Abstract
This paper traces challenges faced by six Arab women from three different Arab localities – Palestinian Arab society in Israel, Palestinian Authority territories, and Jordan – on their path to appointment as school principals, investigating how they cope with the challenges involved in women’s leadership in a patriarchal society. Qualitative methodology employed in-depth interviews to elucidate the life stories of six Arab women principals. Findings show that the women’s professional careers were empowered by family support. They report various difficulties and obstacles that they needed to overcome, especially since they are expected to continue to fulfil their homemaker role while complying with the requirements of their demanding profession. It is concluded that Arab women who attain educational leadership posts employ their strong characteristics, their empowered agency, and the values they acquire and represent to improve their social status, transform their personal and professional identity, and improve their resources despite restrictive cultural norms. Enlisting support from their families and other resources, they overcome barriers on the path to principalship. It is recommended that government policy in the studied societies should encourage women to undertake senior roles in education and provide the necessary mentoring and support to ensure their success. Further implications of the findings are discussed.
Introduction
Copious research has been devoted to the issue of women’s working lives in education (e.g. Coleman, 2011; Fuller, 2015; Grogan and Shakeshaft, 2011; Lumby and Azaola, 2014; Robinson et al., 2017; Shakeshaft, 1987, 2015). Various aspects of women’s management and leadership have been discussed in different countries including political (Blackmore, 1999), professional (Oplatka, 2006), gender (Blackmore, 1999; Lumby and Azaola, 2011), and social (Fuller, 2015) issues. Yet, despite a dramatic increase in research on women in educational leadership during the last three decades, scholarly work has mostly focused on European and Anglophone settings (hereinafter ‘Western’ settings), whereas female educational leaders in other cultural settings, such as Arab society, have been given little attention (Al-Suwaihal, 2010; Arar et al., 2013; Omair, 2008; Robinson et al., 2017) so that our knowledge about cultural determinants affecting women in senior positions in education in developing societies is relatively limited.
Throughout the world, leadership posts have traditionally ‘belonged’ to men (Fuller, 2015; Lumby and Azaola, 2014; Robinson et al., 2017). Brunner and Grogan (2007) described the few women who entered the traditionally male territory of educational leadership as those who ‘ran with the wolves’. Although women’s presence in these roles is gradually increasing, it is still marginal (Arar et al., 2013; Lumby and Azaola, 2014). But to what extent are the processes of increased female inclusion mimicked in Arab societies and are the processes occurring in ‘Western’ countries relevant to understanding and encouraging similar processes in this context?
There has been dramatic alteration in the lives of many women in Arab societies in recent decades (Arar et al., 2013). There are now increasing exceptions to the long-accepted description of Arab women as scared, inferior, domestic women who hardly leave their houses (Omair, 2008). Recently, Arab women have even been appointed to ministerial and parliamentary positions in some Arab societies, they run businesses, and sit as presidents in national universities (Al-Lamsky, 2007; Dubai Women Establishment, 2009). However, these developments are still in their infancy and affect relatively few women.
Responding to the previously noted gap in knowledge, this article describes part of a larger study concerning Arab women managers in education, which aimed to identify the obstacles imposed by Arab societal structures on Arab women’s promotion in the public sphere and their own agency that enables them to advance in these rigid structures. It discusses possibilities for women educational leaders in three traditional Arab societies: Jordan, The Palestinian Authority territories, and Arab society in Israel, which has many common characteristics with the Arab world. More specifically, the research poses three questions: (a) Which factors help Arab women to attain educational leadership positions? (b) How do Arab women overcome different obstacles to attain and perform in leadership positions in education? (c) How do the context and characteristics of Arab women leaders differ from those of women leaders in ‘Western’ states?
Following a theoretical overview of literature on women in educational leadership, and sociocultural factors affecting women’s ability to undertake leadership in Arab societies, the article describes the characteristics of Arab women who succeed in attaining leadership roles in these patriarchal societies. Then, it presents the voices of six Arab women educational leaders in the three aforementioned Arab societies, discussing the context of these Arab women leaders, the obstacles they encounter, and their agency to overcome those obstacles. It describes four themes that emerged from the findings: ‘we are still a male-dominated society’; ‘personal characteristics and agency abilities’; ‘it is never easy to move between these two worlds – home and work’; and ‘encouraging resources’. Conclusions are then drawn.
