Abstract:

The pathway and educational leadership terrain that women navigate is often un/under researched. The rationale for this study was to interrupt the silences on South African women's narratives in educational leadership and to reclaim from obscurity their presence and ensure their participation in educational leadership discourses.

Women dominate the South African educational system, and the implementation of equality and gender equity laws facilitated a reconfiguration of male-dominated professions making leadership positions more accessible for women. However, attaining leadership roles, for women, within the profession is often beset with political and socio-cultural challenges. Women who ultimately assume leadership roles invariably enact motherly tendencies and show sensitivity to social justice issues. These qualities are often consistent with servant leadership characteristics such as nurturance, care, and an attitude of social justice – but are often devalued. The study aimed to explore the extent to which women in education default to servant leadership styles in their role as educational leaders.

A mixed methods research approach was adopted with a critical feminist framework. A transformative paradigm informed the mixed methods approaches. Data were collected from 120 women educational leaders in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, using a concurrent mode. For the qualitative component, two women self-empowerment workshops and three focus group discussions were held. The quantitative component comprised a revised scale measuring servant leadership characteristics. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the modified Servant Leadership Scale was 0.84., indicating that all the variables yielded internal consistency estimates that suggest reliable scores. The two data sets were analyzed separately. The qualitative data were inductively analyzed, using critical discourse analysis (CDA) and descriptive analysis to analyze the quantitative data for observable patterns. The two data sets were integrated, using a bidirectional approach to give rise to meta inferences.

The quantitative results revealed that participants possess virtuous characteristics such as integrity through honesty, trustworthiness and being of service to others. The qualitative narratives conveyed that most participants respond proactively to the contextual leadership challenges that they face. These responses are laden with servant leadership traits. However, evidence suggested that some participants respond with silence to the social injustices prevalent within their contexts.

The study established that South African women in education contend with social justice challenges on multiple levels – at a personal level, within their school contexts, and within the wider community. Women navigate these challenges by engaging proactive responses, which are representative of servant leadership behaviors, rooted in ethical social justice pursuits. Furthermore, social justice intentions and behaviors center on inclusion and embracing diversity.

Keywords:

Servant leadership, critical feminism, mixed methods, social justice, South Africa, women education leaders.