads are from Delhi, two from Rajasthan, three from Madhya Pradesh, two from Haryana and two from Uttar Pradesh, four from Telangana and one each from Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh. Of the twenty, ten women possess more than one Master’s degree. Three of them have a PhD degree and remaining four, one Master's degree. All possess BEd qualifications. Six have been directly recruited through a competitive examination for the principal's post conducted by the Union/State Public Service Commission. Of those selected, two have worked in private schools earlier and others are working in government schools as teachers. The remaining women have been promoted as school heads based on seniority according to the norms followed by the respective state governments. At the time of the interview, women from Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh were school heads at the elementary level and others at secondary and senior secondary levels. One of them is a widow and another woman is unmarried. The husbands of these women are engaged in diverse occupations (Box 1)).

Box 1.

Basic Profiles of Women School Heads

Profile Categories	No. of Women
States which women school heads represented	Delhi—5; Rajasthan—2; Madhya Pradesh—3; Telangana—4 Haryana and Uttar Pradesh—2 each Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh—1 each
Age of women school heads	Between 32 years and 53 years.
Marital status	All married except one from Madhya Pradesh.
Profiles of husbands	Computer business—1 Other business—1 Company secretaries—1 Doctors—2 Pilot—1 Engineer—3 Sales agent in life insurance company—1 School teacher—1 Lecturers in undergraduate colleges—5 Not known—1 Government official—1 Not alive—2
Qualification	Graduation with BEd—2 One Master’s degree with BEd—4 Double Master’s degree—10 PhD —4
Direct selection to school head’s position through public service commission examination or UPSC.	6 (2 from private schools and 4 from government schools)
Seniority-based promotion as school heads	14 (2 at elementary level and remaining at secondary and senior secondary levels).
Average experience of the group as school heads	6.5 years (ranges from 4 years to 20 years).

Source: The author.

Method of Data Collection

Focus group interviews have been held to collect data. Questionnaires have been used to collect basic profiles and a semi-structured questionnaire used to collect the data on the individual leadership practices of women school heads. Open-ended, free-flowing questions spontaneously emerged during the interviews adding richness to the data, though the sessions began with formal questions.

Method of Analysis

A narrative inquiry has been used in studying school leadership of women. Six themes have emerged from the qualitative data based on which narratives are developed, namely, the educational background of the family; familial support; balancing resilience and determination; leading school administration, management and academic functions; gender: is it a notion or experience; and zeal beyond school leadership and irrespective of gender. The analysis involves identifying synchronic relationships, explicating subtle contradictions, overwhelming complexity and inherent challenges due to interaction between different groups of people across different structures and agency of women as a school leader. A narrative inquiry gives an indication to the path traversed by the women school heads as the emergent pattern.

The school leadership of women is defined with reference to an Indian context. It is conceptualised using the phrase ‘not only…but also’. This juxtaposes contrasts, contradictions and varying manifestations of leadership roles by women school heads as lived realities to effectively present paradoxes, it attempts to go beyond the binaries in defining school leadership for women in the Indian context.

Narratives

Educational Background of the Family

Looking at family backgrounds, we see that three mothers of the school heads are graduates with BEd degrees and two others also have the same degree along with a double post-graduation. All have retired as teachers from government schools. Twelve mothers of other women school heads are graduates. Most fathers too are well qualified and are graduates, post-graduates, engineers or PhDs. One was an artist (not alive now) and served as the director of the State Handicrafts Emporium in Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, even in the husband’s family of women school heads, most fathers-in-law possess higher degrees and have retired from government service as officers and professionals. Of the lot, three mothers and two mothers-in-law have not been schooled.

Familial Support

Employed mothers and educated mothers who are homemakers seem to be an important source of inspiration for their daughters. These mothers aspire for that their daughters are well-educated, employed, career-oriented professionals, in short, self-reliant individuals. They naturally have provided their daughters the necessary exposure to observe, learn and aspire to have a career from a young age. Mothers and their families who live in urban areas did not insist that their daughters do household work. As one of them said: ‘I never went to the kitchen until I got married. My mother used to say cooking is a duty that naturally comes to women after marriage’. Irrespective of gender, it is necessary for all family members to be involved in manual labour in rural areas since their main occupation is agriculture. This activity demands high physical labour, irrespective of gender. Despite this, parents encourage their children receive a higher education, formal employment and even migrate to urban areas.