Literature review
Women and educational leadership: global perspective
In most societies, women’s access to leadership in the public sphere has been constricted by a system of socially transmitted expectations and goals. Scholars theorized that men, by nature, seek prestige and status while women aspire to create successful relationships (Coleman, 2011; Fuller, 2015; Grogan and Shakeshaft, 2011). Yet, as more women enter the labour market they begin to seek careers in management and leadership (Robinson et al., 2017). Globally, women managers face blocks to their social and employment mobility, discrimination, and stereotyping (Robinson et al., 2017). Men fight to retain dominance in management, as Blackmore (1999) explained: Administration has become identified with particular ‘masculinist’ cultures, which are hegemonic in particular administrative contexts.…the values, ideologies and structures associated with dominant theories of administration and associated cultural practices favour certain images of masculinity. (p.29)
Few researchers have recognized the barriers or obstacles that women face in order to attain educational leadership positions. However, exceptional works conducted in Europe and in the USA (Coleman, 2011; Fuller, 2015; Robinson et al., 2017) indicate that women developing a professional career face gender-related blocks, gendered role perceptions, cultural perceptions that identify ‘femininity’ with ineffective management, covert discrimination against women, and male control of educational management (Blackmore, 1999). Other studies indicate that family-related variables are significant in hindering the development of women leaders (Metcalfe, 2008; Shakeshaft, 2015). Shakeshaft (1987) identified internal barriers to women’s advancement to managerial posts including ‘low self-image, lack of confidence, and lack of motivation or aspiration’ (p.83). However, later studies found that previously identified gender-specific attitudinal behaviours tended not to prove true for women (Brunner and Grogan, 2007; Lumby and Azaola, 2014). Other reasons noted as deterring women from managerial roles include lack of female role models, and lack of managerial experience and mentoring skills (Coleman, 2011).
Brunner and Grogan (2007) described the ‘conspiracy of silence’ that tries to thwart women’s attempts to reach senior posts, noting how, despite opposition, women have succeeded in educational supervision, while Blackmore (1999) showed how women leaders develop strategies to overcome barriers on their way to leadership.
In the USA there appears to be an increased inclusion of women in educational administration posts. The American Association of School Administrators 2015 Mid-Decade Survey confirms a significant increase over the past 15 years in the number of female principals and superintendents. The profiles of women superintendents are becoming more like their male counterparts. Men and women are spending about the same time as teachers before becoming superintendents, women and men appear to experience stress similarly, and women are receiving mentoring much more than in the past. Additionally, there is little research to support the beliefs that women superintendents are more limited by family circumstance than men. Nevertheless, men are still 40 times more likely than women to serve in the most powerful positions in education (Robinson et al., 2017).
Difference in the gender of school leaders appears to affect their career paths and personal life, and the leader’s gender also appears to affect characteristics of the workplace (Robinson et al., 2017). Yet, all of the aforementioned sources are from ‘Western’ countries and these findings may be context- and culture-dependent.
Factors affecting feminine leadership in Arab society
Male hegemony
Despite global pressures for more democratic structures and improvement in human rights and more liberal policies, most Arab countries have failed to democratize governmental and political structures and, in some cases, have even become more repressive and unaccountable. However, in Morocco and Jordan, modernized elites engendered pseudo-democratic institutions in order to stay in power.
Since the 1960s pioneer women leaders began to demand democratic rights, social justice, and equality, and formed study groups, some joining left-wing parties or underground movements aiming to promote women’s rights to equality (Moghadam, 2009). Yet, reactions to Arab women’s attempts to challenge existing social and religious norms and structures has often been far more heavy-handed and violent than in ‘Western’ societies. Some pioneer female leaders lost their lives, others were imprisoned or exiled (Ismael and Ismael, 2008). Dramatic changes have been seen in the last few decades in various Arab states: a very few Arab women have been appointed to parliamentary and ministerial positions, some direct companies, and a few have become university deacons (Al-Suwaihal, 2010; Dubai Women Establishment, 2009). Economic pressures provide an incentive for men to allow women to work outside the home and supplement the family income. The desire to profit from female contributions to the economy has inspired labour laws in many Arab states (such as Jordan) to protect working women, prohibiting gender discrimination in the workplace (CAWTAR, 2009).
