Abstract

Despite efforts by the international community to raise the participation of women in leadership, management in education is still largely male dominated. Efforts to address these disparities have failed because many researchers hold the assumption that male and female experiences in leadership are similar. This paper presents findings of a study that set out to explore how four female head teachers experience leadership at schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study used a narrative inquiry approach based on semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. Data were analysed using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) approach. The findings from the study illustrate that patriarchy works paradoxically for women in society. Whilst on one hand, it facilitates women’s acquisition of education which is a prerequisite for leadership, patriarchal structures enhance the negative perception of females as effective leaders. The support of male parents earlier in life emerged as a major factor in nurturing the women’s self confidence, hence their ability to take on the challenges of leadership later in life. The female head teacher participants’ approaches to leadership were based on own philosophies that appeared to determine how they view and experience leadership. Also indicated is the fact that the female head teachers faced a lot of challenges because of their gender including rejection, threats and discrimination. In addition, revealed is the fact that the demands of administration and their roles as wives and mothers were major challenges to be countered for effective performance. The paper ends with discussions of the implications of the findings.