Abstract
This study examines two female principals in upper secondary schools and the development of their professional identities, focusing on schools in Sweden and Texas, USA. The study is part of a larger international research project with global conversations about what successful leadership means, and asks: in what ways do female secondary school principals’ professional identities inform equity issues in leadership with implications for recruitment, hiring, and evaluation practices? Using a feminist post-structural discourse analysis, the findings revealed that even when successful, female leaders in upper secondary schools can be evaluated negatively. These considerations relate to the way in which female principals are recruited, hired, and weighed when appraised, where their contributions may not be fully incorporated to establish equitable processes and procedures to sustain their success in educational leadership.
Introduction
In a recent principal preparation session, we asked future principals, many of whom were women, to reflect on the development of their leadership skills. The majority felt prepared, in terms of knowledge that informs practice. When asked about the development of their professional identities, one of them noted: “In order to have a vision, principals need to have a personal passion.” Everyone reflected on how their passion would translate into developing their identities as educational leaders.
As more women enter the profession of educational leadership, they are affected by a climate that may be nurturing or resisting in relation to their leadership. In the case of secondary schools in particular, equity issues often surface (Coleman, 2000; Hall and Southworth, 1997). Considering the low numbers of females in upper secondary schools, this study selected women leaders in successful schools to observe their professional identity development informing how equity issues related to recruitment, hiring, and evaluation practices.
Purpose
This study examines two female principals in upper secondary schools 1 and the development of their professional identities. Professional identity develops from individual self-concepts based on beliefs, values, motives, attributes, and experiences with others (Ibarra, 1999; Slay and Smith, 2011). Scribner and Crow (2012) define it as a way to understand “…what influences a leader’s behaviors and what drives a leader’s willingness and ability to take on and enact creative and effective leadership in a high-stakes, dynamic knowledge society” (p.245). Møller (2003, 2004) adds that professional identity connects one’s personal and professional arenas.
This study, which focuses on women leaders in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Texas, USA, is part of a larger international research project and global conversations about what successful leadership means. In this study we explore the following question: In what ways do female secondary school principals’ professional identities inform equity issues in leadership with implications for recruitment, hiring, and evaluation practices?
Rationale
The gender distribution of women in school leadership, especially in secondary schools, continues to be uneven in many countries (Blackmore, 2002; Coleman, 2000; Lee et al., 1993; Moorosi, 2010; Pont et al., 2008). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), for example, notes that, while women comprise the majority of teachers, they are underrepresented, especially in secondary school leadership (Pont et al., 2008: 30). This raises concerns in relation to how and if women are considered for leadership positions, and how they may be valued, mentored, or evaluated once in the position. Coleman (2003) describes school leadership as male-dominated and presents an apparent gender-free discourse where “gender does not seem to be considered an essential component of the discussion and classification of leadership theory in education” (p.326). However, she questions how a profession where women tend to numerically predominate in teaching, can carry assumptions that the sex of the individual is irrelevant when holding authority.
While a gender-free discourse allows for more focus on the technical aspects of leadership, such as adherence to state standards and accountability, Scribner and Crow (2012) perceive it as curtailing the value of the professional, including their motivation or commitment in improving schools, arguing that “What is glaringly missing is any mention of creativity, imagination, values beyond local adherence, ingenuity, social contribution, or civic engagement” (p.244). Hence, these scholars argue that gender-free policies do not necessarily mean gender-neutral practices (Bacchi, 1999; Møller, 2003; Reynolds, 2002).
The school principal is perceived as instrumental in providing a vision and mission in improving schools (Leithwood and Day, 2007), and several scholars express a concern related to a shortage of principal candidates (Gajda and Militello, 2008; Gronn and Rawling-Sanaei, 2003; Pounder and Crow, 2005). While the shortage of principals is often attributed to their increasingly complex role, the scholarship on women and educational leadership signals barriers from recruitment to stability, with gender issues not fully incorporated in relation to career barriers women encounter in secondary schools.