All the women who have been interviewed considered that encouragement and support from parents is crucial for them to achieve higher professional goals. They admit that they continue to seek support and inspiration from their parents. Their parents also emphasise that by giving their daughters a ‘good’ education they will get ‘government jobs’. The youngest school head from Rajasthan said, ‘My mother is my greatest inspiration… My maternal grandfather was a highly progressive man. He always used to say that I should become a lecturer’. Interviewees also said that the absence of formal education of their mothers and mothers-in-law did not mean a lack of awareness about the importance of formal education. These mothers supported their sons and daughters to study and get employed as they correctly recognised the upward mobility, confidence and independence that comes with education. They encourage educating their children despite facing hardships. This is especially evident in the case of a school head from Himachal Pradesh who narrates her tale:

When I was nine-years old, my mother asked me to leave the home secretly and go to maternal uncle’s house in another village to continue schooling. My father was preparing to get me married to a man who was much older to me. I walked alone in the cold winter for three days before reaching my maternal uncle’s home.¹

Parental support extends beyond the potential of employment. These parents inspire and support their daughters even after marriage, helping them cope with changes in life’s circumstances by providing childcare support, guidance in the family matters and emotional succour. They also give professional advice on how to address challenges at the workplace. One of them echoes what most women felt deeply from within: ‘We are able to perform well because of the support of our parents, husband and maids’.

Support from their husbands is equally crucial in the careers of the women as school heads. On a number of occasions during the interview, they invariably refer to the professional and emotional support, encouragement and cooperation given by their husbands. The nature of support includes identifying their strengths, taking initiatives in filling application forms, completing necessary procedures and ensuring that formalities for their candidature are according to the required norms. Husbands, in the case of the women from Rajasthan, even did household chores providing free time for their wives to prepare for examinations for the school head’s post. The husbands of the two women in Haryana even encouraged their middle-aged wives to take up careers now that their children were grown up and there was a certain stability at home. These women narrate the support they have received: ‘My husband encouraged me to write the Public Service Commission examination for a Grade-I officer’s post …he got the application form, filled it, brought me a smart phone and taught me to use it’. ‘When I was married, I was only 16 years… “Saar” (husband) encouraged me to continue studying. I completed graduation, did my DEd and joined the government as a school teacher’. ‘When there are critical issues in the school, I discuss them with my husband before taking a decision’.

The narratives in the context of Indian women school heads reiterate findings that although their lives are lived interdependently, their individual experiences with the lives of their significant others are connected (Elder, 1999). These significant others regulate and shape the timings of life trajectories through a network of informal control (Elder, 1998), transmit values and beliefs, influence aspirations and engagement of certain activities, provide choice options through the information and experiences, act as role models that shape women’s views on how best to integrate work and family obligations (Eccles, 2009). Thereby, significant others influence the perception of self-concept of women. In South Asia, women enter education and teaching initially with male support and not as contenders to men (Nair, 1988).

How women translate familial support in their schools while leading, administering and managing people and processes is as important as the support.

Balancing Resilience and Determination

Achieving school leadership positions through direct recruitment conducted by their respective state’s public service commission means an important milestone has been reached with a sense of self-worth, recognition and pride for the women from Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana. In Sikkim, this has been achieved through an interview and selection process. For women from Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, it is through seniority-based promotion. The fact that they are nominated members of state resource groups for leadership development or to undergo a national level, one-month certificate course, and are involved in many other quality improvement programmes under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Rashtria Madhyamik Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in their states is a proof of recognition of their merit.

Younger school heads working among older teachers in their new posting as Grade I officers face more challenges, pseudo-threats, unnecessary interference and even external pressure from their colleagues in the school. Being younger and with younger children, some women struggle more than others. During this crucial juncture, emotional and moral support from parents and childcare support is vital for gaining a work-life balance. For a few women, their husbands fill this space more than the parents boosting their confidence and conviction. This has a dual significance of working efficiently and using rules as a safety net in the workplace. This situation is aptly reflected in the response of women HM from Rajasthan to the local MLA. Because of a complaint by her male colleague, she was asked to meet the local MLA. She said, ‘Nobody could do anything against me; I acted as per rules’. Women seem to adopt control mechanisms more readily to cope with ‘routine stress’ and defuse conflicts by not displaying anger (Ozga, 1993). In contrast, women school heads in Delhi feel that some officers do recognise merit over gender, give opportunities to work beyond prescribed roles and are willing to exploit knowledge, skills and experience of high performers. They feel that recognition comes to them quickly and they enjoy being privileged leaders. Therefore, performance accomplishments, verbal persuasion, vicarious learning and psychological states forge an individual’s self-efficacy (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002).