Arab women have been increasingly able to improve their education, even advancing to higher education (HE), in many individual cases because of their personal drive and agency, but also due to male recognition of the importance of educational status and the need for an extra breadwinner. Yet, Even though Arab women have achieved high levels of education, these have often not been translated into economic outcomes. Labor force participation rates…for women are 27% in MENA [Middle East and North African states] versus 56% for the rest of the world. (International Labor Organization, 2014: 15)
Female inhibitions
As found in Western countries, a further factor hindering Arab women’s advancement to leadership positions is their own lack of an internal urge to aspire to such positions; some feel too weak or dependent, and they lack sufficient competitive drive (Al-Lamsky, 2007). Al-Hussein (2011) found that leading women in Jordan’s Ministry of Education are hindered by males’ and females’ negative stereotypes of women, the women’s limited ambition, lack of self-confidence, and lack of a sense of self-efficacy.
The home–career conflict
The need to balance homemaker duties in the family with a career also deters women in the Arab world from pursuing senior careers (Moghadam, 2009) and is only possible when there is strong close family support. Women leaders in Kuwait still function fully as wives and are concerned about the needs of their homes, especially if their husbands work outside the home. Success factors for Kuwaiti women professionals include personal development, family support, spouse support, and coordination of home and professional tasks (Al-Suwaihal, 2010). When an Arab woman joins the work force, social norms forbid the engagement of paid help for childcare or home duties and she can only rely on the help of willing and available female family members (Arar et al., 2013).
Enabling factors
A survey of 94 Arab women leaders in business, politics, civil society, and academic spheres in different Arab states identified enabling factors that had allowed them to advance. Seven key enablers were identified for their ability to advance to positions of leadership and to influence their environment: legal structure, political environment, socioeconomic environment, culture, religion, education and media (Dubai Women Establishment, 2009).
Arar (2014) noted that while segregation policies and cultural challenges are not ‘official’, they continue to place restrictions on deployment and, ultimately, on training and promotion opportunities for women in senior educational positions. They identified education and family support as the most crucial factors for women’s leadership development. Personal traits affecting women’s leadership abilities were self-confidence, independence, and empowerment during childhood, especially due to the support of their fathers, who motivated them and encouraged gender equality at home.
The context of the studied women leaders
The women studied in the present research were drawn from three different Arab contexts: Arab society in Israel, the Palestinian Authority territories, and Jordan. Women in Arab society in Israel live in a democracy. As citizens they have the right to vote but nevertheless suffer from dual marginality, as women in a largely patriarchal society and as members of the Arab minority in what is defined as a Jewish state. In comparison, Arab women living in the difficult reality of the Palestinian Authority territories reside within an enclave under Israeli occupation. They are not citizens of Israel and although they have the right to vote for the Palestinian Authority, elections are not held regularly; women are largely excluded from positions of influence. In the Palestinian territories, women’s labour force participation rate has remained very low, although it increased from 13% in 2000 to 17% in 2011 (International Labor Organization, 2013). In contrast, women in Jordan enjoy a liberal quasi-democratic regime. Contrary to the co-education schools found in Israel, where female staff must compete with male staff for promotion, in Jordan and in the Palestinian Authority women rise linearly through the ranks of girls-only schools to managerial posts, without competition with men.
In these three societies, the different religious groups (Muslim, Christian, Druze, Bedouin) are all dominated by the same traditional Arab culture, sharing the same language and traditions (Barakat, 2007), political difficulties (e.g. limited freedom of speech, weak democratic structures, strong patriarchal and religious structures), and severe social inequality. These are collectivist cultures where respect, service, and obedience to the reigning regime both in the family and society is often considered more important than providing human rights and freedom of thought or promoting individuals’ private initiatives (Karajah, 2007). Since most of the documented knowledge on educational leadership and administration relates to ‘Western’ states, the lack of knowledge concerning women educational leaders in the particular social-political-cultural context of these three societies inspired the present study.
Despite distinctions between different Arab countries, the Arab world shares particular cultures and social structures that create educational systems different from those in the developed world (Mazawi and Sultana, 2010). Heck (1996: 75) argued that ‘there is much to be learned about how leadership is expressed across a wider sphere of national-cultural boundaries’; it is hoped that this research may illuminate some aspects of this human endeavour in unfamiliar educational territories.