Arguably, in response to valuing professional capacity beyond technical skills, USA’s national standards for educational leaders, revised in 2015 by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) (e.g. previous ISSLC standards), have now included human relations terms beyond technical skills, including ethics, equity, and cultural responsiveness, building a community of care, and the engagement of families and community. In addition, the standards include student well-being. The inclusion of terms such as well-being were absent in early versions which emphasized technical skills and knowledge alone, and have now incorporated human considerations about students, teachers, and principals, similar to those found in the Ontario leadership standards (Murakami et al., 2014).
These considerations will hopefully make their way into the processes by which principals are recruited, hired, and evaluated, where gender-informed criteria are established. However, such initiatives can only occur when barriers are extensively researched and confirmed. This study contributes to the examination of values and motivators in the professional identity of female leaders in order to inform such processes. In the following section we provide an overview of the literature related to females in school leadership, and an examination of how gender influences the practices and career promotion of these principals.
Females in educational leadership
Research on women in leadership is robust and crosses international borders. Davis and Johansson (2005) and Franzén (2005) in Sweden, Blackmore (1989, 2002) in Australia, Reynolds (2002) in Canada, Møller (2003, 2004) in Norway, Coleman (2000, 2003, 2007), Cubillo and Brown (2003), Smith (2011) in the UK, Bruner (2000), and Grogan and Shakeshaft (2011) in the USA are but a few researchers who examine female leadership and practices. Reynolds (2002) recognizes the commonalities across countries and concludes that leadership shapes and is shaped by the development of a professional identity, including how the economic, political, and social context impact women and how their career paths differ from males.
When analyzing females’ development of professional identity, theories revealing gender inequalities in the field of educational leadership surface, since the field has been developed using male-generated theories, and with female leaders internalizing male perceptions within their identities (Blackmore, 1989; Coleman, 2000; Reynolds, 2002). The nature of professional identity is perceived as built upon the leaders’ upbringing and professional experiences. These experiences are based on gender in specific contexts, like family upbringing, experiences from their participation in society, as well as the multiple challenges within the principals’ work.
Challenges in the work of female secondary principals
Female upper secondary school principals confront male-dominated challenges, including overcoming stereotypes (Andersen, 2016), the effects of political circumstances (Coleman, 2007), and/or negative views of females in leadership (Smith, 2011). Andersen (2016) considered the current market-driven reform as colliding with principals’ values and beliefs. Her research included the UK, Australia, USA, Kuwait, Botswana, and Canada between 1980 and 2013, where “much of the increased complexity in secondary principals’ work has resulted from new rules and models for leadership practice and the requirement to implement mandated policy reforms” (p.690).
Tensions related to accountability vs. professional responsibility challenge the work of female secondary school principals, and affect the development of professional identities. The work of principals involves technical tasks, skills needed to manage tasks, and roles required to perform (Smulyan, 2000). Within this role, Smulyan argues, “The principal is one of many players affected by the interpersonal, political, and physical context within which she works” (p.10). Professional identity involves motivational drivers. Cunliffe and Eriksen (2011) defined this perspective as relational leadership—one that requires “a way of engaging with the world in which the leader holds herself/himself as always in relation with, and therefore morally accountable to others” (p.1425).
