Women in School Leadership

School Administrator, Feb, 1994 by Audie Waitmon

Women in School Leadership: Survival and Advancement Guidebook provides female administrators with practical and pertinent advice on seeking administrative positions and maintaining their present positions while balancing the needs of a family, a spouse, and a social life.

Authors Aretha B. Pigford and Sandra Tonnsen, both university professors, have experienced the trials of breaking into school administration. They define issues and barriers that potential and present women administrators face. They also provide specific solutions to the challenges.

The book deals with issues that many of us talk about but few write about (e.g., the good old boy network, dealing with female staff members, and being a single female trying to secure and maintain a position in a "married" profession).

The book is well-written, readable, and is not a "feminist sexist" tirade. It brings a professional approach to an issue that impacts more than half of U.S. educators. All women (and men) in education will benefit from reading this book.

(Women in School Leadership: Survival and Advancement Guidebook, by Aretha B. Pigford and Sandra Tonnsen, Technomic Publishing Co., Box 3535, Lancaster, Pa. 17604, 1993, 76 pp. with index, $24.50 softcover)