Perhaps, some women heads do not directly attempt to alter practices or question gender stereotypes at the workplace even though they understand the apathy arising from it. They accept a leadership position without any expectation from their colleagues or officials, but try to address gender stereotypes mostly by relying on the support of husband and parents. However, few women HMs have tried to alter established practices and notions wherever possible mostly by way of increasing their visibility and suitably positioning their achievements at the higher levels of the education system. Some have a leadership role at the zonal level conducting mega events. What matters more for these women is the extent of independence they enjoy in their families and in the education system so that they can accomplish their goals. Their ability to address issues in the workplace is dependent on the modernity, urbanisation and sociocultural context of the family. Underneath all these challenges, one sees an ambition to grow professionally and excel as leaders as is evident in the interactions. Women working as secondary school principals exhibit more upward mobility, an egalitarian outlook and a higher occupational role commitment (Nair, 1998).

Challenges are neither uniform nor specific to schools. They may arise from the community creating situations which are beyond the control of these women. For example, the inability to address the issue of child marriage resulting in young girls dropping out from schools or of poverty are issues that impact school attendance in Rajasthan, or the non-cooperation by the community in Bhopal which deeply impacts the leadership role of these women. While the Rajasthan leaders express grief and a sense of helplessness on the issue of child marriage, the principal in Bhopal faces the community fearlessly. The manner in which women perceive and address these challenges is influenced by the confidence arising out of professional competence and one’s own gender notions. Sources of emotional stress are related to the plight of children; stereotypical gender expectations; lack of cooperation; and unrealistic professional and social expectations (Zikhali & Perumal, 2016). Nevertheless, individuals (women) are never trapped by power but modify its hold following precise strategies (Foucault, 1978). In this way, women as school heads try to balance their attitudes between resilience and determination as school heads. But school administration and academic functions require a different set of skills and attitudes requiring professional competence, knowledge and practice.

Leading School Administration, Management and Academic Functions

Most women leaders insist on efficient school administration and management as well as an effective academic thrust. It is perceived to be correct when they adhere to rules, regulations and execute orders received from higher officers. They prefer to think diligently, explore alternate possibilities, apply rules and take time to exercise correct choices in decision-making and using authority.

Being transparent, tactful and tacit, they also try to strike a balance with subordinates, and between primary/elementary and secondary levels teachers to build a cordial human relationship with colleagues and so on. One of them said, ‘I even “cook up” stories to stop clashes between teachers in primary and high school sections’. In managing people and their duties, these leaders often refer to popular approaches such as caring, nurturing and building good relationships with colleagues, influencing children, role modelling and good planning in school. One of them expresses the manner in which they use diligence and diplomacy, ‘Though we do not like to impose, we have to project ourselves in that way to get the work done’.

While taking decisions, they adopt different approaches such as compromise, issue circulars or enforce order depending on the circumstances. They exercise caution in executing administrative and management duties. One of them expressed succinctly, ‘I do not take decisions in a hurry I cannot be influenced by others. I discuss with all. I explore correct choices before taking a decision. Knowledge makes a difference [here]. If there is knowledge, then there is no problem’.

Willingness to stay in the school for the full working day or even stay beyond school hours is crucial for school heads to complete the task. They teach students, often observe other classroom, solve problems, maintain good relationships with the community, insist on teaching, examine student achievement, teacher quality, teaching–learning processes and so on. Most HMs stay within the school to ensure an effective school administration and management.

Gender: Is it a Notion or an Experience?

The experience of gender discrimination varies among women from none to ignore the gendered notions. They respond to the question in diverse ways: ‘What is the experience of gender bias when the work is the same for both for men and women? It is defined by roles, responsibilities and job charts issued by the department’. ‘There is no problem at all’. While listening to a younger HM’s description about gender discrimination at her workplace, an older one reacts in a low voice. ‘Being young she feels it more. It is also to do with age and maturity. Actually, there is not so much gender bias. It is also to do with her perception’. Principals from Delhi said that there is no gender bias against women. In their opinion, women are the preferred choice to undertake higher responsibilities by the education department.

