Dive Brief:
- Women still lead only 30% of the nation’s largest school districts, according to the second annual insight survey from Woman Leading Ed, a national network for women in education leadership. That number is largely unchanged over the past decade despite women holding 80% of teaching positions.
- Gender bias impacts women leaders’ physical and mental health, career pathways and compensation, according to responses gathered from over 140 women representing district and state superintendents and high-level executive leaders in K-12 between November and December.
- “We conduct the survey to understand the obstacles women face in their leadership paths, but also to gain insight into what we can do to find and develop the new generation of leaders our education systems need,” said Julia Rafal-Baer, co-founder and CEO of Women Leading Ed, in the report.
Dive Insight:
The Women Leading Ed Insight Survey found that not only do women leaders comprise a small portion of educational leadership roles, but they face unique challenges and stressors compared to their male colleagues.
Some 82% of women leaders report making greater career sacrifices than their male colleagues, yet two-thirds of women over 50 say they have been passed up for advancement opportunities.
The survey found that expertise and authority are also routinely questioned for women leaders: 63% of all respondents indicated their decisions and capabilities are questioned more frequently than male colleagues, and 76% of current superintendents reported the same issue.
These challenges have taken a toll on women leaders’ health, with only 4 in 10 respondents reporting good or very good physical health in the last year. These ratings are slightly lower for mental health, and they’ve declined five percentage points from last year’s Insight Survey.
According to 93% of women leaders, burnout is a major problem. That stress has led to 58% of all respondents and 63% of superintendents contemplating leaving the field. The report found that among those considering leaving, 88% think about it at least monthly. That’s up from 75% last year.
Gender bias also harms women leaders’ career pathways, the report found. While 71% of superintendents and 54% of all respondents in education leadership positions hold doctoral degrees, this appears to be driven by perceived necessity rather than choice. Some 71% of superintendent respondents report feeling moderate to extreme pressure to obtain these degrees, and 94% attribute that pressure to their gender.
Furthermore, women leaders in education have less access to mentorship opportunities, which leads to less knowledge of compensation negotiation and financial management.
While 58% of respondents report having received coaching, fewer have benefited from mentoring or sponsorship — 44% and 22%, respectively. Though 60% of school districts offer professional development, the report found, only 19% provide coaching, and just 30% provide access to executive coaching.
Survey responses also revealed that 32% of respondents have never negotiated compensation, and the 45% that did negotiate said gender influenced the outcome.
Based on the findings of this year's report, Women Leading Ed is advocating for intentional support systems for women leaders, fair hiring processes and financial fairness in order to combat some of these challenges.
