Gender and headship in the twenty-first century



particularly those in the secondary sector are much less likely to have children than
their male colleagues or women in less demanding work roles.

Childcare

It is in the issue of childcare that some of the differences between the experience of
men and women headteachers can be seen best. It seems that the male
headteachers are heavily dependent on their wives/partners to take responsibility for
the children. Women headteachers, both secondary and primary are most likely to
make use of childminders, nurseries and relatives whilst over two thirds of men
headteachers rely on their partner for childcare. Although the word 'housewife' is
rarely used, it was obviously common for the partners of the male heads to have put
their own career 'on hold' and to be working part-time often in teaching. This stalling
of their partner's career meant that generally speaking childcare was not a big issue
for the male headteachers.

Most of the comments about childcare came from women, and were commonly about
the expense and organisational difficulties. The following comments from women
primary heads are typical:

Difficult time when arrangements break down
It involved long hours and many sacrifices

Older primary women heads referred to taking time out or working part time when
children were young but this is a much less common pattern for those under 50.
Nevertheless, the tensions that arise from combining motherhood and headship are
apparent. One woman secondary head in her late 40s commented that she was:
'Personally determined that other staff would see my 110% commitment so my
children probably suffered.' Another from the same age group felt: 'It has worked out
really well, but getting the right person [to look after children] is a major factor. There
is personal concern about whether you are doing the right thing'.

Obviously there is a mixed picture and, as we have seen in the earlier section, there
is still evidence of some discrimination in relation to mothers having responsible jobs.
One secondary headteacher in her 40s stated:

I juggled and worked very hard so the headteacher of my new school at the
time did not even know I had a young child, otherwise I'm not sure he would
have appointed me. He was very surprised when after a year in post I told
him I had a two year old.

The comments from male headteachers, primary and secondary tended to be about
expense and the impact on their partner of them having to give up their career:

But it meant my partner taking a career break until the youngest was seven
(male primary head, late 40s)

My wife had to give up work to look after children (male secondary head late
40s)

My wife arranged childcare and worked part time initially as a teacher (male
secondary head early 50s)

Just one per cent of the women headteachers stated that the job of their partner was
'househusband' roughly the same percentage of partners identified as 'housewife'

21



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