ABSTRACT

There is an emergent body of scholarship about the specific ways in which Black women lead within the context of education. In the United States, women comprise three-quarters of the educational workforce. Yet, roughly four in five senior-level leaders in education are male. Although developments continue to be made, only very recently has significant advancement been made in what remains a historically male-dominated space. Black women represent the most educated group in today’s workforce; yet, they represent a small fraction of leaders who ascend above the ranks of mid-level management. In response to this, we were compelled to add to the existing research in this sphere. Our paper incorporates social justice leadership theory as a frame for the study of Black women in the context of educational leadership. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenology, we interviewed four Black women in educational leadership to examine the intersecting factors (i.e. race and gender) that impact these women’s ability to lead. Using in-depth, timed, semi-structured interviews, contributors reflected upon their unique experiences and perceptions as non-archetypal leaders. Participants’ recounted stories of resilience, community, struggle, and perseverance revealed the need for more US-based research specific to the intricate leadership journeys of Black women in education.

摘要

关于黑人女性在教育背景下的具体领导方式，出现了一系列学术研究。在美国，女性占教育劳动力的四分之三。然而，大约五分之四的高级教育领导者是男性。尽管发展仍在继续，但直到最近，在历史上仍由男性主导的领域才取得重大进展。黑人女性代表了当今劳动力中受教育程度最高的群体；然而，他们只占晋升到中层管理人员以上的领导者的一小部分。为此，我们不得不增加该领域的现有研究。我们的论文将社会正义领导理论作为在教育领导背景下研究黑人女性的框架。采用解释学现象学，我们采访了四位从事教育领导工作的黑人女性，以研究影响这些女性领导能力的交叉因素（即种族和性别）。通过深入、定时、半结构化的访谈，贡献者反思了他们作为非典型领导者的独特经历和看法。参与者讲述的关于复原力、社区、斗争和毅力的故事表明，需要更多基于美国的研究，专门针对黑人女性在教育领域的错综复杂的领导历程。