Gender and leadership in South African educational administration

Between 1994 and 1999, new discourses of social justice and gender equity e nabled the entry of significant numbers of women into the previously all-ma te domains of the educational bureaucracy. At the same time, women in one b ureaucracy were leaving as fast as they were entering. This article probes this phenomenon of the simultaneous transformation of the educational admin istration and the apparent consolidation of earlier patriarchal forms of co ntrol, albeit on a non-racial basis. On the basis of 16 in-depth interviews conducted in the Gauteng Department of Education with key decision-makers, the article argues that these developments can be explained by the particu lar constructs and practices of leadership in educational administration th at associate leadership and competence with masculinity, rationality, and w hiteness. This is evident in how interviewees framed their experience of au thority, and leadership, visibility and recognition and balance between pub lic and private life. The experience overall was such as to lever women out of their positions. All interviewees drew on a range of personal and socia l resources to deal with the stresses and strains of working in educational administration. Black women drew strength from a belief in the collective strength and capability of women rooted in materna feminism.