Conceptual framework
Arab women’s participation in the political, economic, or social domains of their societies is hindered by various unwritten social mores and codes in male-dominated societies, characterized by a patriarchal hierarchic culture (Arar et al., 2013). Thus, the voice of Arab women has seldom been heard in public spheres (Omair, 2008: 108). These strong traditional values and norms may account for many of the educational shortcomings within these developing societies (Moghadam, 2009).
Recent research concerning the integration of women education leaders in developing societies has examined the psychological aspects of this phenomenon (Morris, 1999), feminist leadership, women’s leadership in indigenous minority groups (Fitzgerald, 2010), and the underrepresentation of women in senior education system roles (Arar, 2014; Celikten, 2005; Lumby and Azaola, 2011). It appears that most women educators seem to follow a longer, linear sequence, fighting to overcome barriers to attain management posts, especially in developing societies (Arar, 2014; Fitzgerald, 2010; Metcalfe, 2008; Oplatka, 2006).
Women’s status in Arab societies resembles that of women in developing countries (Lumby and Azaola, 2014; Oplatka, 2006). Cultural norms strictly specify gender-defined tasks and fields of responsibility, assuming that a person needs to act according to society’s gender expectations and determining a clear difference between men and women (Celikten, 2005). Leadership roles are defined as ‘belonging’ to the men, and women are supposed to avoid attempts to attain these roles, or risk incurring different social sanctions (Arar et al., 2013; Barakat, 2007). This article attempts to amplify these findings, tracing challenges faced by six Arab women as they forged their path to appointment as school principals. It examines how they attain managerial posts and how they cope with the challenges of working in a senior position as women in a patriarchal society.
The conceptual framework underlying this article, therefore, considered feminist theories regarding educational management (Blackmore, 1999; Fitzgerald, 2010; Fuller, 2015; Moghadam, 2009; Shakeshaft, 1989), conceptualization of the changing role of women in transitional societies between traditionalism and modernism, and studies concerning the career–home conflict in a patriarchal society that allows professional women very few concessions in fulfilling their homemaker duties.
Methodology
Research method
This paper is part of a larger study concerning Arab women managers in education. It aims to clarify the obstacles imposed by Arab society’s structures on Arab women’s promotion in the public sphere and their own agency that enables them to advance in these rigid structures. A qualitative research study using a narrative method was deemed appropriate for this research. This method facilitates a detailed understanding of the meanings, attitudes, and intentions (Cohen et al., 2011) expressed by those who experience the studied phenomenon. Using this method enabled the construction of a rich description of the varied and multi-dimensional world of the interviewees (Lieblich et al., 1998) from the narratives of the respondents using their own language and meanings. The research was conducted within a collective case study framework defined by Stake (2005), whereby the researcher examines a number of cases in order to investigate a phenomenon, population, or general condition (p.437). At the same time, this approach enables the unique story of each participant to be told (Lieblich et al., 1998).
Specifically, the study employed semi-structured interviews with open questions, to expose the agency and coping strategies of six women school principals, working in traditional patriarchal societies (Lieblich et al., 1998). The interviews were designed to glean the interviewees’ views concerning their path to an educational leadership career, the obstacles they encountered, and their coping strategies.
Participants
Six school principals, recommended to us by colleagues, participated in the study. All had more than 10 years of experience in the post. Two of them were from Israel, two from the West Bank territory of the Palestinian Authority, and two from Jordan. Two were Christians and four Muslims. In the findings, the women are referred to by the following fictive names: Rania is a Christian woman aged 42, married with four children. She lives in an Arab town in Israel, has an MA in Arabic Linguistics and has worked as a high school principal in an Arab village for 10 years. Amna is a Muslim woman, aged 39, married without children. She lives in an Arab Bedouin village in the North of Israel. She has an MA in English Literature and has managed an elementary school for 13 years in her village. Enas is a Christian woman in her mid-50s, married to a lawyer, and has three adult children and four grandchildren. She grew up in Amman in Jordan. She has an MA in English. Among the first women to work as a Ministry of Education supervisor of English teaching, she has worked as a private elementary school principal for 11 years in a Palestinian town. Zinera, a Muslim woman aged 44, has an MA in History and 10 years’ experience as a school principal of a single-sex high school in a Palestinian village close to the border with Israel. Ahlam, a Muslim woman, aged 49, lives in Amman in Jordan. She is married and has three sons, students of medicine, law, and engineering. She has an MEd in Educational Counselling, and is studying for a doctorate. She has worked for 12 years as a principal of a private mixed-sex elementary school in Jordan. Meriam, a Muslim woman, aged 41, lives in Amman. She is married with five children. She has an MA in Arts, and has worked as a mentor and then as a single-sex (girls) school principal in Jordan for 11 years.