Some women prefer to avoid confrontation with male officers because of the latter’s strong patriarchal mindsets. It is a difficult barrier to deal with. The degree to which these tensions are experienced also varies, from acute to nil. School heads maintain certain emotions and at times act out certain emotions that excavate unexpected outcomes through surface acting, or faking of emotions (Zammuner & Galli, 2005, p. 356). For example, the HM from Rajasthan who has faced the local MLA boldly to defend herself against allegations made by a teacher in her school acts timidly and keeps silent in front of her male officers. She fears that they may issue notice against her or suspend her from her job. In contrast, women principals in Delhi, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh feel that many male officers are friendly and cooperative.

School heads in Telangana hold the view that teaching is a ‘family-friendly profession’ most suitable for ‘the ladies’. For them, husbands can be in the teaching profession but more at the college/university level. As wives, they prefer to work in elementary or secondary schools. The tension is essentially between being ‘good women’ and a ‘good leader’, and being a ‘good’ feminist and a ‘bad’ feminist (Blackmore, 1999). It may be a ‘self-styled response’ arising from deep acting, pumping up the actions to actually feel the required one (Zammuner & Galli, 2005, p. 356).

Zeal Beyond School Leadership, Irrespective of Gender

Despite gender notions experienced and challenges faced, merits reaped and social mobility enjoyed, something more than mere leadership is displayed by a rare few women. The role of a school head is considered as a means to fulfil a greater purpose in life, making a significant difference to their role as leaders.

For women school heads working in the remote high altitude hilly areas of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, teaching is a ‘social service’. One appeals to her audience, ‘If you want to do social service, don’t get married’. For her, the strongest support and inspiration came from her illiterate mother who was able to avoid the child marriage of her daughter at the very young age of nine. The teacher now freely hosts a number of young children at her home during winter vacation and prepares them for an entrance examination to get admission in one of the best secondary schools in the country meant for meritorious children from rural areas, namely Navodaya Vidyalaya. At the other end of the Himalayas, in Sikkim, another woman leader voices a similar dictum, ‘If you love children and love teaching them then, don’t get married’. She won a state award for improving the school in remote high altitude regions of the Himalayan range.

In Madhya Pradesh, one principal considered working as a school head the ‘a project’ of her life. Her school is located in a communally sensitive area and she faces threats, non-cooperation, power politics and gender discrimination almost on a daily basis. She refuses to take a transfer from this school as she feels that this amounts to running away from responsibility and a failure to manage her school efficiently. A different dimension of zeal is visible from a Delhi school principal who enjoys a somewhat high public recognition. She is working without thinking, she says, whether she is a man or woman. Three other principals currently working in different Delhi’s government schools have moved up the ladder to lead zonal level, mega-competitions and also other events in sports, games, cultural and literary activities. When asked whether they experience any gender discrimination or stereotypes, they reply negatively. Having achieved high visibility in the system, they say, ‘That’s the privilege we enjoy…we don’t mind working a little extra’. These leaders exercise prevention and promotion, focussed leadership behaviours (Vial, Napier, & Brescoll, 2016) which may be universal or culturally congruent (Richard, Dhanaraj, Javindan, & Zhi-Xue Zhang, 2015).

Understanding the context, complexities and advantages to navigate through different structures for moving beyond gender barriers and systemic constraints calls for a deeper analysis of women’s agency.

Agency of Women Leaders

Women school heads considered in the study are permanent employees in the government’s department of education. This means they undertake school leadership roles on a fairly regular basis over an extended period of time with stability and well-defined set of roles and responsibilities. They are engaged in a variety of activities such as leading, managing, administering, teaching, negotiating and so on. As they advance over the years, their understanding about school leadership has also changed substantially.

Exercising agency also differs from woman to woman depending on circumstances, motivation, focus and competence. Women leaders exploit social challenges, geographical threats, traditional practices, ignorance and awareness of parents for exploring, manipulating, elaborating and imagining. In doing so, the women expand their knowledge, skills, practices and aptitude for leading schools. The one who has lead the school successfully for 20 years in Delhi now reflects on the need for practising leadership values, perseverance, ignoring gender biases and staying focussed:

I did not think whether I was a man or women. I went on working even though the school management has mostly men as its members. I can tell you what one should do to deliver results and fulfil the expectations of management, parents and community.

The women have navigated and negotiated challenges covertly or overtly to succeed as school leaders. For example, a HM from Delhi narrates on how practising leadership by being a role model in a boys’ school she is able to convince men teachers who form the majority in the school. It helps in developing their trust to a high level, she says. So that even after she has been transferred to another school, these men teachers extend their help whenever she requires it. This reciprocity with people has developed confidence in her leadership abilities. She has adapted this style in the different schools she has been transferred to.

