Skip to main content

Empowerment Spaces of Female School Principals in South African Township Schools

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Education Systems of Africa

Part of the book series: Global Education Systems ((GES))

  • 122 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, the researcher presents an alternative way of thinking that involves personal and internal strategies identified and developed by the principals to be able to address the leadership and management challenges they experience in their schools. The proposed strategy expects the female school principals to identify their own personal empowerment space, strength, and approach to cope with the daily challenges that they experience. The researcher highlights the unique abilities of the different female principals and the different self-generated energy that enables the principals to lead and manage their schools. After the introduction, the rest of the chapter is structured as follows: In the next sections, the researcher presents literature on management, leadership, and challenges as well as the strategies used by school principals to manage and lead their schools. The researcher explains the context of the study that is discussed in this chapter, which is followed by the research methodology, findings, and discussion. The chapter concludes with implications from the study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Atwater, L. E., Brett, J. E., Waldman, D., DiMare, L., & Hayden, M. V. (2004). Men’s and women’s perceptions of the gender typing of management subroles. Sex Roles, 50(3/4), 191–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, A. B., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2013). Creativity and charisma among female leaders: The role of resources and work engagement. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), 2760–2779.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolden, R. (2004). What is leadership? (Leadership South West report 1). South West London: Centre of Leadership Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, A. R., Marrianne, C., & Morrison, M. (2012). Research methods in educational leadership and management. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Celikten, M. (2005). A perpective on women principals in Turkey. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 8(3), 207–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christman, D., & McClellan, R. (2008). “Living on the barbed wire”: Resilient women administrators in educational leadership programs. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(1), 3–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, M. (2005). Gender and secondary school leadership. International Studies in Educational Administration, 33(2), 3–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design, choosing among five approaches. Lincoln: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • South Africa. (1999). Employment of Educators Act. Cape Town: Government Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J. (1999). Disappearing acts: Gender, power, and relational practice at work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, K. (2009). Women secondary head teachers alive and well in Birmingham at the beginning of the twenty-first century. British Educational Leadership, Management & Administration Society (BELMAS), 23(1), 19–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giese, T. H., Slate, J. R., Brown, M. S., & Tejeda-Delgad, C. (2009). Female high school principals: Leadership practices and individual traits. Advancing Women in Leadership Journal, 29(5), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, C. C., Skinner, J., & Dempster, N. (2008). Expectations of successful female small school principals. Leading & Managing, 14(1), 72–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, M. P., & Mallory, B. J. (2008). Perceptions of isolation among high school principals. Journal of Women in Educational Leadership, 6(1), 7–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaparou, M., & Bush, T. (2007). Invisible barriers: the career progress of women secondary principals in Greece. British Association for International and Comparative Education, 37(2), 221–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krüger, M. L. (2008). School leadership, sex and gender: Welcome to difference. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 11(2), 155–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matheri, E. W., Cheloti, S. K., & Mulwa, D. M. (2015). Principals’ gender and management effectiveness in secondary schools: Case of Mtito Andei Division, Kenya. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(14), 12–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mestry, R., & Schmidt, M. (2012). A feminist postcolonial examination of female principals’ experiences in South African secondary schools. Gender and Education, 24(5), 535–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorosi, P. (2010). South African female principals’ career paths: Understanding the gender gap in secondary school management. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38(5), 547–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morojele, P., Chikoko, V., & Ngcobo, N. (2013). Do women have to ‘grow muscles’ in order to successfully manage schools? Evidence from some South African female school principals. Anthropologist, 15(2), 199–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oplatka, I. (2001). I changed my management style: The cross-gender transition of women headteachers in mid-career. School Leadership & Management, 21(2), 219–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, A. L. (2012). Leading through the challenge of change: African-American women principals on small school reform. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(1), 23–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Priola, V. (2007). Being female doing gender. Narratives of women in education management. Gender and Education, 19(1), 21–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saeed, R., Azizollah, A., Zahra, A., Abdolghayoum, N., Zaman, A., & Peyman, Y. (2011). Effect of female principal’s management styles on teacher’s job satisfaction in Isfahan-Iran, girls high schools. International Education Studies, 4(3), 124–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapira, T., Arar, K., & Azaiza, F. (2011). ‘They didn’t consider me and no-one even took me into account’: Female school principals in the Arab education system in Israel. Administration & Leadership, 39(1), 25–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • South Africa. (1996a). Constitution, Act 108 of 1996. Pretoria: Government Printers.

    Google Scholar 

  • South Africa. (1996b). South African Schools Act. Act No. 84 of 1996. Cape Town: Government Printer. South Africa 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steyn, G. M., & Parsaloi, M. W. (2014). Moving towards gender equality: The case of female head teachers in Kenya. Gender & Behaviour, 12(1), 5980–5993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Bijl, A., & Prinsloo, I. J. (2016). Education management-leadership: A historical and future-oriented perspective. In I. Van Deventer (Ed.), An educator’s guide to school management skills. Pretoria: Van Schaiks Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Deventer, I. (2012). Education management in schools. In I. Van Deventer & A. G. Kruger (Eds.), An educator’s guide to school management skills. Pretoria: Van Schaiks Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, J., & Blackmore, J. (2008). Re-presenting women and leadership: A methodological journey. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21(2), 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witherspoon, N., & Taylor, D. L. (2010). Spiritual weapons: Black female principals and religio-spirituality. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 42(2), 133–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wrushen, B. R., & Sherman, W. H. (2008). Women secondary school principals: Multicultural voices from the field. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21(5), 457–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research design methods. Scope. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teresa Auma Ogina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ogina, T.A. (2020). Empowerment Spaces of Female School Principals in South African Township Schools. In: Adeyemo, K. (eds) The Education Systems of Africa. Global Education Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43042-9_24-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43042-9_24-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-43042-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-43042-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics