and forming profound relationships also
help you professionally... strength comes
not from my family only but my professional
family. That's how I've met so many people.
When the guiding principles of cultural
proficiency are used as the foundation for
supporting the development of women in
leadership, the individual, organization and
community benefit and thrive.
From gender inequity to gender
equity
Unlike the research of the late 20th cen-
tury that emphasized the numerical repre-
sentation of women in leadership roles, our
narrative data focuses on the everyday fe-
male leader and the relationships of social/
cultural interactions of gender and power
in women’s career journeys. A cultural, so-
ciological view treats leadership and leaders
as a conceptual lens through which to view
the nature, purpose, and capacities of educa-
tional systems and organizations to reform
and indeed re-think about their practices in
more socially just ways. These narratives add
to today’s conversations about how women
leaders want to be identified and how that
identity should not serve as a barrier for ca-
reer advancement (Blackmore, 2013). Cul-
turally Proficient leaders can provide sub-
stantive and normative alternatives to how
we theorize and practice leadership.
Elements for action
Now what? These narratives serve as
points of reference for human resource man-
agers and employees, site and district-wide
leaders, and educational consultant and re-
cruiting firms. These stories and others like
these may lead to the development and fu-
ture focus for:
• Collecting quantitative and qualitative
data within districts regarding gender and eth-
nic disparities (assessing cultural knowledge);
• Publishing male/female coauthored
guides for changing the system of recruiting
and hiring and mentoring women educa-
tional leaders (valuing diversity);
• Dispelling myths and negative assump-
tions about women and women of color
needing to be exceptional and extraordinary
educational leaders (managing the dynamics
of diversity);
• Collecting and publishing data that re-
flects growth over time with ethnic and gen-
der equity in district-wide leadership posi-
tions (adapting to diversity); and,
• Developing policies, practices, and pro-
cedures in support of mentoring female and
male leaders equitably (institutionalizing
cultural knowledge).
We shared these extraordinary stories
of sincere, well-prepared everyday women
educational leaders to provide frameworks
for gender equity. Women leaders will no
longer be seen as the extraordinary candi-
date to meet unrealistic expectations placed
on them by systems of oppression and en-
titlement. Women leaders with their male
and female mentors will tell their stories of
leadership actions focused on socially just
schools and communities.
References
American Association of School Admin-
istrators, 2019. Information shared at Asso-
ciation of California School Administrator’s
Annual Superintendent’s Conference, Mon-
terey, CA.
Agosto, Vonzell, & Roland, Ericka.
(2018). Intersectionality and Educational
Leadership: A Critical Review. Review of
Research in Education. 42, 255-285.
Arriaga, Trudy T., & Lindsey, Randall.
(2016). Opening Doors: An implementation
template for cultural proficiency. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Blackmore, Jill. (2013). A feminist critical
perspective on educational leadership. In-
ternational Journal of Leadership in Educa-
tion, 16, 139–154.
Lindsey, Randall B., Nuri-Robins, Ki-
kanza, Terrell, Raymond D., & Lindsey,
Delores B. (2019).
Cultural proficiency: A manual for school
leaders, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Trudy Arriaga is the former superintendent
of Ventura Unified School District. Stacie
Stanley is Assistant Superintendent, Eden
Prairie Schools, Eden Prairie, MN. Delores
Lindsey is a retired Associate Professor
of Education Leadership, Cal State San
Marcos and Co-founder of The Center for
Culturally Proficient Educationally Practice.
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Leadership