The Time Is Now:
A New Playbook for Women in Education Leadership
America’s school systems lost leaders in droves to the “Great Resignation” during the Covid pandemic. It was a loss, but also a major opportunity to rectify a dramatic imbalance in district leadership. Education has long been a field with an overwhelmingly female workforce led overwhelmingly by men. Despite the fact that a greater percentage of women than men today graduate from college and pursue careers, and despite the fact that the teaching workforce is majority female, less than a third of school district superintendents are women. A swath of newly open positions represented a chance for change.
As a nation, we missed it.
New data from the Superintendent Research Project reveals that superintendent searches between 2020 and 2022 reinforced the status quo. Women were chosen less than a third of the time, even in places where the seat was previously occupied by a woman. Men were hired in these newly open seats seven out of ten times. It’s a trend that has not changed for the better part of the last decade.
The problem is not a lack of female talent. It’s that women face both systemic and informal obstacles to advancement that seldom impede — and in some cases, advantage — many male leaders. These obstacles include discrimination, an absence of family-friendly policies and leave practices, biased leadership pipelines, pay inequities, and prejudicial recruitment and hiring processes. At every stage in her career, a woman encounters stronger headwinds than her male colleagues — and the challenges intensify the higher she climbs.
We are calling for action at the district, state, and federal levels to implement policies that ensure female leaders have a fair shot at top jobs in education. More than 100 top female leaders in K-12 education have signed on to advocate for best practices in their own states and districts, and more allies are pledging their support every day.
This playbook synthesizes years of workplace research and outlines strategies and practices to transform the education leadership ladder. These strategies serve to:
Create and promote intentional support systems to prepare women for leadership roles
Re-balance the hiring process through requirements and the promotion of best practices
Provide family and wellbeing supports
Set public goals for female leadership and increase transparency
Ensure financial fairness
Women Leading Ed invites you to join us. Become an advocate by signing your name to our public letter below.
Kibbey Crumbley, Zone 7 Superintendent, Fulton County Schools
“ Imagine walking into the central office and seeing a really good representation of our students. We would would see women, we would see women of color, we would see men, we would see men of color. We would see a diverse representation of what our students look like — and with more women around the table, we would see a better representation of our workforce. ”
We’re advocating for policies and practices that make it possible for women to succeed in positions of education leadership.
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Intentional support systems to prepare women for leadership roles.
Intentional supports are needed to help women build their confidence and overcome societal barriers that can inhibit advancement into leadership positions.
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Fair hiring processes that prioritize gender diversity and implement best practices.
Hiring more women into leadership roles requires gender diversity in the recruitment process. There are many practical and policy changes states and districts can make to reduce bias against women and build balance into recruitment and hiring processes.
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Family and wellbeing supports.
Ensuring more women can rise into leadership positions requires addressing underlying inequalities in gender role stereotypes and the distribution of unpaid work — especially when it comes to child care and elder care.
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Public goals for female leadership and increased employment transparency.
What gets measured gets done. The federal government has an especially crucial role to play here, but states and districts also should set solid goals, track progress, and publicly report results to ensure gender diversity is given the priority it deserves.
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Financial fairness.
Women should be paid the same as men for the same work.
Ready to join us? Sign the advocacy letter today.
More than 100 women in education leadership and their allies have already joined our call to action, and more are joining us by the day. We welcome your public support!