For me, it’s pretty telling that even though the gender balance in leadership at each school is around 60-40, each school leadership body felt either overwhelmingly “male” or overwhelmingly “female”. I’m not sure if that says more about me or more about the difference in leadership styles.

I have a draft of a chapter in my next book that summarizes some of the research if anyone is interested. I would post it, but can’t figure out how to do it.

Charol Shakeshaft cshakeshaft@vcu.edu

Marcy hit the mark when she said that we are NOT at a post-racial/gender [North] America. She added, ‘yet’ but I ask why would we want to be? Stripping people of their gender or race is to take away our essence.

I think we need to be focusing on a post-hate America but continue to recognize that who I am and how I lead (or not) has a lot to do with my gender, my race, my ethnicity.
Tracy Rosen´s last blog ..doing the right things or doing things right

Besides, what would it even mean to state that someone administers a school “like a man” or “like a woman”?
Peter´s last blog ..wacky whacking

As for gender influencing leadership styles, it has been my experience that women are more inclined to want to reach a consensus, whereas men are more inclined to simply make a ruling on whatever facts are before them, irrespective of what the voices around them may have to say. It has also been my experience that women tend to have a reluctance to act on their own instincts, i.e. make an executive decision now, suffer whatever fallout may result later. Not only has this been my experience in the schools where I have been employed, it is also the style of the management office at the apartment complex where I reside. When a decision needs to be made, there is a lot of placating, as opposed to taking a risk, and moving to the next level of the decision-making ladder. In the case of the apartment complex management, it could be a factor of age. The women who run the office are, for the most part, fairly young, and may lack experience. But, it also tells me something, even in 2009, of a woman’s reluctance to take charge.
MarcyWebb´s last blog ..A Wiki Primer

I suspect that faculty and staff members respond differently to administrators based on a lot of other factors before gender. Let me rephrase that–Within each of the genders, I see a wide range in my own opinions of and relationships with the various administrators in my school/district. That means that other factors are more significant than gender.

This might be pie-in-the-sky, but I think we are largely in a post-racialgender America, because people respond to result. Race and gender (and height, weight, and a slew of other physical traits) influence our first impressions, to be sure, but results carry the day.
Jason´s last blog ..Murder in the name of ratings