Significance of cultural context in shaping female school leadership and management in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

The problem of gender inequality has existed as long as the human race but surprisingly, it has persisted in modern society. This paper sought to explore culture as a context in which female school leaders exercise their roles and how it influences their practice. Studies were identified through carefully defined eligibility criteria. A thematic analysis was conducted through the use of mind maps to deduce four common themes. There was evidence that culture has an impact on how female school leaders lead as cultural values are constructed in the family and infiltrate into other institutions outside family boundaries. The treatment of women leaders is influenced by patriarchal attitudes transferred from the home to the workplace. Gendered social role constructs describe what women should be, prescribe how they should behave which devalues their performance, inhibits their success, and categorises them as incompetent. The analysis recommended the intensification of the interrogation of structures and sites where social constructs are reproduced and supported. Socially constructed identities have been confirmed as the source of gender inequalities. In conclusion, society is unlikely to be sensitive to the importance of gender equity until the formal structures and processes that support inequality are transformed.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender stereotypes
• cultural context
• gender inequalities
• female principals
• school leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zvisinei Moyo

Zvisinei Moyo completed post-doctoral research fellowship in the department of Education Leadership and Management at the University of Johannesburg. She is a beneficiary of the South African National Research Foundation Freestanding Postdoctoral Fellowship 2019 to 2020. She has been a recipient of the 2018 Recognition of Excellence for Outstanding Achievement in Research and Academic Citizenship in the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Programme of the University of Johannesburg. Her strongest intellectual influences and academic interests lie in the field of education leadership, women in education leadership, qualitative research methodologies, social justice and gender issues in education.