Women Participated in School Administration: The Case in Taiwan
Lin, Huey-Yu*

Abstract
Statistics revealed that women in Taiwan continue to be underrepresented in school administration, in which the majority of professionals are women. Literature that examines reasons for the underrepresentation of women in school administration is reviewed in this paper. Advancement for women was hindered by three barriers.  They are: the psychological barrier that woman experience is lack of self-confidence, the social barriers are the expectation for socially appropriate behavior as a woman, and the organizational barriers occur in personnel practices, in organizational climate, and in the relationship with peers and subordinates.
Ways of overcoming barriers to advancement are discussed. They are: building personal values and belief systems, planning for career goals as early as possible, developing personal and professional support networks, and supporting gender-fair policy, etc.. 
This report argues that it is not part of the nature that men should manage while women teach in schools. Through training and practicing, women not only can teach, but also can command in schools. Feminist leadership reflects this view. Suggestions are also made for prospective woman administrators to advance or move them into school administration.

	Keywords: Feminist Leadership, Woman Administrator

* Lin, Huey-Yu, Associate Professor, National Taipei Teachers’ College

I.	Women in School Administration
School administration in Taiwan’s public and private schools is where the boys are. In 1996, statistics revealed that women still dominate the teaching field (Table 1). Women, who make up 64 percent of elementary school’s teacher corps, and 56 percent of middle school’s teacher corps, are underrepresented at all levels of school leaderships. Teaching as a female profession, only 8.3 percent of elementary school principals are women, about 12 percent of middle school principals are female (Table 2). The number dwindles, only 7 percent of Taiwan’s college and university presidents are women (Table 2). The higher the administrative position, the less likely the person holding it is a woman. 

Table 1. Percentage of Female Teacher in Schools	
Semester Year	Kinder-garden	Elementary School	Middle School	College University	average	
1994	98.8	62.0	54.9	33.0	62.1%	
1995	99.1	63.6	55.7	33.5	63.0%	
1996	97.7	64.0	56.0	33.9	62.9%	

   Data Resource: Statistical Information of Ministry of Education

Table 2. Percentage of Male & Female Principal in Schools	
	Elementary School	Middle    School	Vocational School	College & University	
Male   Principal	91.7	88	90.8	92.8	
Female Principal	8.3	12	9.2	7.1	

Data Resource: Revised from Lin, Mei-Ho (1995), The study of Women Education    
                Policy, p.199.

Why are there so few women in Taiwan’s educational administration?  In a study reported by Lin, Mei-Ho (1995), the educational structure and system, including materials, teachers, guidance, counselors, and college professors must take part of the blame. Lee, Yu-Huei (1998) cited a study by Yang Chiao (1982) which reported that the majority of beginning male teachers aspired to enter school administration, but only a few female teachers had similar aspirations.
In a study reported by Tsai, Mei-Yi (1992), the school systems did not encourage women to seek or apply for educational administrative positions, and even in that position, some of school colleagues felt that women do not have the capability to be leaders. Whether conscious or unconscious, sex discrimination does seem to exist in hiring practices. Newspaper (Central Daily News, April 19, 1998) reported that sex discrimination is practiced through “filtering methods” which filter out qualified women. “Recruiting filters” filter out females and/or persons whose ages over 40.
According to a survey conducted by Lee, Yu-Huei (1998). Women administrators bring valuable and distinctive backgrounds to their position because of the comparatively humble route they take to the top. The women climb the ladder one rung at a time, arriving at the top with a wealth of experience in the fundamentals of public education. The report also stresses the importance of developing personal and professional support networks. Lee believes that the morale of teachers in school where women are principals is just as high as schools headed by male principals.

II.	Women’s Barriers As School Administrator
Women do not have a lot of opportunity to experience the leaders role. Knowledge about leadership must be combined with opportunities for women to practice leadership. If a woman hopes to become an effective leader, she needs to recognize the barriers and to overcome the barriers to advancement. 

1.	Psychological Barriers:
The primary psychological barrier that woman experience is lack of self-confidence. Women limit their potential in a variety of ways because they lack confidence in their own abilities. This dimension is a reflection of the socialization to dependence, other-directedness, and sacrificing. By the other-directed nature of their roles, women’s worth is measured in term of others. They constantly need input from others to know that they’re “Okay”. This leads to two types of results: behavioral and intellectual results. The behavioral result is acquiescence; women are willing to meet other people’s expectations. The intellectual result is diagnostic ability. Women take, categorize, and organize input from others, they then classify and interpret that input. A woman’s constant need for more input to classify and interpret locks out the ability to decide and act. To succeed as managers, they must learn to overcome negative self-images, and act with confidence.

