Do women principals really face with barriers in schools? critics of glass ceiling syndrome in turkey

Administration of schools and achieving the goals in democratic and transparent society requires gender neutral settings. Together with the researches that aimed to unveil the gendered stereotypical behavior in organizational settings, some other related topics have also been investigated such as women’s barriers for principals, democratic and liberal discourse of gendered identity, cross-cultural perspective for gendered stereotypes. Although cultures are context specific and unique for each society depending on religious, historical, societal and geographical backgrounds; classification, stereotypes and cultural metaphors have more or less resembled each other, or the studies in different context seem as if they have reiterated one another. Women’s traditional roles of domestic responsibility have begun to change since equality movements together with some legislation have put in force in different settings. Most of the researches that were conducted in different societal and cultural settings had resulted in conclusion that women face with unequal conditions in administration. The purpose of the paper is to present the clear insights of women principals. Qualitative research design was used to figure out unique perspectives of 8 women principals in school administration. The study reveals that women principals in this context have not exposed certain barriers or stereotypes on the process of selection, promotion and in practice; rather, they have been supported by superiors.

Women principals ,

glass ceiling ,

school administration ,

gendered identities ,

barriers ,