In relation to career progress, Grogan and Shakeshaft (2011) challenged us “to imagine the value of everyone leading like a woman” (p.2)—an approach that reflects what Coleman (2000) defined as “the female manager…studied in her own right” (p.14). Even though women demonstrate years of experience as teachers, and are the foundation for the preparation of children, including their own, they are not valued for such skills in the bureaucratic workplace or, moreover, the educational workplace. Assets women bring to schools include a “pupils first” philosophy as the strongest social justice leadership element (Smith, 2011), or the importance of work–life balance as mothers and wives (Bradbury and Gunter, 2006). Nonetheless, Bradbury and Gunter indicate how motherhood and school leadership are set in a flexible state, sometimes conflicting within female leaders’ dialogic identities. Such leadership cannot be perceived as the norm if it is made up of conflicting compromises—of what gives, in the sacrifice of leading schools. Smith recognized that there are less regarded values in analyzing the performance of women leaders, such as presenting a deeper understanding of children and families in the home, being perceived as tough but caring, having a people-oriented focus, and carrying personal and professional ethics adaptable to the local community. Hence, studies that objectify and bureaucratize the organization of schooling continue to raise ethics and equity concerns with regard to the contributions of women.
Gender and professional identities
Professional identity stems from developmental psychology, sociology, social psychology, philosophy, and administrative ethics (Caza and Creary, 2016; Pless, 2007). Pless’s (2007) work is particularly relevant for women leaders, since it relates to female leaders’ motivational systems. Pless focused on the individual’s inner theatre, showing how these motivational and internal drivers guide an individual’s ethics for “responsible leadership behavior and responsible action for social change” (p.438). Emotional and moral experiences beginning in childhood are seen as influencing leadership behavior. Kets de Vries (2004) similarly explored inner motivation as being established in infancy, and influencing behavior throughout an individual’s life cycle. Pless emphasized that the relational nature of leaders is a normative disposition developed under three basic needs: (a) justice, ethics, and morality; (b) recognition, respect, and value; and (c) a sense of care for self and others. These characteristics seem to be significant for school principals. Instrumental is the fact that leadership can be better understood when examining inner motivation coupled with interactions with others.
When observing motivational drives in professional identity, Hall and Southworth (1997), Møller (2003, 2004), Scribner and Crow (2012), and Crow et al. (2017) emphasize the importance of observing the individual’s passion, commitments, and shortcomings. Caza and Creary (2016) reflected that “when professional workers become identified with their profession, they will incorporate distinctive professional values and attitudes into their own self-identity as a result of that membership, and will enact the role expectations of their profession” (p.8). Hall and Southworth (1997) expand: Using a gender perspective creates new possibilities for exploring the lives of men and women who teach, manage and lead in education. As researchers into headship we have both concluded that educational leadership is firmly rooted in professional identity. Gender, in turn, is a crucial component of that identity. (p.167) School principals construct narratives within the context of their school communities, personal backgrounds, and historical settings, and these narratives are affirmed, rejected, or negotiated or even revised through interactions with others in the internal and external communities with whom they work. (p.9)
Female principals in Sweden and the USA
School leadership has been male-dominated in Sweden (Davis and Johansson, 2005; Franzén, 2005). The number of female leaders in Sweden in the 1980s was only 7 percent, while 60 percent were female teachers. Males were quickly promoted to leadership, while females stayed as teachers. In the 19th century females were only allowed to lead schools for girls. However, it was not until 1917 when the government allowed women to carry the title of principal (Söderberg Forslund, 2009). In 1958, the title of “Rektor” was adopted for public schools, independent of gender. In the 1960s, girls’ schools were closed and the public view about female leaders started changing. Whether the principal was a man or woman did not seem to matter, especially when the focus on school leadership was connected to democratic values.
A government proposition in 1987/1988, titled “Jämställdhetspolitiken inför 90-talet” (Equality politics for the 1990s), raised the number of females in state organizations. The proposition required that at least 20 percent of principals be female, and at least 30 percent of assistant principals be females (Regeringens proposition, 1987/1988: 105). As a result, the number of female leadership positions increased in the 1990s, while the government decentralized much of the educational responsibilities to the municipalities. With this reform, municipal school boards welcomed females into leadership positions (Davis and Johansson, 2005). Concurrently, preschools, first supervised by social services, were now incorporated into the public education sector, further increasing the number of female leaders in the municipalities. In 2015 there were over 5700 principals and 4900 preschool heads within the Swedish school system. Ninety-two percent of preschool heads and more than 60 percent of all principals in public and independent schools were occupied by women. Currently, 50 percent of 1174 secondary school principals in Sweden are female.
