Destined to Rule the Schools: Women and the Superintendency, 1873-1995 (SUNY series, Educational Leadership)

Jackie M. Blount. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [203]-236) And Index. Tells the story of women and school leadership in America from the common school era to the present. Offers an historical account of how teaching became women's work and the school superintendency men's.In 1909, when she became the superintendent of the Chicago schools, Ella Flagg Young proclaimed that women were "destined to rule the schools of every city." After all, women accounted for nearly eighty percent of all teachers by 1910 and their ascendance into formal school leadership positions could not be far behind. After World War II, however, a backlash against single women educators and a rigid realignment of gender roles in schools contributed to a rapid decline of women school administrators across the country, a decline from which there has been little recovery to the present. Destined to Rule the Schools tells the story of women and school leadership in America from the common school era to the present. In a broad sense, it offers an historical account of how teaching became women's work and the school superintendency men's. Blount explores how power in school employment has been structured unequally by gender. It focuses on the superintendency because an important component of the effort to establish control of schools has occurred in contesting the definition of this position. Unique and important contributions of this volume include: the only published comprehensive statistical study describing the number of women superintendents throughout the twentieth century, an analysis suggesting that the superintendency may have become an appointive position in part to remove it from the influence of newly enfranchised women voters, a discussion of the role of homophobia in creating and perpetuating rigid gender divisions in school employment, and a broad analysis that integrates the histories of teaching and school administration.Jackie M. Blount is a Professor in the School of Educational Policy and Leadership at the Ohio State University and the author of Fit to Teach: Same-Sex Desire, Gender, and School Work in the Twentieth Century, also published by SUNY Press. Annotation Blount (curriculum and instruction, Iowa State U.) takes her title from a proclamation by the superintendent of the Chicago schools in 1909, that because nearly 80% of teachers were women, they would soon dominate administration as well. She describes the era, and how backlash against single women educators after World War and a rigid realignment of gender roles in schools led to a rapid decline in women administrators that has changed little to the present. She suggests that the positions were made appointive to reduce the influence of newly enfranchised women voters, and explores the role of homophobia in creating and perpetuating the rigid gender roles. One chapter has been published separately. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Blount examines how pre-World War II era school systems flourished with women teachers, senior administrators and superintendents, and how a post-war backlash led to a rapid decline in females represented in authority-figure roles. In a broad sense, against the backdrop of womens' rights and gender stereotypes, she presents a theory that classroom teaching is considered woman's work while educational administration is the domain of men