Interview procedure
Two criteria determined the participants’ selection: (a) their willingness to participate in a long interview and (b) their ability to represent both rural and urban Arab society.
My experience as an inductive practitioner – as a past school principal in the Arab education system in Israel, and as head of the Master’s programme in Educational Systems Management in an academic college – allowed me as a native researcher to use an internal lens to examine the women principals’ experiences in these three contexts in addition to the lens of the interviewees’ own experiences.
The first two interviews with Rania and Amna were conducted by the author, while the other four interviews with the Palestinian and Jordanian principals were conducted by an experienced Arab-speaking female research assistant, an MEd graduate. Interviews were conducted in Arabic in the interviewee’s home or office, and lasted approximately two hours. Participants were asked to relate to two key open questions: ‘Tell me about yourself and about the family in which you grew up’, and ‘Describe your professional development and your nomination to principalship’. Other questions included: ‘How was your appointment received in your settlement?’ ‘What reactions did you receive from men and from women?’ ‘How do the staff, men, and women react to the fact that you are a woman principal?’ ‘Describe your administrative and leadership style’. The interviewer asked clarifying questions and occasionally conducted a brief conversation with the interviewees. The interviews were recorded and transcribed.
Data analysis
The narratives of six Arab female educational leaders gleaned from life-story interviews underwent a narrative analysis, allowing us to relate to transitions and development processes occurring over the years and the meaning the interviewees’ attributed to their life events. The narrative analysis followed the Listener’s Guide (Gilligan et al., 2004). The researcher reads the text, attempting to identify the different ‘voices’ of the narrator, and relates to them separately in a series of steps which together ‘offer a way of tuning into the polyphonic voice of another person…[and] a pathway into a relationship rather than a fixed framework for interpretation’ in which the researcher, who reads or listens to the text, tracks the different ‘voices’ that the interviewee articulates to identify each one separately. This method can potentially uncover narrators’ different perceptions of themselves, their significant others, and society (Gilligan et al., 2004: 161). We chose this unique tool used in similar studies concerning leading women in the Israeli Arab education system (Arar et al., 2013), which allowed us to conceptualize the intertwined personal, social and professional processes in the lives of the studied women leaders (Coleman, 2011), and to expose the full range of the interviewees’ relationships with their self, with others in the environment, and with society.
The present study relied on four readings: the first focusing on the Arab context and the personal cost of women’s promotion in the public sphere; the second related to their personal characteristics and agency abilities; the third presents the women’s coping with obstacles on the path to leadership positions and in their subsequent work; and the fourth relates to encouraging resources that helped them reach and retain those positions.
To ensure the trustworthiness of the data, it underwent triangulation, and was checked with the assistance of the female research assistant who conducted some of the interviews and other researchers, discussing the way in which they each perceived and gave meaning to the findings. This cross-checking of interpretations helped to ensure that the different dimensions of the studied topic were thoroughly investigated and that the findings were trustworthy and eventually led to the formation of a set of interrelated categories (Marshall and Rossman, 2012).
Since this was a small sample from a specific group of participants, this limits generalization of the findings to other social contexts. The reader is invited to judge the applicability of the findings and conclusions for similar circumstances.
Findings
The findings represent the themes that emerged from the different readings of the interviewees’ narratives as follows.
