Playing the lead role

There were no female administrators in the Jackson School District when Rita Fisher was hired in 1995 as an elementary principal.

Fisher and another woman who was hired as a principal that same year were the first in the district's history. Nearly 10 years later, Jackson's female administrative body has grown to five, including Dr. Fisher, who is now an assistant superintendent.

Even with those gains, Jackson faces the same challenge that nearly all school districts in Missouri and the nation face: inequities in the number of men and women in upper level administrative positions.

Of the 491 public school district superintendents in Missouri during the 2003-2004 school year, 409 were men and 82 were women.

"For me, the opportunities arose and I took them. Either you have that desire to lead or you don't," Fisher said. "You're different because you're a woman, but I think you bring something to the table that's useful in education."

Fisher, who is among the 51 female assistant superintendents in the state who have their doctorates, wrote her dissertation on the perceptions of teachers toward male and female principals.

"With women in general, if there's one not doing a good job, it's bad for all of us," Fisher said. "There's a fine line between being an abrasive individual and a strong, intelligent leader."

Dr. Sue Shepard, dean of the college of education at Southeast Missouri State University, has done considerable research on gender equality in education and found some explanations.

Shepard said there's a general belief that women do not have the necessary background in areas such as school finance to hold a superintendent's position.

"It's also perceived that women are too emotional to be superintendents, that they would let their emotions influence their decisions," Shepard said.

Shepard's research has also found that school boards often do not actively recruit women for certain positions and that women's verbal and nonverbal communication skills impact their ability to land a high-ranking job.

"Women tend to ask questions instead of making declarative statements, and that is seen as a weaker way of expressing yourself," Shepard said.

Disparities between the salaries of men and women school administrators also exist, though officials say that gap has closed significantly.

In local districts, male administrators do average higher pay than females, but school officials say that is due to their level of education and years of experience. The Cape Girardeau School District bases its administrative pay on a salary schedule that takes into consideration years of experience as an adminstrator and education.

The schedule also includes an index that grants higher pay to positions with more responsibility, such as high school principal and central office administrators.

In Jackson, superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said salary is determined by looking at the market for a particular position as well as what current employees in that position are paid.

In Missouri, the larger the school district, the less likely it is that a female will be superintendent. According to 2003-2004 data from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the average size of a male superintendent's district in Missouri is 1,915 students, while the average size of a female superintendent's is 946 students.

Diann Bradshaw-Ulmer, superintendent in Scott City, is one of 17 female superintendents in Missouri districts of over 1,000 students.

Bradshaw-Ulmer, who was principal at Scott City Middle School before she became superintendent three years ago, said her reasons for becoming an administrator were simple.

"I wanted to have more of an impact on my kids. I felt like I was impacting my classroom kids as teacher, but I thought I could do more," Bradshaw-Ulmer said.

Some of the gender inequality may exist by choice. Women might not be willing to take on the time-consuming role of high school principal or central office administrator because of family obligations. That was the case with Fisher, who took 10 years off to raise her children.

But that sentiment may be changing. When Dr. Shepard came to Southeast 13 years ago, 60 percent of students in administrative certification classes were male and 40 percent were female. Those percentages have now reversed, Shepard said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 128