Women in the Superintendency in New Hampshire: A Grounded Theory Study of Resilience
Date
2020
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Publisher
Southern New Hampshire University
Abstract
Though women comprise the majority of the education workforce in the United States, relatively
few serve in the role of school superintendent. This is problematic for two main reasons: first,
whenever one gender is underrepresented in any field, there is an accompanying lack of voice
and ideas; second, in a field that is reaching critical stages of leadership scarcity, the absence of
women represents a loss of potential talent in the applicant pool. The purpose of this study is to
focus on how women superintendents experience the process of building resilience as they attain
and serve in the position of superintendent. This is accomplished by examining participantidentified
obstacles, how they overcame those obstacles, and what drove them to continue doing
so during their most difficult times. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, 12 New
Hampshire women superintendents were interviewed, using iterative coding throughout the
analysis, and the resulting data analysis offers the emergence of a substantive and original theory
and two models (the capacitance model and the capacitance model in context) to illustrate this
phenomenon. By investigating the core of resilience, this study informs us about strategies and
mindsets that potentially open the gates to other women considering this role, increasing gender
equity in the superintendency and in the education professional overall.
Description
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Keywords
Educational Leadership, constructivist grounded theory