Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to unearth the narratives on how systems in society, culture, politics, school, family, work, and community both empower and impede the career and leadership aspirations of South African women in education. A mixed methods approach with a critical feminist framework was employed to investigate and represent women’s expansive social reality. Data were collected from 120 women educational leaders in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, using a concurrent approach. For the qualitative component, two women self-empowerment workshops and three focus group discussions were held. Using an adapted version of Gregor and O’ Brien’s (2015) Career Aspiration Scale-Revised (CAS-R2), the quantitative aspect of the study measured the extent to which participants aspire to advance their careers. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the quantitative data for observable patterns. The qualitative data were inductively analyzed, using critical discourse analysis (CDA). The two data sets were integrated, using a bidirectional approach to give rise to meta inferences.

The quantitative results highlighted the formidable influence of socio-cultural factors on the career and leadership aspirations of participants. Moreover, external and internal barriers to the participants’ ascent to leadership positions were attributed to gender stereotyping, gendered role assignment, isolation from colleagues, work-family conflict, patriarchal culture, hierarchical societies, as well as institutionalized and systemic gender discrimination. The quantitative results illuminated the participants’ perceptions of idealistic leadership, gender-specific leadership, and the characteristics of women educational leaders.

The study recommends that, for women in education to overcome the factors that impede their career and leadership aspirations, formal educational leadership empowerment programmes should be instituted. In addition, women in education should be afforded greater opportunities for career and leadership attainment. These should incorporate exposure to leadership roles, mentorship approaches and role models.

Keywords:

Career aspirations, critical feminism, mixed methods, South Africa, women education leaders.