The woman from Himachal Pradesh says that when she was transferred to Lahaul Spiti on a promotion, she accepted the challenge. It is a difficult terrain, located at a height of 12,000 feet in the Himalayas. Cut-off from the rest of the world during winters even men teachers are not ready to go here but she decided to accept her transfer and to go as cluster school head and emerged successful. Every year, five to ten children get admission to Navodaya Vidyalaya schools under her guidance. Designing unique teaching methods, using dance and songs to teach the alphabet and words to Children with Special Needs (CWSN) students while leading small schools is another of her leadership initiatives. Life has been full of challenges. Pursuing a BA degree after marriage was not easy as her husband threatened to divorce her. She says: ‘I had to wait for 20 years to fulfil my dream. I got my B.A. degree in the same year when my daughter got her engineering degree’. For Sikkim’s HM, it is all about adopting disaster management techniques when the earthquake hit India and Nepal in 2011–2012, motivating parents and School Management Committees to ensure that children attend school and that the school continues to function as before. Adapting to geographical challenges is another way of doing leadership in geographically challenged areas.

Narratives in this study indicate that women navigate through orthodox stereotypes, gender discrimination and backlash from colleagues, community members and/or education officers. In traditional communities of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, they deal with non-cooperation, resistance to accept change, inadequate cooperation more than those in other states. When the charge is not officially handed over to the woman principal by the male principal in UP, she feels that she would rather assert her claim silently. His non-cooperation is amplified more when the higher authorities do very little to resolve it. But the principal silently continues her work in the school. Her students receive INSPIRE awards for innovations at the district level conducted by NCERT and she has gone on to improve students’ pass results. Similarly, the HM from Bhopal has endured communally sensitive situations on a daily basis. She has been able to convert this into positive pressure for achieving good results in the school in terms of a high pass percentage of students scoring a good grade in the Class X Board Examinations. The two HMs from Haryana have appeared for an examination conducted to recruit school heads directly after they reach a certain level of stability in life. They have been able to balance their family obligations and demands of the workplace. In this way, women have exercised their agency and have interpreted their role in diverse ways deeply influenced by values drawn from larger life. They interpret their leadership activities/responsibilities as ‘social service’ and ‘love for the child’, ‘opportunity as a privilege to be enjoyed’ and as a ‘project of her life’.

Women have passed through several stages over time from seeking parental and family support to become self-reliant discovering their strengths, exploring opportunities and choosing their own path to traverse as leaders. They squeezed out opportunities amidst challenges, develop powers to assert silently amidst non-cooperation and take risks. They bring changes in their perspectives, knowledge, skills and abilities about school leadership and negotiate challenges as leaders. Family, school, education system and community patterns the school leadership of women in which different actors, including parents and husband influence the construction of socio-educational reality for women leaders in Indian context.

In and through these processes, women focus on developing knowledge, skills, abilities drawn from experiences which get accumulated and evolve with varying paces and levels. This arises from variations in beliefs, values and inherent capacities. Due to this, the nature of agency also differs from one to another. Different systems and structures affect the form, power, content and direction of their agency creating differential path trajectories for leading schools successfully. It emerges into a pattern called ‘ladder of school leadership for women’ in the Indian context.

The Ladder of School Leadership of Women

The emergent pattern of women school leaders is a school leadership continuum that comprises five stages—aspire, acquire, achieve, ascend and transcend—in the Indian context. These are briefly explained in their ascending order.

Aspire: In addition to personal aspiration, one’s family has a predominant role in influencing the aspiration of women to become school leaders. Inspired and supported by parents and husbands resulted in a collective aspiration to accomplish the goal; women negotiated between multiple roles and expectations of the family and the profession. Such support was critical for young women. Older women considered this as a means of self-actualisation having negotiated and settled with multiple roles and expectations. This is referred to as the first stage in the ladder.

Acquire: Women acquire their positions through direct recruitment by entering the open competition boldly to face the rigour of examinations and interviews conducted by state’s public service commission. They were ready to relocate to other cities/towns/rural areas to pursue their dreams as career seekers. A few others waited patiently making a choice or lack of it on account of their compulsions, preferences and/or opportunities available. They navigated their way through conflicting expectations and responsibilities between family and work, negotiated it diligently and waited to be promoted based on seniority. This is the second step in the ladder.

