This timely book explores how various feminist perspectives fruitfully explain women's experience of educational leadership, drawing on a contemporary conceptualisation of fourth wave feminism that is intersectional and inclusive.

The author questions commonly understood binaries in understanding gender, identity, sexuality, and education in order to forge new areas of theorizing the politics of self and other while destabilizing established power hierarchies. The book concludes with a discussion of feminist pedagogy and activism, stressing the significance of analyzing pedagogy and working to create more open feminist and democratic spaces for learning."--Jacket.

“Who is an effective leader?” has been a question posed by scholars, educators and practitioners of leadership for centuries. Historically, leadership positions, as well as research on leadership and effective leadership, was primarily reserved for men or masculine characteristics With most societies traditionally following a patriarchal hierarchy, few people questioned inequalities in leadership attainment, largely because of supernatural and/or natural explanations of men’s natural ability and desire to lead. This book runs counter to that culture and examines the experiences and leadership enactments of ten historically famous women leaders in hopes of gaining insight into their uniquely female leadership styles. The ten leaders include Catherine the Great, Jane Addams, Queen Victoria, Marie Montessori, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Pat Summit, and Hillary Clinton. The idea, of course, is to reflect upon these great women’s leadership styles in order to inform one’s own leadership behavior.

Feminist Theory in Diverse Productive Practices is the second of two volumes examining gender and feminist theory in Educational Philosophy and Theory. This collection explores the difference that gender and sexual identities make both to theorizing and working in education and other fields. As the articles contained in this text span nearly 40 years of scholarship related to these issues, this volume sheds light on how feminist, gender, and sexuality theory has evolved within and beyond the field of philosophy of education over time. Key themes explored in the book include women’s ways of knowing, the challenges women (and girls) face in taking up professional employment across diverse fields historically and today, and how feminist and related theories can enable women in professional development roles to empower each other. The book tells a rich story of how gender and sexuality theory has been brought to bear on discussions of educational practice in diverse fields over decades of publication of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Feminist Theory in Diverse Productive Practices will be key reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, philosophy, education, educational theory, post-structural theory, and the policy and politics of education.

This volume examines the educational leadership of Black women in the U.S. as informed by their raced and gendered positionalities, experiences, perspectives, and most importantly, the intersection of these doubly marginalized identities in school and community contexts. While there are bodies of research literature on women in educational leadership, as well as the leadership development, philosophies, and approaches of Black or African American educational leaders, this issue interrogates the ways in which the Black woman’s socially constructed intersectional identity informs her leadership values, approach, and impact. As an act of self-invention, the volume simultaneously showcases the research and voices of Black women scholars – perspectives traditionally silenced in the leadership discourse generally, and educational leadership discourse specifically. Whether the empirical or conceptual focus is a Black female school principal, African American female superintendent, Black feminist of the early twentieth century, or Black woman education researcher, the framing and analysis of each article interrogates how the unique location of the Black woman, at the intersection of race and gender, shapes and influences their lived personal and/or professional experiences as educational leaders. This collection will be of interest to education leadership researchers, faculty, and students, practicing school and district administrators, and readers interested in education leadership studies, leadership theory, Black feminist thought, intersectionality, and African American leadership. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

This groundbreaking book presents a new way of looking at leadership that is anchored in research on women leaders in education. The authors examine how successful women in education lead and offer suggestions and ideas for developing and honing these exemplary leadership practices. Women and Educational Leadership shows how the qualities that characterize women's approaches to leadership differ from traditional approaches?whether the traditional leader is a woman or a man. The authors reveal that women leaders are more collaborative by nature and demonstrate a commitment to social justice. They tend to bring an instructional focus to leadership, include spiritual dimensions in their work, and strive for balance between the personal and professional. This important book offers a new model of leadership that shifts away from the traditional heroic notion of leadership to the collective account of leadership that focuses on leadership for a specific purpose—like social justice. The authors include illustrative examples of leaders who have brought diverse groups to work toward common ground. They also show how leadership is a way to facilitate and support the work of organizational members. The ideas and suggestions presented throughout the book can help the next generation fulfill the promise of a new tradition of leadership. Women and Educational Leadership is part of the Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education series.

Gender, Identity and Educational Leadership explores how head teachers' social identities – particularly pertaining to gender, social class and ethnicity – influence their leadership of diverse populations of pupils and staff. Informed by new research conducted throughout the first decade of the 21st century and advances in gender theories, the book draws attention to how head teachers' views of their diverse school populations influence school leadership. Connections are made between head teachers' social identities; their personal and professional histories; and their perceptions of diversity amongst the children, young people, staff and the wider communities they serve.