Women Leading In Education

A bold, feminist reimagining of educational leadership—where women’s voices challenge the system, reshape power, and lead schools into a new century.

Across classrooms, campuses, and communities, women have long led with courage, creativity, and conviction—often within systems not designed for them to thrive.

Women Leading in Education brings their stories, struggles, and strategies to the forefront, illuminating how women in educational leadership are reshaping schools and redefining power.

Diane M. Dunlap and Patricia A. Schmuck gather leading scholars and practitioners to examine the preparation, socialization, and lived experiences of women in educational administration.

From challenging traditional assumptions about leadership to confronting bureaucratic restraints, mentoring practices, and the "class ceiling," the essays move beyond critique to possibility. Contributors explore advocacy organizations, gender consciousness, equity in practice, and alternative visions of leadership for a new century.

With a foreword by Charol Shakeshaft, this volume is organized into four powerful sections:
· Preparing Women for Leadership
· Socialization into Educational Leadership
· Assimilation, Acceptance, and Resistance
· Shaping Alternative Visions of Leadership

Essential reading for scholars, graduate students, and practitioners in educational leadership, gender studies, and organizational theory, this volume not only documents women’s experiences—it celebrates them, challenges the status quo, and charts a bold agenda for the future of schooling.

Diane M. Dunlap is Dean of the Graduate School at Hamline University. Patricia A. Schmuck is Director of the Educational Administration Program at Lewis & Clark College. She is editor of Women Educators: Employees of Schools in Western Countries also published by SUNY Press.