Género e liderança na escola

: da feminização da profissão docente ao desenvolvimento de cargos de topo

Abstract

Social discrimination against women, carried out along centuries, still echoes today in modern societies. Changes in the social status of women, who now have access to education and employment, have not been enough to put an end to the construction of assumptions of social inequality between men and women. Although the principle of equality is legally established, women are still subrepresented in posts where decisions are to be taken. The phenomenon reaches a greater meaning when we consider jobs highly feminized, as it is the case of teaching. As well as it happens in the domestic sphere, the woman ends up by having a secondary role, in contrast with the man‟s protagonism.The research work that has been developed intends to know some of the representations and conceptions that teachers have about gender and how this influences the election of School Direction Boards, which are the school organs elected by members of the educational community. The approach based on the social condition of women, going through the historical course of women‟s relationship with family and work, has allowed a general view about the way public and private areas interfere in the access of women to management jobs at school. In an area that is said, and people wish it to be, democratic, it is relevant that we understand the factors that perpetuate the social hierarchy between men and women.Our approach was focused on the dimensions of this set of questions in school context, namely organization, gender and leadership, with which we have drawn the theoretical frame that has supported the research. The study was carried out with teachers under a qualitative and quantitative methodology. Through this methodology we tried to understand the way teachers perceive gender and to what extent gender is preponderant in the choice of those who are at the frontline in school management.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Mafalda Filipa Jacques Soares Couto (Supervisor)