The lived experiences of female educational leadership doctoral students

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -There is a meager body of research addressing the role educational leadership preparation programs in colleges and universities play in preparing women leaders. Also educational leadership preparation research has yet to explore ways in which mentorship provides additional capital for female graduate students. This study seeks to understand the challenges facing, and the opportunities available to, female graduate students in educational leadership departments. Design/methodology/approach -The study used qualitative methods to explore the constructs of educational leadership preparation and mentorship of female graduate students. Qualitative methods, specifically a questionnaire and a collaborative focus group, were informed by the work of feminist theory and were used to explore participants' experiences and perceptions with the larger purpose of understanding the implications of their experiences for the development of strategies and programs intended to support female graduate students. Findings -The following themes emerged from the participants' stories: constraints within the organizational culture, personal and familial sacrifice, struggles with identity, questioning self, and experiences with mentoring. Practical implications -The findings have important implications for the roles university leadership preparation program structures might play in supporting female graduate students and their career success. The findings also offer recommendations for the development of mentoring programs for female graduate students. Originality/value -Currently, there is an exceptional lack of research documenting the lived experiences of female doctoral students, particularly research that can be used to inform policy and program development. To that end, the qualitative study described in this paper helps in understanding the challenges facing, and the opportunities available to, female graduate students in educational leadership departments as well as in understanding the implications of such experiences for the development of strategies and programs intended to support female graduate students.

Doctoral Students’ Perceived Barriers that Slow the Progress toward Completing a Doctoral Dissertation: A Mixed Analysis

“…Malone et al (2004) documented gender differences in the field of educational administration in terms of employment and career, indicating that male and female doctoral students bring different needs, aspirations, and expectations at the entry of their programs. Even though gender has not emerged as a statistically significant predictor of doctoral degree completion, many researchers have documented the unique challenges and barriers of female doctoral students in completing their doctoral programs (e.g., Maher, Ford, & Thompson, 2004;Manfield, Welton, Lee, & Young, 2010;Moyer, Salovey, & Casey-Cannon, 1999). These challenges have included greater work demand, financial constraints, child-care responsibilities, and low level of confidence (Maher et al, 2004;Manfield et al, 2010;Moyer et al, 1999).…”

Mentoring as Socialization for the Educational Leadership Professoriate: A Collaborative Autoethnography

“…We found only two studies involving mentorship of students for the educational leadership professoriate, and each had a gendered perspective. In research by Mansfield et al (2010), only 2 of 12 female participants reported having strong professor-student mentoring relationships, and 9 desired substantial improvements in mentoring quality. Mentoring was more likely to emerge out of informal relationships, and some students struggled to form these relationships.…”

“…High-quality graduate student mentoring experiences are uncommon (Mullen, 2009) and research addressing mentorship for the professoriate is scarce (Mansfield, Welton, Lee, & Young, 2010). Thus, the issues described previously-relating to mentoring research in general-are especially pronounced within this subset of the literature.…”

Experiences of Select Women Doctoral Students: A Feminist Standpoint Theory Perspective

“…Informed by FST, Mansfield, Welton, Lee, and Young (2010) sought to understand the challenges and opportunities of women doctoral students in educational leadership departments. A qualitative questionnaire and a collaborative focus group consisting of 12 women representing a variety of demographic characteristics (i.e., one Black, two Asian, two Latinas, one multiracial, and six White) were surveyed to explore participants' experiences and perceptions with the intent of revealing strategies to support the success of women doctoral students.…”

“…A qualitative questionnaire and a collaborative focus group consisting of 12 women representing a variety of demographic characteristics (i.e., one Black, two Asian, two Latinas, one multiracial, and six White) were surveyed to explore participants' experiences and perceptions with the intent of revealing strategies to support the success of women doctoral students. Limitations within the organizational culture (i.e., confusion about access to professional networks within the academic community); personal and family sacrifices (i.e., the stress of work and school time constraints exacerbated time for familial life); identity issues (i.e., race, ethnicity, age, social class, language, and immigrant status added complexity to the doctoral experience); self-doubts, and mentoring experiences emerged as themes from the participants' perceptions (Mansfield et al, 2010). These findings have important implications for designing doctoral programs that explicitly identify and address disparities in access to professional networks for women within the academic organization.…”