Although it may be experienced less frequently than in the 1990s, there are still
plenty of reported examples of sexism related to appointments. What are the
regional differences? Are there actual differences between the men and women who
are appointed in relation to their age, qualifications and prior experience which might
help explain the difference in the numbers of men and women appointed?
The number of women heads in the regions
The regional difference shows up in the secondary sector where there are fewer
schools, and where women are relatively uncommon as heads. Nationally, women
make up just over 30 per cent of the secondary heads, but across the nine regions of
England the proportion of women secondary heads varies considerably as can be
seen from Table 1.
Table 1: Women secondary heads by region
|
London South East North East East West Midlands East Midlands Yorkshire and Humber South West North West |
43% 34% 29% 28% 27% (but Birmingham 40%) 27% 27% 24% 23% |
(data derived from DfES, Edubase, 2004)
The 'London effect' is apparent, with Birmingham being the only other large city with
a relatively large number of women secondary heads. The age profile of the London
and Birmingham heads was also a little lower than the rest of the country. The other
big cities do not show very much difference from the overall picture in their region.
The presence of more women heads therefore does not appear to be a distinctly
urban phenomenon but does seem to be regionally biased.
In work undertaken a decade ago (Edwards and Lyons, 1994) there were the same
regional differences as today, with the London effect being linked to the difficulties of
recruitment and retention in London, and the lasting impact of the equal opportunities
work of the ILEA. One of their major conclusions was that the further you go from
London in any direction the less likely you are to find women secondary
headteachers and the present data show that this is still true with the northern part of
the country and the South West being the areas where women are least likely to be
appointed. One woman secondary head in the survey reflected that she had been:
Frequently asked in Scotland how a women would cope with being in charge,
but in North East England attitudes were even worse!
The age profile of the heads
Most of the headteachers are in the age range 45 - 55. Very few women or men
headteachers are over 60. However, it seems that secondary women headteachers
tend to be appointed a little earlier than men as 51 per cent of the women, but only
40 per cent of the men are under 50 (see Table 2). In the surveys of the 1990s this
was also the case. The tendency to appoint women younger than men is surprising
as it might be expected that having children would delay promotion for women.