LAWRENCE — Although they comprise about 75% of the PK-12 teaching workforce, women remain underrepresented in administrative and district-level leadership roles. A new book from University of Kansas education experts addresses that phenomenon, aiming to empower women to take leadership roles in schools.
Authors Jennifer Perez Bessolo, professor of the practice in educational leadership & policy studies and director of KU’s K-12 administration doctorate program, and Carrie Mugridge, assistant superintendent of Santa Fe Trail Schools in Osage County, Kansas, have seen firsthand the challenges, doubts and questions that have kept women from advancing in educational leadership.
Their new book, “Leading Without Apology: Empowering Women in Educational Leadership: From Aspiration to Advancement,” aims to guide women in education to move into roles such as finance director or superintendent.
Bessolo was an educational practitioner for 17 years before becoming a faculty member at KU. She was a school district leader, principal and teacher, and she mentored educators in their careers.
“I used to say that if I had a dollar for every conversation I had with a female student who had questions about advancement ...,” Bessolo said. “We have majority women in our educational administration program, yet men still dominate the field. Carrie lives that life in the field every day.”
Mugridge earned her master’s degree and doctorate at KU, and her dissertation mirrored Bessolo’s experiences.
“I interviewed 24 women in educational administration, and every one of them had experience with the good old boys’ network or being told they weren’t ready for a higher position,” Mugridge said. “We thought writing a book about their experiences, how to advance, do things like write a resume, negotiate a contract, survive impostor syndrome and how to find a healthy professional situation would be helpful.”
“Leading Without Apology” unfolds in three parts.
The first addresses barriers to leadership advancement. The section’s chapters address “silent saboteurs,” including starting a family or internal beliefs that a woman might not be ready or qualified to take on a leadership role.
Part two more fully examines how to move past the barriers, specifically how to go from recognizing them to making strategies to overcome them. Chapters encourage readers to own their narratives; understand the search, hiring and promotion processes; and how to lead without apology. Often, the authors said, women are taught to be supportive of others and not speak up for themselves. But advocating for oneself is not only necessary to advance, but it can also be done without being confrontational, they illustrate.
The book’s third part focuses on shaping the future of women’s educational leadership and how to move from simply surviving to thriving. By recognizing a changing workforce, leveraging that change and redefining educational leadership, women can not only advance in their own careers but lay the groundwork for the next generation of women leaders, the authors wrote.
Finally, “Leading Without Apology” shares wisdom from women in educational leadership roles. They share stories of their successes, how they got there, what they wish they had known earlier and how others can benefit from those lessons.
While the book’s primary audience is K-12 educators, the lessons apply to women looking to advance in higher education as well, the authors said, and can also benefit students working toward becoming educators and to develop the confidence that they can in fact be leaders. Further, it can be beneficial to men looking to support women colleagues in advancing in their careers and assuming leadership roles.
“The pressures and systemic challenges to women in the field like sexism and discrimination may not be as overt as they once were,” Bessolo said. “But there are still very real issues like being a mom, impostor syndrome and other contextual factors that people might not even realize are there. They’re not always screaming-in-your-face challenges any more, but we still want to help recognize and overcome them.”