In the USA, women were seen as ideal in the role of teachers in the 19th century, mainly due to their “preponderance of affection over intellect” (Rousmaniere, 2013: 21). Educators followed a path from teacher to principal, with an over-representation of women in leadership positions in the early grades. The average tenure for women principals in one state between 1900 and 1930 was about five years.
Rousmaniere (2013) explains that a change in women’s leadership happened after 1944, with the adoption of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, known as the GI Bill. This Bill covered the cost of higher education for returning war veterans who were mostly men. Due to the Bill, 37 percent more males obtained a teacher’s degree in comparison to 18 percent of women in the mid-1960s, and twice as many males earned master’s degrees in education. A push from states requiring master’s degrees for school administration licensure dramatically restricted the opportunities for women. By 1970 only 20 percent of women were principals in elementary schools, and only 3 percent were employed in secondary schools. It was not until the 1990s that the representation of women in leadership began to increase again. There have been no specific requirements for the representation of women in school leadership positions.
Female principals in the USA now compose 52 percent of the workforce. From a total of 115,540 principals in public K-12 schools in 2012, 64 percent of females led public primary schools, 42 percent led middle schools, 30 percent led high schools, and 40 percent led combined schools (Bitterman et al., 2013). Thirty-two percent of 5079 female principals work in secondary schools (AskTED, 2014). The average age for female principals is between 48 and 52 years old. About 62 percent of these females hold master’s degrees and 10 percent hold doctorate degrees. The average number of years of experience among female principals is 7.2 years. These leadership experiences among women in these two countries motivates this examination. In the next section we expand on the methodological approach for this study.
Methods
The two female secondary school principals in the current study were part of the International Successful School Principals Project (International Successful School Principal Project (ISSPP), 2013), a research project with scholars in about 20 countries who develop cases of successful leadership (Gurr, 2015; ISSPP, 2013; Leithwood and Day, 2007). ISSPP scholars have generated more than 100 studies defining school success, and the impact principals have in different contexts, especially low-performing schools (Gurr, 2015; Leithwood and Day, 2007; Moos et al., 2011).
ISSPP cases are aggregated from different countries to generate a global understanding of leadership which generates school success. In addition to studies that highlight differences based on country-specific culture, styles, or customs, ISSPP cases have focused on global practices conducive to school improvement. Successful schools, in the project, are identified when: (a) students demonstrate above-satisfactory academic achievement; (b) teachers perceive the principal as performing above expectations in leading the school; and (c) parents and other stakeholders know the principal from successful actions and results. Gurr (2015) analyzed the majority of ISSPP cases to date, finding that successful principals demonstrate the following leadership characteristics: (a) high expectations; (b) pragmatic approaches; (c) core practices; (d) heroic leadership; (e) trust, respect, and capacity development through continuous learning and personal resources, and finally; (g) context sensitivity, resulting in sustained school success. These cases have been disseminated through publications in different countries and continue to generate dialogue about the school leader’s passion and influence in the transformation of schools. This current study adds a concern about gender and leadership to the ISSPP research.
Procedures
A feminist post-structural discourse analysis was employed. This is defined as “a feminist approach to analyzing the ways in which speakers negotiate their identities, relationships and positions in their world according to the ways in which they are located by competing yet interwoven discourses” (Baxter, 2003: 1). The approach equips researchers to “see through” the ambiguous “discursive contexts where females are located as simultaneously powerful and powerless” (Foucault, 1972: 32). Foucault’s point relates to revealing individual experiences in organizations through meaning, relationships, and “the construction of speakers’ subjectivities or identities” (p.8), especially when observing the impact of oppressive social processes. Interviews, observations, and documents were used in the investigation. Questions in the interview included: (a) Considering your professional identity as a secondary female leader, what images of the school leader role reflect what you believe, value, and do?; (b) How do you think teachers, students, parents, partners, supervisors view you in terms of what you do, value, and believe?; (c) What are the major values that motivate and influence your work?; (d) How do emotions influence your values, practices, and images of the role?; and (e) In what ways has gender influenced your development as a professional? Principals were interviewed twice in 60–90-minute sessions. One principal was interviewed after leading a successful school in Sweden for two years, and one in the USA after leading her school for six years.