We are still a male-dominated society
Specific cultural and religious beliefs and values define the feminine role in terms of marriage, especially early marriage, housekeeping, and child-raising, restricting or deterring Arab women from building a career outside the home, as noted by Meriam: For me as a female, the first priority set for me at the age of 18 was to get engaged…thus, I needed simultaneously to meet my family’s expectations and to convince my future husband to support my path of pursuing HE in order to support our future family. I needed to remain loyal to my cultural expectations while fighting silently for my place. We are still a male-dominated society. There was opposition both inside and outside of school I had to have the courage of my own convictions, as there could be no concessions…I tried to understand the resistance there were tensions between my hamulla [extended family] and that of the school’s neighbourhood. This reinforced my desire to show everyone what I could do. We can say that the education system is dominated by men: school principals, supervisors, and mentors. But you will be surprised to hear that this system supports women. I can’t remember any supervisor trying to hamper me because I am a woman or because I was a risk or threat to him. (Rania). When they talked about the candidates in the community, they said that there were seven men and one woman, but they didn’t remember who she was. They used to talk about me, saying, ‘She can’t do anything, and yet she thinks that she can become a manager’. You feel bad when they don’t want you, but you achieve the goal because you want to be there. After a battle, there were many wounds. I could have reacted in one of two ways: attend to my wounds or disregard all sorts of important things, ignore my wounds and start afresh. Women who were successful teachers, and registered professional success and starred in mentorship, have managed to hold all sorts of pedagogic jobs in schools in the Palestinian Authority. They can aspire for promotion and advance their career even beyond the school.
Personal characteristics and agency abilities – ‘I consider myself a superwoman’
The Arab Women Leadership Outlook (AWLO, 2011) identified traits of successful Arab women leaders: (a) personal leadership traits; (b) personal and interpersonal skills; (c) life values; and finally (d) leadership style. They indicated that most Arab women leaders attribute their success to a very strong support system, with 67% citing their mothers as the most positive influence in the advancement of their careers, while 66% consider fathers to be of central importance to their career progression. Moreover, 61% believed that the support of their husbands is critical, and 55% emphasize the role of their educators. Arab women leaders attributed their success, in many cases, to the traditional support and nurturing roles their mothers played (AWLO, 2011: 23). In the current research we found that these women’s empowerment processes started in early childhood in a supportive family, an encouraging factor found by other studies that assists the advance of Arab women to senior management positions, as described by Amna, the first woman principal in her village: My father died when I was 11, before I reached 8th grade, and girls never continued beyond that. My mother sent me to a Catholic boarding school, that was the only possible option since there was no suitable school nearby and mother wanted me to grow up far from the watchful supervision of my father’s family. When I returned home, I registered for university. So that I would not have to return home late at night my mother arranged for me to live near the university with other female students. These two locations shaped me, the support and protection of my mother allowed me to forge forwards, despite loud criticism from my uncles.
Rania indicated that from an early age she had the ability to lead with much courage and against the accepted norms: At school, I was elected to head the student council. It was during the days of the first Palestinian uprisings, and our principal refused to close the school as part of a strike in Arab society, so I stood on a big stone and told the students: My friends, this is a Memorial Day for the Palestinians [in the West Bank]…and if you feel empathy towards the children who were killed when they threw stones for their liberation, go home…all the students left and walked home.
Rania described overcoming poverty to reach HE: ‘I remember my brother and I would often travel by bus to school and come home on foot to save money. We knew we had to save money for our university education’. As found by Lumby and Azaola (2014), characteristics once thought to hinder women’s professional career such as maternal abilities were thought by these women to be promoting factors. This was noted by Amna: It is actually the fact that I am a women and mother who has followed children’s development within their personal, family and social relations that has shaped my ability to form a circle of support in the school, sensitive to these relationships and able to motivate the staff out of social and professional commitment and concern. Above all giving expression to the loving and supportive feminine voice, with collective synergetic work to enhance the developmental and educational experiences of the students. I consider myself a superwoman. I married in my early twenties. At the same time I started my studies, while being pregnant with two of my kids, entered a teaching post in a village far from mine…. Every day, I walked 2 kilometres, at 6:30 am, met the Israeli border checkpoints, took a bus to the other village in order to struggle for my living, my position, my career…. After a few years, I added my postgraduate studies at Al-Najah university…. You can’t imagine the sacrifices I made in order to reach principalship.
