Jessica Haney
Women Face Tough Fight for Superintendent Jobs
Although almost 75 percent of elementary and secondary teachers are women
and the number of women qualified to be public school superintendents is
increasing, women still make up only 10 percent of all superintendents
nationwide. When applying for superintendent positions, women have been
asked questions
regarding how their husbands feel about the job and about relocating.
According to Elizabeth Morie, associate professor at James Madison
University and former
Lexington, Va. superintendent, women still have difficulty seeing themselves
as principals and need encouragement to seek the job of superintendent. Morie's
research confirms two other studies which found that male teachers move into
administration from the classroom earlier than women and are more likely to skip
several steps, such as going from middle school principal to superintendent.
Patricia Dignan, superintendent of Falls Church, Va. schools, said that once
women
move into higher positions, they still face greater scrutiny than men and
have a harder time establishing credibility.
Morie indicated that girls need to see more women in top positions in order
to envision higher possibilities for themselves. The younger I think they
see those role
models, the less they are inhibited," Morie said. Jackie DeFazio, president
of the American Association of University Women and a high school principal,
agreed.
She said that it is very important that kids see us modeling what the
possibilities are -- that not only for us, but in their minds, women can do
any kind of job."
[Source: The Washington Post - April 21, 1996]