Participants
Two female principals in secondary schools from Sweden and Texas, USA, were selected through a purposive sampling based on ISSPP criteria. The schools presented student academic achievement above the mean for municipality/district expectations, and supervisor/superintendent and/or teachers perceived the principal as successful based on actions and results. Here we present more details about the two participants:
Sweden
The principal in Sweden led a high-performing school with academic achievement above the national mean. Linda King (pseudonym), is an upper secondary school principal working in a municipality that reconfigured their public secondary schools (compulsory) using a small schools concept—popularized by Deborah Meier (2002), and a concept later supported in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Linda was previously a teacher in the UK and moved to Sweden in 1994. After one year as a teacher in a large secondary school in Sweden, she was invited to take leadership roles as a team leader, then assistant principal, and principal. Linda later became the first female principal of Anderson Gymnasium (pseudonym), and the second principal to lead one of three schools-within-a-school delivering an International Baccalaureate curricula in English with Swedish mandatory courses. She replaced a long-standing founding male principal with a school’s mission to prepare active and influential students in a globalized world.
Anderson Gymnasium is one of two upper secondary schools in the city and serves children from 16 to 19 years old. The school success is evidenced by a consistent body of 475 academically successful students, including IB1 and diploma students. The IB curriculum attracts families who are not permanent residents and come to the country for a limited period of time. Priority is given to expatriate families. Twenty-nine teachers work under Linda’s leadership. Anderson’s students achieve test scores above other high schools in the area, and are highly eligible for universities when compared to the national mean. The graduation rate was consistent in a span of five years when compared to similar schools in the country.
Texas, USA
Angela Reddick is the principal at Thomas Knight High School (pseudonym), a Class 6a school with large student enrollment (2100 students or more). Her experience as principal totaled nine years and she was the first female principal at Knight since its opening 50 years ago. Upper secondary schools in Texas had been reconfigured in 2014 in terms of football divisions, with the largest schools competing within other 6a schools. In the USA, football represents a large part of the interscholastic life, and mirrors all the traditions of college football.
Knight High School had 2133 students, with 31 percent of students classified as economically disadvantaged. The majority of students were Hispanic (52%). There was a total of 153 staff with 123 teachers. Thirty seven percent of teachers were male, and 63 percent of teachers were female. Located in a fast-growing town, the number of students was quickly rising as new families arrived in the city in search for jobs in the oil fields. Beyond demonstrated student achievement, the district recommendation and nomination by supervisors and colleagues were required.
Analysis
The analysis considered national differences in the acceptance of women in school leadership positions. Language and projection of images stemming from professional identity discourses were observed, knowing that “women leaders have to be more concerned with the impact of their language upon their professional colleagues than male leaders have to be, and consequently have [to develop] a range of linguistic strategies to counter negative judgements” (Baxter, 2009: 9).
Ethical considerations included one researcher from Sweden and one from the USA to assist in validating assumptions and problematizing our analysis of data. We considered the participants as case exemplars of successful school leadership but not as representatives that can be generalized to state or national contexts. A dialogical process (Gillespie and Cornish, 2009) considered implicit and explicit implications for potential application into recruitment, hiring, and evaluation practices. In the analysis first cycle we interpreted definitions (such as head teachers in Sweden, and principals in the USA). Subsequent cycles analyzed images and motivational drivers used to develop a professional identity. Trustworthiness was observed through disciplined subjectivity of assumptions and interpretation of data from different countries through a member-checking process to avoid possible biases.