‘It is never easy to move between these two worlds – home and work’
One factor deterring Arab women from becoming educational leaders is the need to achieve a workable balance between the demands of their family role and their role as leaders and administrators (Al-Jaradat, 2014; Arar et al., 2013). Often the women paid the price of putting their dreams in second priority after their familial obligations, as expressed by Enas (a principal from Amman) who regretted her inability to multifunction: My husband is a lawyer and he also works for a foreign embassy as their counsellor. I have three children; all this prevented me from continuing to a third degree, although I had a university supervisor who agreed to guide me. My oldest daughter is a lawyer; she works in the State Attorney’s office. She has two gorgeous twin girls. And I have two sons. One is completing his medical studies here, extremely intelligent, he always excels. And the other is studying medicine in Amman, so I will have two doctors and a lawyer. I excelled in my first year [at school] although I was already pregnant. My first son was born 20 years ago, and four days later I completed my university exams. It wasn’t easy because I had just begun a new life, and marriage. There was a baby at home, and there were people who didn’t understand I was a student. I would work in the school in the morning, go to university, study, come home, and then in the afternoon take courses. On Fridays and Saturdays when there was no university or school, I would tutor students in my home to earn a little extra. Today I’m amazed that I sometimes have a free day. I studied for my postgraduate studies at night, as I also had to function as a wife taking care of my husband’s needs if I didn’t want to be criticized by his parents and also to be professional at work. This meant few sleep hours, and necessitated support from my husband and kids…it is never easy to move between these two worlds – home and work. I rise at 5:00 am, prepare food for the children, look after my husband’s needs and prepare for school. When I return from school I spend several hours in the kitchen so that everything will be just right and to prevent my in-laws’ criticism. Most of my thinking and preparations for school is done at night. During the years when I studied, I knew I had to give something up, to reduce my hours of work, and I worked half time on my doctorate. I had to yield continually everywhere; I worked all day apart from six hours sleep.
Most of the women described how difficult it was to multifunction, especially since there was no equal distribution of tasks in the home.
Encouraging resources – ‘he supported me to do everything’
Coping with the challenges noted above requires strong personal characteristics, but also, importantly, support from the circles to which the women belong. Enas noted that her family constituted the source of her empowerment: I have a very special multicultural family, my grandmother is Greek-Christian, yet she brought up my mother with a Muslim nanny. The values I absorbed from this diversity empowered me, equipped me with tools to integrate with others. My mother constantly supported my personal and professional development and helped me to cope with the home and raising my children and to cope with professional struggles. My husband encouraged me, he said, ‘Go for it’. I don’t know why. You have to ask him whether he regrets this today.…[Although] Arab cooking is a priority, first on the priorities list is mental support for my children and their studies.
Rania began to think about studying abroad when she was offered a scholarship, since her parents could not fund her studies: ‘Someone came from the Women’s Democratic Movement and said, “Rania, listen, we have a scholarship if you want to study abroad”’. Thus, various entities encouraged and helped the women to achieve their professional career.
Concluding remarks
In a very general overview, it seems that Arab women’s path to management positions is ‘an especially long and tortuous journey’ (Arar et al., 2013; Lumby and Azaola, 2014), even more so than that of women leaders elsewhere in the world since they face especially rigid resistant sociocultural structures (Al-Lamsky, 2007; Arar et al., 2013; Hamdan, 2005; Lumby and Azaola, 2014; Robinson et al., 2017).
Liberal feminism in the ‘West’ believed that it would be possible to eliminate women’s disadvantages in society by breaking down customary expectations of women, by offering better education to women and introducing equal employment opportunity (Blackmore, 1999; Fuller, 2015; Shakeshaft, 1987). Limited progress has been achieved in these societies, yet some of those researching women’s leadership in ‘Western’ countries also indicated personal factors that delay women’s professional advancement (Grogan and Shakeshaft, 2010; Robinson et al., 2017). In the Arab world, women have made little progress in breaking down expectations that they should continue to fulfil their roles as wives, homemakers, and mothers, even if they also become breadwinners and they have not been able to free themselves from the internalization of these expectations (Al-Lamsky, 2007; Al-Suwaihal, 2010; Arar et al., 2013).
