A Pernicious Problem: The Absence of Women from Administrative Roles

Authors

Marilyn Grady, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Barbara LaCost, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Frederick C. Wendel, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Bernita Krumm, Oklahoma State University - Main CampusFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1998

Citation

Published in Women as School Executives: Realizing the Vision, Edited by Carole Funk, Anita Pankake, & Marianne Reese, The Texas Council of Women School Executives, 1998.

Comments

© Copyright 1998 by Texas Council of Women School Executives

Abstract

In 1972 Title IX, the vaccine against gender inequity, was unveiled. Title IX is a federal law making sex discrimination in schools illegal. Under Title IX, sex bias is outlawed in school athletics, career counseling, medical services, financial aid, admission practices, and the treatment of students. In 1974, Congress passed the Women's Educational Equity Act to fund research, materials, and training to help schools eliminate gender bias. In 1978, Congress broadened the Civil Rights Act to include educational services to eliminate gender bias. Under the redesigned civil rights legislation, ten sex desegregation assistance centers were created to assist teachers, parents, and students in developing nonsexist programs (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). In 1998, twenty-six years after the passage of Title IX, vestiges of gender inequity persist. Although issues concerning the underrepresentation of women in school administration have been addressed in the literature throughout the past 26 years, the problem persists. This chapter chronicles the history of the inequities, the barriers to women as administrators, and outlines the means of reducing the inequities.