Challenges to female educational leaders in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This study examined the challenges that female educational managers face in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. The purposes of the study were: to explore the challenges that female educational managers face in maintaining and obtaining their managerial positions, to identify the strategies that they employed in coping with those challenges, and to validate the participant questionnaire in KPK. This is a qualitative case study that was conducted in three phases: exploration, reinforcement, and validation. The data were collected through interviews, observations, and field notes. In the first and second phase, nine female managers from three districts participated, while the third phase engaged 15 participants.

This study found that participants faced challenges at both the entry and workplace levels and that the challenges limited participants’’ efficiency and effectiveness in their managerial roles. Participants identified professional development courses, collaboration, acknowledgement, flexibility, and accountability as effective strategies for dealing with challenges. Finally, the study found the participant questionnaire to be a valid instrument (with modifications) in the context of KPK. It can be proved a useful tool to collect data on a larger scale.

This study recommends a prerequisite degree in educational leadership for future educational managers, a proper induction method for new managers, and some policy- level changes that would empower managers to deal with challenges effectively. It concludes that the Participant Questionnaire is a cross-culturally valid tool and can be utilized by researchers in Pakistan, as well as other countries.

Keywords: challenges to females in educational management, politics and educational management, female management in Pakistan