Achieve: As leaders, women practise many life skills such as negotiation, assertion, resilience, caution and diligence in responding to situations in the school. They work silently, prove positivity, neutralise sensitive situations, depoliticise complexity with an explicitly projected attitude, ‘all is well’, and refuse to heed to tension reiterating that ‘there is no problem’. They construct a safety net of shadow neutrality around them to gain acceptance from colleagues and higher officers yet problematise some situations wherever negotiations are possible. In all these dynamic interactions, a subtle tension exists between expectations of the education system and family, on the one hand, and realisation of personal goals, on the other, that tantamounts to building a strong determination balancing that of resilience to practise school leadership effectively. This is the third step in the ladder.

Ascend: Some ambitious women have crossed professional barriers and systemic constraints in addition to fulfilling demands of multiple roles and expectations as wives and mothers, with a sense of readiness to take up greater challenges, seek more opportunities and make dents in their careers, accentuated by a mix of intellectual capital in the family, core professional competencies and a people-centred approach. They try to ignore gender bias by neither encouraging patriarchy nor succumbing to a status quo veiled beneath women’s employment. The leadership values of these women are significantly different from what those in the second stage achieve who are yet to cross threshold levels of socio-cultural barriers, despite holding a leadership position to assert merit over gender-based choice, adopt a cautious approach while addressing covert and overt gender practices, raising the bar of excellence demonstrating confidence, maximising inherited social, cultural, financial and intellectual capitals inherited. They enrich these qualities through self-effort at work. These women leaders exercise their agency more conspicuously within the education system and the family in an attempt to excel as professionals, referred to as ascend the fourth stage in the ladder.

Transcend: A section of rare few women takes school leadership as a means to rise to higher realms of life, adopt an attitude of service before self, irrespective of different forms of family’s capitals, gradually transform themselves to visualise their leadership role as nothing else but serving the cause of children’s education using their positional advantage as school heads, deriving a sense of self-worth, fulfilment and confidence, respecting every opportunity available to surpass the boundaries of education system and family while working within the education system as school heads. In the quest for climbing the ladder of school leadership, women nurture and protect this process with care to gradually crossover the norm-based leadership arising from positional leadership roles and responsibilities. This is the fifth step in the ladder referred to as transcend.

The story of school leadership of women in the Indian context is about the refusal to submit meekly to gender stereotypes and discrimination, ignoring discrimination, facing challenges boldly and staying goal oriented to mediate different structures efficiently to ascend and transcend. It is more difficult to achieve higher level outcomes with the same degree of effort yielding smaller results at each successive step (Bronfenbrenner, 1994, p. 38).

Defining School Leadership of Women in the Indian Context

School leadership of women in the Indian context is defined not only about ‘doing’ leadership but also about the ‘knowledge’ which propels the very doing; not only about the ‘will’ to do but also the willingness to ‘give up’; not only about achievement under ‘favourable’ conditions but also to accomplish ‘in spite of’; not only about ownership but also the readiness to ‘let go’; not only about ‘problematising’ a situation but also looking ‘afresh’ with a hope into the future; not only about reward, recognition and merit but also about accepting limitations, under-recognition, mis-recognition, non-recognition and extra recognition; not only about ‘vertical growth’ creating followers, but also about ‘horizontal expansion’ working amidst people; not only about exercising the ‘power’ but also about ‘understanding’ the power of power; not only about ‘celebrating’ success, but also about ‘smiling’ at failures; not only about ‘experiencing’ encouragement, but also about developing ‘dispassion’ towards denial of opportunities.

School leadership for women in the Indian context refers to deriving a meaning for oneself by seeking an answer to what is worth doing as a school leader, exploiting the opportunities, understanding existing structures and their boundaries to lead schools leaping into higher realms of self-awareness through actions, practice, review, reflection and meta-cognition. It is an outward-inward movement of raising consciousness beyond the role of school leadership to embrace greater good traversing from aspiration to transcend the norm-based leadership using the very education system structure as a means with a moral purpose powered by agency.

Gender in school leadership of successful women in India is about acting independently, being fearless and self-confident. They built trust powered by their agency. There is also a peculiar admix of binaries. They exercise caution over fearlessness, practising masculinity and femininity, silently resist covert compulsions arising from patriarchy yet verbalise occasionally, use intuition over logic and make no distinction between personal and professional life at times depending on the situation and time.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Footnotes

Note

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