Jane Wilkinson (Monash University, Australia), Anar Purvee (National University of Mongolia, Mongolia) and Katrina MacDonald (Deakin University, Australia)

What is the problem? How does the chapter support your thinking about the problem?

The key issue for this chapter is gender as a category of social analysis and how it has historically been ignored and/or side-lined in the field of leadership. As we argue in the chapter, this issue can be approached from different angles. These range from the ways in which gender and educational leadership as concepts and sets of practices are socially and culturally constructed (comprising and/or favouring features and dispositions more generally associated with ‘western’, white, masculinist and heteronormative notions of leadership as an individualistic pursuit) through to who gets to access such roles (those in the ‘top job’ may be more likely to be white, male and heterosexual). Furthermore, despite a burgeoning of research in the area of gender and leadership, mainstream accounts in the field are typically gender ‘blind’, apolitical and ignore crucial issues of power relations, structure and agency. We also ask you in our chapter to bear in mind that gender, like other social dimensions, does not operate on its own, but intersects with other dimensions of disadvantage, e.g., race, class, and disability.

What are other ways to think about this? Where can I go next to follow these up?

Beyond education

Socially constructed notions of gender are challenged in fields beyond education. For instance, here are some intellectual resources related to intersectionality to get you started.

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139-167.

This foundational article addresses the tendency to treat race and gender as mutually exclusive, through examining anti-discrimination law, antiracist politics and (white) feminist theory.

Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality: Key concepts. Polity Press.

This book offers an introduction to the field of intersectionality for academics and activists. It examines the potential of intersectionality as an analytical tool for understanding inequalities and bringing about social justice oriented change.

Beyond sociology

Educational leadership as a field of study draws on a range of disciplinary influences. Here we offer a contribution from politics with regard to Case Two in the chapter. As you read, think about how different social and political backgrounds may affect women and their leadership practices in former socialist countries.

Kuzhabekova, A., & Almukhambetova, A. (2017). Female academic leadership in the post-Soviet context. European Educational Research Journal, 16(2-3), 183-199.

Skapa, B., & Benwell, A. F. (1996). Women and poverty during the transition. In O. Bruun & O. Odgaard (Eds.), Mongolia in transition (pp. 135-146). Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press Ltd.

Alternative ways of ‘doing’ educational leadership

We draw attention in the chapter to how gender and educational leadership are socially and culturally constructed and produced phenomena. Thus how leadership is practised, played out and understood looks very different depending on one’s subject location. Start with these articles:

Morley, L. (2014). Lost leaders: Women in the global academy. Higher Education Research and Development, 33(1), 114-128.

Shah, S. (2018). Is she in the wrong place? Exploring the intersections of gender, religion, culture and leadership. In J. Wilkinson & B. Laurette (Eds.), Educational leadership as a culturally-constructed practice: New directions and possibilities (pp. 75-95). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Other dimensions of leadership identity

Consider how structural features such as race, class, sexual identity and disability intersect within any single person’s lived experience and identity. Start with some of the other chapters in this book, for instance:

Chapter 17. Sexual identity and educational leadership, by Catherine A. Lugg and Robin Roscigno

Chapter 18. Race and educational leadership, by Mark A. Gooden and Victoria Showunmi

Chapter 19: Socio-economic class and educational leadership, by Steve Courtney and Helen Gunter

Ways of understanding

Differing and inter-relating dimensions of difference, including gender, are commonly described and explained through such methods and thinking tools as:

Narrative Inquiry; see, e.g.,

Clandinin, D. J. (2016). Engaging in Narrative Inquiry. Routledge.

Decolonizing research methods; see, e.g.,

Archibald, J.-A., Lee-Morgan, J., & De Santolo, J. (2019). Decolonizing research: Indigenous storywork as methodology. ZED Books Limited.

Smith, L. T. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books Ltd.

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods.

Feminist qualitative research; see, e.g.,

DeVault, M. L., & Gross, G. (2012). Feminist qualitative interviewing: Experience, talk, and knowledge. In S. N. Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Handbook of feminist research: Theory and praxis (2nd ed., pp. 1-38). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483384740

Olesen, V. (2018). Feminist qualitative research in the millennium’s first decade: Developments, challenges, prospects. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (5 ed., pp. 151-175). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.