Findings
The findings include three emergent themes from the examination of the two upper secondary principals in relation to leadership, performance, and professional growth: (a) leadership style, where principals talked about competency, professionalism, and ethical behavior; (b) professional identity and performance, where principals highlight the importance of having a sense of care for students, parents, and teachers; and (c) the development of women in leadership, where the principals referred to working towards recognition, respect, and value. We expand on the themes in this section.
A democratic leadership style: competency, professionalism, and ethical behavior
The principals centered their leadership style based on terms that included competency, professionalism, and ethical behavior. The participants showed democratic leadership, when considering Eagly and Johnson’s (1990) measure of women leaders as presenting a democratic style (as opposed to autocratic) where women encouraged participation and collaboration in decision-making. Interestingly, in Sweden, democracy is highly emphasized in society. However, in Texas, democracy is not necessarily a common word used to define civic participation. As an example of democratic leadership, Angela encouraged member participation in decisions: I would describe myself as a very collaborative leader. I involve all the people that want to be at the table making a decision. I am not the kind of person that if you disagree with me, I am going to be mad at you. I think people see that I am competent. I am not easily rattled. I think I present the composure people look for in relation to leadership skills. I believe I was hired because I show male-like qualities as a leader. I am very organized and operate at 100 miles an hour, thinking of how to make something better.
Angela included professionalism in her discourse, working hard to demonstrate a strong work ethic, and to project an image of reliability. She was soft spoken and courteous with students and faculty, and friendly and accessible with parents and students. She saw herself as a leader who others would follow. Her example related to teacher relations, which can threaten how principals are perceived. She talked about her previous female principal to explain her commitment to student improvement: People loved and hated that principal. She was very strict, very to the point—“Here is how we are going to do things.” But if you were ethical and did your job, she did not bother you at all. So the people who did not do their jobs did not like her. I understood the implications of being strict and ethical. That was actually the point in which I thought I might want to be a principal. I think it is important to attend sports and concerts, and when you’re there, the kids appreciate it and the teachers and band directors appreciate it but most importantly so do those parents. Therefore, later when you do have a difficult situation, parents know you care and know you’re invested in what you’re doing. You’re not just there for the title or for the position. So they approach you differently.
Professionalism in leadership included being attentive to meeting the needs of teachers, parents, and students for Linda. She saw professionalism as pedagogical: “I have to be able to be pedagogical, and explain things to the teachers in a way that they can understand the whole situation….” Values related to democratic or participatory leadership style were demonstrated, including notions of pedagogical leadership, and female qualities focused on competency, professionalism, and ethics as positively impacting schools.
Professional identity and performance: sense of care for students, parents, and teachers
When discussing the practice of their leadership, Angela and Linda voiced the importance of being authentic and guarding their integrity in areas in which principals are evaluated, each demonstrating examples of the importance of being direct and honest with their stakeholders. When analyzing performance, Pless (2007) argued that “responsible leadership is rooted in an ethics of care driven by a desire to serve others” (p.439). In this section we examine how performance is articulated in the women’s leadership. Even though these principals were successful and selected for their outstanding practices, they talked about threats to their integrity as impacting the development of their identities.
Angela and Linda recognized that their responsibilities to guide teachers was a priority when performing on behalf of the academic improvement of students. In Texas, teacher improvement is directly related to student improvement in accountability reports. Principals follow a process of teacher evaluation and growth plan. Angela reflected that teachers can influence how principals evaluate their performance: You always have those times where you have a teacher who does not see you as fair. And that is usually that teacher you have to put on a growth plan because they are not following anything they are supposed to do: Not following policy, not teaching students well. All of the sudden you are not fair and—“you are picking on me.”
Linda expanded on this experience to wonder about how this male teacher was treating mothers, grandmothers, and daughters in the school in relation to perpetuating negative images of women. She questioned if female students in the school felt respected, and how to educate them to be respected by adults.
Working with women generated similar challenges for Angela, who found that some perceived her as a competitor. She did not see this behavior among males: Because they don’t have to. It is a football idea. When males play football, they are against each other, but then they get up and they are friends. Women are not friends, and they do not have that sportsmanship attitude. They are not afforded space to be collegial to supervisors at work. For the first few years when you become a principal you are just so amenable to everything. After so many years of experience, you can more clearly express your expectations. When parents alert about issues non-conducive to student improvement, I am more direct: “No, here is how we do it and here is why we do it. If you have any more questions let me know….” Parents believe I can grant students leave of absence for family celebrations. But as the school head, I cannot excuse a student from not fulfilling his or her academic duty or excuse the student from learning what they have missed. If I say no, I show the parent that it is their responsibility for missing, and catching up on what they missed. It would be unfair to create a criterion to determine whether an anniversary or a family celebration merits an excuse when the responsibility is that students need to be here to develop academically.
Leadership development: working towards recognition, respect, and value
When focusing on professional development, the principals’ discourse involved awareness of their representation as females. Their reflections about women at home, school, work, and society provide direction for career stability and job satisfaction. The principals expressed the development of women in leadership in relation to individual and public recognition, where respect, and value for young and adult females, is lacking. In Texas, female upper secondary school principals have the lowest retention in the position when compared to males and females in all other school levels (Fuller and Young, 2009). In the state, just over 50 percent of newly hired principals stay for three years and less than 30 percent stay for five years.
Angela was in her sixth year as a principal at Knight High School and reported the importance of mentorship and support among supervisors. In her district/municipality, the salary compensation for program supervisors (i.e. directors of programs) and high school principals were at the same pay scale. Thus, program directors who supervised programs competed for visibility. She found it harder to receive mentoring, especially when the directors were female: It is a bit related to where historically males are the ones to be respected, and there is a competition for women to have visibility. The environment is male-oriented at the superintendency level. Then, as a co-worker you become a competition and not really a collaborator. There is no way for you to have a relationship if the person is focused on competition. I have never been asked “Is it harder for you to be a principal as a female?” It is not hard to be a principal. It is harder to deal with unsupportive co-worker relations. There are fewer colleagues to build a relationship when there is only one other upper secondary school in town led by a male. It is common to hear about the male principal something like “Oh, what a good principal!” and it is also common to hear about female principals something like, “Who does she think she is?!”
Crow et al. (2017) argue that principals are developing an identity as they interpret and act upon dynamic patterns of negotiating policies, exercising their authority based on past and future projections. Angela demonstrated this idea and felt she was breaking historical barriers even when in dialogue with her mother: When I was working on my principal certification my mother asked, “Are you going to be an elementary [primary] principal?” I said Mom, I have never even taught elementary, why would I be an elementary principal?” “Well because you are a female.” I said, no Mom, I am not going to be an elementary principal, because I do not know anything about elementary. But in her mind, that is what females did, they were elementary principals.
Angela perceived that effectiveness had to be demonstrated in spite of public gender perceptions. She described the struggle of being a mother and wife while building a career as a leader, not only from the family point of view, but from the expectations from others. For example, she talked about societal perceptions of girls. She recounted: There was something on the news the other day. It said we teach little girls not to be bossy. A lot of times we are taking away leadership skills from girls. It said little girls are not supposed to be bossy but submissive and cute.
Linda also perceived that leadership is less assessed in relation to care and more about responsibility. When becoming the principal of the same school where she was a teacher, she perceived that the job required her to change from an ethic of care to effectiveness: I thought I was going to be a great colleague and help teachers have a great job when I became the principal—but my focus quickly moved to making sure that students here had a good experience—much more than ensuring that teachers had a good job. It was a process I had to go through of seeing things more from the students’ success point of view.
