For the Ladies (All 105 of Them)

July 31, 2008

For the Ladies (All 105 of Them)

Paul, Bill, David, Steve, Michael. It’s not an exhaustive list, but those are some of the most common superintendent names. “Mary” shows up much less often.

In fact, nearly 79 percent* of Missouri superintendents are male.

Though it’s getting better, it’s a sad fact that men tend to earn higher salaries than equally qualified women. It’s a sad fact that there are more men in leadership positions than women.

But in school districts, where superintendents tend to come from the ranks of teachers and administrators, this is shocking. It’s not just that a large majority of Missouri superintendents are male. It’s that a large majority of superintendents are male while a large majority of school district employees are female. According to the National Center of Education Information, 82 percent of all teachers in the United States were female in 2005.

I can hear knees jerking: There aren’t as many women as men who have advanced education degrees. Women don’t pursue leadership positions. Women like working on a teaching schedule instead of the nearly constant one demanded of superintendents. The superintendent is chosen by the school board, and they just choose the most qualified candidate. Women need time to cook dinner …

Right now, I don’t have a numeric answer for any of those claims. I can tell you that there are many male superintendents who don’t have advanced degrees, and there are many female superintendents who do.

I can tell you that I can’t remember corresponding with a male secretary at any of the 524 Missouri school districts from which Cynthia and I have been requesting superintendent contracts. Whatever the reason, it looks like a lot of school employees fall within traditional gender roles.

*To calculate the 78.8 percent, I used the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s listing of superintendents for the 2007–2008 school year. I did not include charter schools in this, nor did I include the principals at small Missouri schools that do not have a superintendent.

If you have any comments about this post, please leave them below. As always, if you have suggestions or questions about my research, please email me.

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4 Comments »

Audrey,

“An NEA survey shows that the number of male public school teachers now stands at a 40-year low. After two decades of decline, just 21 percent of the nation’s 3 million teachers are men. Male elementary school teachers are even more scarce. According to NEA’s research report, Status of the American Public School Teacher, the percentage of male elementary teachers has fallen from an all-time high of 18 percent in 1981 to an all-time low of 9 percent today. And while men represented half of secondary teachers in 1986, today they make up 35 percent.”

Clearly, the problem is not enough female superintendents. An educational system that treats male teachers as potential predators and fails to educate young men at the same level as young women definitely needs some work on it discriminatory attitudes and policies – but are you tilting at the right windmill?

Comment by Jim Durbin — August 3, 2008 @ 3:19 p.m.
Jim,

Thank you for your comment. Your point, that there are few male teachers, is well taken.

However, I don’t see the lack of men in the teaching profession as evidence of across-the-board discrimination. Sure, sometimes there are suspicions of men as potential predators. And yes, there should be greater encouragement of men to enter teaching. But is it discrimination, or are men just choosing better-paying jobs?

As you stated, there are so many women in a field that draws on teachers for superintendents that it just makes it more surprising that there are fewer female ones.

Comment by Audrey Spalding — August 4, 2008 @ 3:25 p.m.
You might also check which career track the superintendents followed to get to the position of superintendent.It seems as if most of the male superintendents were coaches or involved in athletics.
[I recently ran across an e-mail written by a rural superintendent to a parent that was shocking in its illiteracy. Surely educators, even coaches, must be held to some standard in the written word before they are awarded an ed.D.]

Comment by susan — August 8, 2008 @ 2:14 p.m.
Susan, thanks for the insight.

Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to bring up that question — that male superintendents seem to be former coaches or somehow involved in athletics. Definitely interesting if it’s true.

This paper explored some of the pay differences between male and female superintendents:
http://teep.tamu.edu/reports/report012.pdf

Specifically: when a new superintendent replaces an old one, he or she is paid about 2.63 percent less than the previous one.

When a male is hired to replace a female superintendent, salary remains about the same.

When a female is hired to replace a male superintendent, salary drops about 7.5 percent. (all of these numbers are on page 12 of the paper)

Comment by Audrey Spalding — August 8, 2008 @ 3:34 p.m.

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Audrey,

“An NEA survey shows that the number of male public school teachers now stands at a 40-year low. After two decades of decline, just 21 percent of the nation’s 3 million teachers are men. Male elementary school teachers are even more scarce. According to NEA’s research report, Status of the American Public School Teacher, the percentage of male elementary teachers has fallen from an all-time high of 18 percent in 1981 to an all-time low of 9 percent today. And while men represented half of secondary teachers in 1986, today they make up 35 percent.”

Clearly, the problem is not enough female superintendents. An educational system that treats male teachers as potential predators and fails to educate young men at the same level as young women definitely needs some work on it discriminatory attitudes and policies – but are you tilting at the right windmill?

Comment by Jim Durbin — August 3, 2008 @ 3:19 p.m.

Jim,

Thank you for your comment. Your point, that there are few male teachers, is well taken.

However, I don’t see the lack of men in the teaching profession as evidence of across-the-board discrimination. Sure, sometimes there are suspicions of men as potential predators. And yes, there should be greater encouragement of men to enter teaching. But is it discrimination, or are men just choosing better-paying jobs?

As you stated, there are so many women in a field that draws on teachers for superintendents that it just makes it more surprising that there are fewer female ones.

Comment by Audrey Spalding — August 4, 2008 @ 3:25 p.m.

You might also check which career track the superintendents followed to get to the position of superintendent.It seems as if most of the male superintendents were coaches or involved in athletics.
[I recently ran across an e-mail written by a rural superintendent to a parent that was shocking in its illiteracy. Surely educators, even coaches, must be held to some standard in the written word before they are awarded an ed.D.]

Comment by susan — August 8, 2008 @ 2:14 p.m.

Susan, thanks for the insight.

Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to bring up that question — that male superintendents seem to be former coaches or somehow involved in athletics. Definitely interesting if it’s true.

This paper explored some of the pay differences between male and female superintendents:
http://teep.tamu.edu/reports/report012.pdf

Specifically: when a new superintendent replaces an old one, he or she is paid about 2.63 percent less than the previous one.

When a male is hired to replace a female superintendent, salary remains about the same.

When a female is hired to replace a male superintendent, salary drops about 7.5 percent. (all of these numbers are on page 12 of the paper)

Comment by Audrey Spalding — August 8, 2008 @ 3:34 p.m.

July 31, 2008