2.	Social Barriers:
The social barriers are the expectation for socially appropriate behavior as a woman. Whenever a woman approaches the boundary of the feminine role, she is threatened not only by men but also by other women, including her own mother and sisters. The woman just can be nurturing and helpful as a teacher, but if the woman in management is often viewed as inappropriate. All the force of social pressure is directed against her to force her back into line, back into conformity.
Tang, Wen-Huei (1988) studied “Highly Successful Woman Administrators and Their Family Life”, and revealed that women even in the higher position at workplace, but still have much demands from their family and home. Tang described career conflict for management women as a continuum that runs from total dedication to job at one end and to a balance between career and family at the other, with acceptable neither to the male corporate culture nor to the current social value. The dilemma that women who in school administration face is similar. 
Hsieh, Hsiao-Chin (1998) studied “Gender and Educational Expectation” and revealed that men enjoyed higher educational expectation and greater amount of resources than women, moreover, it is women that hold greater gender differential in educational expectation. We may thus speculate that Taiwan’s schooling system has reproduced, rather than challenged, the patriarchy order of the society. 
The degree of confidence a woman has in her own competencies affects her ability to cope with social pressure. The most confident and best prepared professionally can cope with the pressure most successfully. The educational materials should change in regard to men’s and women’s roles, and recreate their roles in new and powerful ways which could be beneficial to society.

3.	Organizational Barriers:
Organizational barriers occur in personnel practices, in organizational climate, and in the relationships with peers and subordinates. The sub-culture of school administration defines who is an appropriate candidate for an administrative position. Workplace subculture, as the system of roles, rules, and relationships that define a cohesive group, dictates socialization processes, defines who is suitable for what roles, and decides what characteristics constitute a good “fit” between an individual and a job.
Lee, Yu-Huei (1998) has given much thought to women’s roles in school administration, reported that school administration is a separate career from teaching, not an extension of it. Thus entry into school administration requires a resocialization process. She found that successful women administrators either subvert or go around the usual socialization processes and find alternative methods. Yet she points out that career socialization for school administrators in general is characterized by informality, ambiguity and role conflict. 
Tsai, Mei-Yi (1992) found that in a male-stereotyped role such as that of school administrator, women must pass through a special socialization process. In doing so, they experience conflict between traditional roles of women and the career demands and informal job criteria of administrative positions.
An organizational climate that overreacts can limit women’s willingness to take a risk or get exposure in activities with uncertain outcomes. If women are to be allowed, and expected to, maximize their potential and make their best contributions for the success of organizations, the organization itself must attempt to reduce its barriers. 
Women must assume the responsibility for thinking of themselves as professionals. To succeed, women must set goals, plan, prepare, and seek. They must be able to risk and willing to accept the consequences of their actions. Women can learn to be effective school administrators. They can learn the skills of leadership only before to overcome these three barriers.

III. Ways of Overcoming Barriers to Advancement
1.	Building Personal Values and Belief System
Personal values and belief system underlie attitudes and behavior. Value systems spring from the individual belief about the nature of humanity. Her leadership ability in an image of her belief about the ability and willingness to make contributions, as well as of her beliefs in her own capabilities. If she is confident in herself, she will be more willing to risk new information and input from others. If she is uncertain of her own capability, she may attempt to protect herself from being challenged, and thus neither expose herself to others nor share her responsibility in the organization.
The school administration is dominated by male colleagues. A woman administrator may believe that cooperation is a natural state, or that competition is the best motivator. One may prefer democratic methods and values, or may reflect an elitist philosophy. Whatever the belief system, the effective administrator must recognize that her own pre-dispositions have a great effect on the style of leadership that she is capable of adopting successfully.

2.	Planning for Career Goals As Early As Possible
Gupton and Slick (1996) conducted an exploratory interview study of fifteen highly successful women administrators in an effort to acquire the inside stories about how they achieved their career success. Catherine, one of the research participants advises women to plan strategically for their careers as early as possible. She said: ”first, my best advice is to pursue your own dreams – don’t sacrifice for someone else”. Many women failed to plan for their own careers but instead provided major support for their husbands to establish careers, their self-sacrificing experiences have a great effect on entering administrative positions.