Discussion
This study considered the participation of females in school leadership and their development of professional identities by asking: in what ways do the development of female secondary school principals’ professional identities inform equity issues related to recruitment, hiring, and evaluation practices? As a democratic society, Sweden is recognized for providing equal opportunities for both women and men. Nonetheless, we found a successful upper secondary female principal still challenged about her performance. A framework including considerations related to the development of female leadership based on this study is offered in Figure 1 which summarizes the experiences of these upper secondary leaders.

Development of professional identities of female upper secondary school principals.
The model summarizes that among participants in this study, the development of professional identities was informed by root experiences from family, mentors, and coworkers, and by country-specific policies and expectations. These elements inform females considering leadership positions, and in this study of what is perceived as a non-traditional position in upper secondary schools. In their positions, performance was dependent on a different set of country-specific values and expectations, more specifically, stemming from adults such as teachers, supervisors, and parents. These interactions included low regard to the talents of women, low perceptions of efficacy, low support from peers, and low support from mentors, even though the principals were successful in their leadership. Based on these experiences, the development of professional identities included images and discourses focused on demonstrated knowledge, justice, integrity, morality, ethics, recognition, respect, values, and sense of care for students, parents, and teachers, as forming their leadership. When focusing on equity in a traditionally male-dominated position, Eagly and Johnson (1990) indicate a different leadership style presented by females when compared to males: Specifically, the tendencies for female leaders to be more interpersonally oriented and more democratic than male leaders weakens to the extent that a role is male dominated. Thus, when women were quite rare in leadership roles and therefore tended to have the status of token in organizations or groups, they abandoned stereotypically feminine styles characterized by concern for the morale and welfare of people in the work setting and consideration of these people’s views when making decisions. (p.248) there is a social dynamic in the development and distribution of leadership and power in schools, and these elements do not emerge in a gender-neutral environment. Not only is the gender of the leader of critical importance; so is the gender of the follower. (p. 153) Women principals are less typically managers than active participants in the daily business of schools. The participatory management style of women may threaten the autonomy teachers (especially male teachers) have come to value as an integral part of their jobs. (p.171)
In evaluating the performance of women leaders, Lee et al. (1993) asserted that “teachers’ subjective assessments of the effectiveness of their principal’s leadership may vary greatly, even within the same school, depending on the gender of the teacher and his or her principal” (p.157) and reveal concerns in the way appraisals are weighed. Female characteristics were identified in their study, suggesting that while male and female principals are equally effective, women were more task effective. Even though the participants in this study were selected because of their demonstrated effectiveness, they were modest when discussing their successes. Angela chose to focus on how positive perceptions of males easily change to defying perceptions of females as inadequate, based on gender alone.
When females are not valued for their effectiveness, peers and supervisors can be supportive of their efforts and validate and nurture the principals’ growth as professionals. When considering their continued development, mentoring, and job satisfaction, these women perceived fewer choices and more competition. Even when successful, they ran the risk of being evaluated negatively. These considerations relate to the way in which female principals are recruited, hired, and evaluated, where contributions from women leaders may not be fully valued.
Conclusion
The most important implications of this study relate to the perpetuation of biases. Gendered discourses were evident in the development of professional identities. When female principals resort to demonstrating “male-like” qualities, or when they must challenge authoritative styles to develop their own professional identity, they reveal a continuous struggle towards equity. Schmuck (1996) illustrated: Those women who have achieved positions which are held predominantly by men have realized, consciously or unconsciously, that there are social roles and expectations governing the role of females from the culture. They must become “abnormal” women; they must transcend the social expectations of femaleness in order to aspire to the socially prescribed role of leader. And because they do not fit the expectations of the attributes of leaders, they are also “abnormal” administrators. Their position as administrators makes them “insiders” to the organization, but their “abnormal” status as women makes them “outsiders” in their organizations. (p.356)
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
None declared.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
