14 Lisa Hackel Pedevilla, EdD Supports and Conditions of Equity Two types of supports exist to assist women in overcoming barriers: formal and informal (Higginbottom & Robinson, 2019). Institutions and professional organizations provide services labeled as formal supports, while a person’s social network and personal community provide informal supports. Scholarly literature is limited around the topic of supports for women, and more research needs to be conducted on how to best support women in the field of educational administration (Higginbottom & Robinson, 2019; Murrell et al., 2008). Despite preparation and qualifications, women continue to face barriers when they pursue the role of superintendent. As the labyrinth metaphor suggests, women do find success when pursuing the role of superintendent, often through a winding path. Often these paths to the role hold scattered supports that give help, lift, encouragement, sponsorship, and guidance. Summary of Findings and Interpretation of Results The current study’s intentions were to rank the most common barriers women face when pursuing the role of superintendent as well as the supports that assist women in overcoming the barriers. Fifty PK–12 public school superintendents in the state of Texas were invited to participate in a Delphi expert panel. Twenty-nine returned the informed consent. Of the 29 who consented, 26 completed the Round 1 open-ended survey resulting in an 89.6% response rate. Twenty-four completed the Round 2 survey resulting in a 92.3% response rate, and 18 completed Round 3 with a 62.2% response rate. The participants contributed insight into the most common barriers and supports by ranking and rating a list provided by the scholarly literature on barriers and support for women gaining the superintendency and the expert panelists in Round 1. The expert panel’s responses resulted in a prioritized list of barriers and supports that women encounter on their path to the role of superintendent. Through the expert panel’s responses and the review of literature, the following findings to the research questions can assist women in overcoming barriers and augmenting supports. Research Question 1 and Results Research Question 1 (RQ1) What is the consensus among an expert panel of superintendents about the barriers women encounter on their path to obtaining a superintendent position? RQ1 examined barriers women encounter on their journey to the role of superintendent. After inductive coding, a list of barriers was generated in Round 1. The expert panelists ranked the barriers in Round 2 according to most common to least common based on experience. After a frequency table and weighted mean were calculated, two of the barrier themes appeared to be close to one another: Lack of Mentors and Sponsors as well as Bias and Cultural Norms. Round 3 supported the Round 2 findings. Iterative survey rounds gathered input from the expert panelists regarding the topic of barriers. Transcripts were coded for the qualitative data and descriptive statistics of frequency table and weighted mean were calculated for the quantitative data. Results are shown in Figure 2. Research shows that women’s lack of self-confidence and lack of self-efficacy results in a barrier to moving into executive positions, such as the role of superintendent (Dobie & Hummell, 2001; McGee, 2010; Muñoz et al., 2014). Charles-Lynch (2017) said women tend to lose confidence rather than lack confidence (p. 62). The expert panelists in the current study found Lack of Confidence and Insecurity as the most common barrier. An educational leader lacking confidence implies it is the educator’s fault. Are we blaming the victim? Is it the woman’s fault? Why do women lack confidence? They have demonstrated they have the desire to become superintendent. They surpass men in the number of advanced degrees and certifications. Women in Texas hold 64% of superintendent certifications, while men hold 36% (Texas Education Agency, 2022). Women have surpassed men in the percentage of college enrollment and all degrees: bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Despite investing time and money in advanced degrees and earning superintendent certifications, some do not apply for the position. Why do some women who have prepared to
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