Schools that are led by women register better learning outcomes, the findings of the latest study from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reveal. The 2024 Global Education Monitoring Report cites women teachers’ effective skills in instruction and collaboration and fostering conducive learning environments being among the key factors that help schools led by females to achieve better results across various areas of education.
This is backed by other research such as the 2019 study involving 14 countries in Africa which showed that children across several women-led schools performed better in maths and reading than their counterparts in schools that were led by men. Similarly, a separate study carried out in Kenya in 2022 found that learners in female-headed schools performed better in reading than their counterparts in educational institutions that were led by men.
Another survey conducted in the same year across Africa reported that women were not only effective leaders in schools, but they also promoted collaboration and the sharing of responsibilities between the actors within a school environment, which resulted in better learning outcomes. For example, in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, higher learning outcomes were attributed more to women school leaders than men.
In countries such as Togo, Cameroon, Madagascar, Benin, and Senegal, research shows that women are effective in monitoring school attendance and levels of absenteeism among teachers are lower in those African schools that are led by female teachers. Women teachers also deal with menstruation and other health-related issues more effectively than men thus encouraging more girls to stay in school.
In Uganda, the UNESCO study found that female school leaders serve as examples and motivators for girls while in the United States, women school leaders commit more time to setting goals and promoting participatory management techniques than their male counterparts which results in better school administration.
Several other studies show that schools experience positive changes in various aspects, including infrastructure, welfare, and student discipline when women are in charge. However, while some surveys included in the UNESCO report did not find evidence to prove that the gender of school leaders influenced academic outcomes across the world, it was acknowledged that various factors unique to particular regions could encourage women to approach education differently from men – eventually contributing to improving learning outcomes for students.
More female teachers, few women school leaders
While the significant contribution of women teachers to global education is indisputable, there are few women in leadership positions in schools despite most countries having more female than male teachers. Such imbalances are significant in several African countries. For instance, more than 60% of teachers in Zimbabwean primary schools are women, but less than 30% lead these institutions. They make up close to 50% of teachers in secondary schools, yet just over 15% are principals. In South Africa, women account for 70% of instructors in government primary and secondary school sectors, but less than 40% lead schools. Yet the women teachers in some of these schools are better qualified than their male counterparts, the UNESCO study noted.
In other African countries such as Guinea and Burkina Faso, only around 10% of school principals are women whereas in countries such as Madagascar, men and women share the positions of school principals almost equally.
The proportion of female leaders in primary and secondary schools in around 40 countries is on average 20% lower than the share of women teachers, the same study showed. While the gap is even wider in Vietnam, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, and Japan, the share of women school heads is almost equal to or greater than the proportion of female teachers in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Jordan, and Brazil. The UNESCO survey shows this trend is growing in several countries, including the United States.
Barriers
Several barriers, such as the negative attitudes towards the potential of women leaders, a lack of mentorship and networking opportunities, limited confidence, and challenges relating to balancing work and family, keep women from rising to leadership positions in schools.
Other factors include discrimination, vague recruitment procedures, and job vacancies crafted in a manner that makes them more appealing to males than females. In some countries, women in leadership face sabotage, disrespect, insubordination, and discrimination, the UN agency for education found. Because these barriers deny women opportunities to advance into senior positions, many female teachers are inexperienced in management which then excludes them from promotion. For example, the UNESCO survey found that male teachers in Texas in the United States stood a high chance of being elected principals with women deputising for them.
The situation is almost the same in higher institutions of learning, such as universities, with fewer women in top leadership positions. In Africa, women are not just underrepresented in top leadership positions but also across all levels in these institutions.
Although several countries state that gender parity in education is a key priority, just 11% of nations globally have strategies in place to encourage the recruitment of more women as school principals. Some researchers have called for education campaigns to deal with negative attitudes towards the potential of women as leaders and affirmative action programs to move more females into leadership positions in schools. As an example, under the affirmative action strategies recently introduced in Ethiopia, 30% of all positions in public institutions, including schools, are ringfenced for women.
