Life experiences and perceptions of female educational leaders: A hermeneutic phenomenological study

Female educational leaders, superintendents, principals, and assistant principals in public education, in China and the United States, inspired this investigation of their life experiences and their choices to become leaders. The selection process for participants incorporated convenient sampling and snowball sampling techniques in the United States and China. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the under representation of females in educational leadership through themes, constructs, patterns of perceptions, and lived experiences of female educational leaders in China and in the United States. The specific problem found 17 challenges confronting and discouraging educational leaders in public school systems. Participants' responses emphasized relational elements helped female educational leaders cope with challenges. The research study aided by NVivo8 software revealed common themes after analysis of data. Frequency of four themes emerged in the superintendent and principal narratives. The four most frequent themes in the lives, experiences, and choices in participant data included seeing life as a journey in influential relationships, developing ideas based on experiences in school environments, taking opportunities to learn, mentoring, and role models. Future study of female educational leaders as an underrepresented group might focus on the receptivity of school systems and present leadership to stronger relational practices, strategies, and environments that foster an increase of female educational leaders in public education.