Gender and Educational Leadership in Greece

Book excerpt: Worldwide women constitute the majority of the teaching force, but men are more likely to achieve headship. Internationally a number of scholars working within sociology and the sociology of education have focused on the continued influence of gender on the shaping of identity and choices in relation to leadership, work and home. But in Greece the under-representation of women in educational leadership has received limited attention. Why are there so few women in educational leadership? How are leadership and gender constructed by men and women head teachers and teachers? Are the perceptions of men and women different and gendered? What is the future for women in leadership in Greece? Emmy Papanastasiou uses qualitative data from interviews with men and women head teachers and teachers in Greece and analyzes them using a feminist social constructionist framework to provide some answers to these key questions. In doing so, the book sheds light on social, cultural and political factors that influence women's potential advancement in educational leadership.