Book

Description

This research study aims to investigate the significance of the gender of secondary school head teachers in influencing their leadership styles within the context of Pakistan-an emerging country. Pakistan's cultural milieu is characterized by patriarchal undertones that translate into low gender equality, particularly in terms of lower educational attainment and lesser professional opportunities for females as compared to males. Within this setting, this study views the relationship between gender and educational leadership through the feminist educational leadership perspective, while the contextual environment is analysed by employing an adaptation of Brofenbrenner’s ecological development theory.

A mixed-methods research design has been used to answer this study’s research questions. The quantitative research method is based on a survey that was administered to a random sample of 350 secondary school head teachers belonging to the public and private sectors within nine districts of the Punjab province in Pakistan. The self-rater Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to determine the self-perceptions of head teachers regarding their leadership styles. While, the qualitative research method utilizes semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of 14 head teachers to obtain an in-depth understanding of how the contextual environment is perceived by head teachers and to investigate whether their gender emerges as a significant factor amidst those experiences within Pakistan’s context. The study's findings fill a gap in research about gender and educational leadership in emerging country contexts.