3.	Developing Personal and Professional Support Networks
The majority of women administrators reinforced the professional literature’s assertion that support systems can play a significant role in career advancement. The importance of having a network of professional and personal acquaintances was often mentioned by top-level administrators, these women emphasized the need to support from both genders and to be supportive of both men and women in the profession.
Balancing family and career is still a major concern for career women. Woman administrators frequently stated that support for their efforts was needed not only in the professional arena but also in their personal lives. Those women were sensitive to the fact that their desires to advance professionally were out of the ordinary in traditional terms, and that an integral part of their success was support from their families or other close, personal relationships. 
Many of the women administrators encountered trying to balance personal and professional concerns, particularly dealing with the identity conflicts and role expectations, they encountered as wives, mothers, and career women. The dilemma that women should face is the demands of both family and career responsibilities.
Gupton and Slick (1996) reported the summary of this theme including the following:
¡	Marry someone who can handle your success!
¡	Maintain strong, supportive personal relationships and support systems – marriage, family are absolutely essential. 
¡	Tend to your personal relationships as astutely as you do your professional ones.
¡	Network, not just for job advancement, but also to learn, to share, and to maintain professional friends.

4.	Supporting Gender-Fair Policy
Women administrators should aware of sex bias issues. When in a position to make organizational and cultural changes, work hard to improve the system for the adults as well as the children by encouraging gender-fair policy and practice in the workplace. Women may become politically active and involved in civic affairs, such as joining professional organizations that support gender-fair practices, advocating gender equity legislation, fostering employment equity policies and programs.
Women in educational administration must take their personal values and strengths to the political arena to transform education, and ultimately, society.

IV.	Advice for Prospective Woman Administrators
1.	If you feel you have leadership qualities and desire the principalship, you must let the fact be known. 
2.	Prepare yourself professionally with the highest degree feasible for you. How high a degree is necessary will depend on the educational level of those in your district, especially those who are in direct competition with you.
3.	It is helpful to read professional literature and attend conferences and workshops. The contacts that can be invaluable in getting the jobs. Find opportunities to join groups where your capabilities will be recognized. Seek subtle ways to expose organizational skills; never miss an opportunity for positive professional exposure. Sell yourself to the community, peers and professional groups of education. Maintain your positive female traits, but at the same time be assertive and excellent.
4.	When you have completed all the degrees, attained the grades, and met the certification requirements and you have been actively involved in being recognized for your leadership qualities, you should apply. Even if there are no positions; and do not hesitate to apply, even in the face of quality male candidates, keep trying, believe that the woman will have to do it better.

Conclusion
Today, women have begun to discover that they not only have bodies, but they also have brains; they have begun to discover that not only can they serve, but they can also command. 
The rising aspirations of women to be managers and leaders is part of a world-wide trends. A life expectancy of seventy-six years and an average family size of less than two children mean that women, even after childrearing, have thirty to thirty-five years of time available for employment. Continuing emphasis on achievement orientation and increased educational opportunities provide the incentive and motivation for women to pursue new options. 
A shift in emphasis from product to service business in Taiwan economy has expanded employment possibilities for women. School administrative position has also increased more opportunities for women. Changes in both family roles and in public attitude continue to encourage employment for women. The combined effect will continue to contribute to growing opportunities in management for women. Through training and practicing women will become effective administrators. 

Reference:
Hsieh Hsiao-Chih, ���(1998)�������������������������������������(9) pp.205-231�
Lee Yu-Huei, ���(1998)��������������������������������������������
Lin Mei-Ho, ���(1995)�����������������������������p.195-210�
Tang Wen-Huei, ���(1988)��������������������������������
Tsai Mei-Yi, �� (1992) ����������� ������������ �������������� �� � �� ������
Yang Chiao, ��(1982)���������������������������������
Gill, Barbara A.. Educators and Visionaries: Women in Educational Administration in New Brunswick. ED368035.
Gupton, Sandra Lee; Slick, Gloria Appelt. Highly Successful Women Administrators: The Inside Stories of How They Got There. ED399674.
Kruger, Meta L.. Gender Issues in School Headship: Quality versus Power? European Journal of Education; v31 n4 p447-61 Dec 1996. EJ539580.
Regan, Helen B.; Brooks, Gwen H.. Out of Women’s Experience: School Leadership for Women and Men. ED354593.
Reynolds, Cecelia;. Schoolmarms and Tokens: Outdated Images for Women in Education.; ED300863.
Schmidt, Linda J.. Women in Educational Administration—A Disappearing Construct. ED350707.
Smith, Francie. Women in Educational Administration: Moving from a paradigm of Power and Control to Empowerment and Equality. ED353675.