Leadership and gender equality

If you’re teacher with leadership aspirations than you probably already know that one useful attribute is to be a man. The figures bear repetition – women make up 68 per cent of secondary teachers but only 36 per cent of secondary heads.

Gender bias in workplace recruitment has its roots in the fact that, like just about everything else, much of working life, historically, has been run by men. As a consequence, even balanced appointment panels can, consciously or not, look for management qualities that are perceived as masculine.

Apply this to the selection of school leaders, and what women are up against is a pernicious belief often hidden, sometimes openly expressed, that men are better than women at maintaining good discipline. Kate Chhatwal, chief programme officer at charity Future Leaders, makes the point in a blog on their website entitled ‘We need a big strong man to sort out student behaviour’ – and other myths.