The interviewed Arab women struggled to forge a path to management positions in a hierarchical, patriarchal context that assigns the public sphere to men, and relegates women to the home and family sphere (Arar et al., 2013; Moghadam, 2009). The cultural-religious structures and their values discriminate against women and hinder their pursuit of educational leadership (Al-Jaradat, 2014; Al-Lamsky, 2007; Al-Suwaihal, 2010; Barakat, 2007; Hamdan, 2005; Metcalfe, 2008). They pay a personal price for their promotion involving temporary postponement of their aspirations and intense multifunctioning (as wives and career women), finding ways to enlist support but not to be perceived as undermining the social order (Arar et al., 2013).
The research revealed these women’s strong characteristics, their empowered agency, and the values they acquire and represent. They enlist support from their families, especially males (Metcalfe, 2008; Moghadam, 2009; Omair, 2008), and other resources that allow them to overcome the barriers encountered on the path to principalship (Grogan and Shakeshaft, 2011; Robinson et al., 2017; Shakeshaft, 2015). Their narratives portray how they perceive their leadership in male territory, their professional aspirations, and the personal price they pay as wives and careerists (Arar et al., 2013; Barakat, 2007). As found by Lumby and Azaola (2011), some of the women appeared to have created social capital from their gender attributes, so that characteristics previously assessed as limiting stereotypes, such as woman and mother, are presented as positive attributes when they lead staff in their schools.
These personal, social, and professional narratives of women principals’ active agency testify to the buds of cultural transition processes within Arab societies (Al-Lamsky, 2007; Al-Suwaihal, 2010). Moghadam (2009) thought this could be due to the effect of globalization on Arab society. Arab women’s entry into the public sphere, especially through HE, permitted largely due to economic difficulties is the first step to their personal empowerment and innovation (Akkary, 2013; Arar et al., 2013).
The present study related to the professional lives of a few Arab women in senior positions in three Arab societies. Further investigation of this sort can help us to understand to what extent ‘Western’ theories regarding gender and administration have universal relevance and validity: examining the relevance of career-stage theories in the different Arab education systems, questioning how Arab women shape their managerial aspirations in a strongly gendered society or to whom female Arab leaders are committed and why. Such investigation may provide insight into their unique induction and maturation processes as productive and innovative educational leaders. The study of female Arab leaders’ narratives, describing the development of their careers, can reveal whether the strategies they use to balance the demands of family and work, and to cope with male resistance to their advancement and seniority, can enrich universal theories of gender and administration.
Additionally, it is recommended that any research exploring the lived experiences and leadership of Arab women educational leaders should endeavour to underpin the study with a wider variety of perspectives than the mainly feminist approach employed until now. Different perspectives would consider the influence of cultures outside the ‘Western’ world where the main streams of feminism developed. The women portrayed in this study did not exhibit clearly ‘feminist’ ideology. In the main, they accepted their sole responsibility to continue to act as homemakers, although they undertook demanding professional careers. Yet, to some extent the interviewees do differ from the common ‘Western’ view of Arab women as meek and servile subjects in a patriarchal society, and can serve as a basis for understanding these women’s agency as they struggle for positions of power, leadership, and personal and professional legitimization. These women do improve their social status, transform their personal and professional identity, improve their resources, and break through cultural norms.
Evidence that Arab culture is submitting to a very gradual process of modernization, including greater willingness to accept women in the public sphere, is substantiated in a number of studies (Akkary, 2013; Al-Lamsky, 2007; Arar et al., 2013; Hamdan, 2005). This includes the development of an enabling environment including access to HE, weakening of cultural restrictions, and an enabling legal framework. The seven key enablers identified by the Arab Women Leadership Outlook for women’s ability to advance to leadership and to influence their environment are as follows: legal structure, political environment, socioeconomic environment, culture, religion, education, and media. To build such enablers necessitates liberal government policies and culture-appropriate mentoring to encourage Arab women to advance to powerful positions in their societies. Given the socio-economic difficulties of all three societies studied here, it seems pertinent to examine whether and to what extent female educational leadership can influence the socio-cultural-economic progress of Arab societies and the necessary adjustment of the rigid structures of these societies.
Finally, it is necessary to note that each of the Arab societies studied here is not necessarily a unified society, but rather includes an array of cultural, religious, and social distinctions that must be considered in any research on women leaders in these societies, especially in a period of political and social upheavals. It is recommended that government policy in the studied societies should encourage women to undertake senior roles in education and provide the necessary mentoring and support to ensure their success.
