Women make up 77% of public school teachers and 56% of public school principals, but they make up only 29% of public-school superintendents. In the past few years, when a superintendent left their post, they were replaced by a man 2 out of 3 times. 

Dallas Independent School District

Women within the educational sector, particularly in public schools, are facing significant barriers when it comes to assuming leadership positions such as school superintendents. Despite constituting a considerable majority of 77% of public school teachers and more than half (56%) of public school principals, women are markedly underrepresented in the top echelon of school administration. They hold only 29% of public-school superintendent positions.

This gender disparity is further emphasized by recent hiring trends. Statistics show that when a superintendent position becomes vacant, a male candidate is chosen to fill the role two-thirds of the time. This pattern highlights a consistent preference for men over women for these top administrative roles despite the majority female workforce at the teaching and principal levels.



Women face tougher obstacles in school administrations

If you don't desire to be a school superintendent, the work taking place in this Texas classroom probably sounds a little dry. The burden is on us. A little technical. And also the system itself. A little complicated. We should really be doing this in sixth, seventh grade. But for Angela Hodges. Complying with the requests of the parents. And Sharmika Fluker. The district did not move forward with the referral. The work has meaning. So does, on this day, the makeup of their group. It's four women and one man. Nearly the opposite of the landscape outside. I had a moment just last week where I was sitting in a room trying to problem solve something with some secondary leaders and I looked around and I was like, I am the only woman in this room. I'm the only woman in this room. Hodges and Fluker are high-ranking officials in suburban Texas school districts. They're in grad school at the University of Texas in Austin. In a program specifically geared to groom superintendents. I've been the first in a lot of roles. I've been the first African American woman in a lot of roles. Women make up more than three quarters of public school teachers and more than half of public school principals. We know this because the Department of Education tracks it. They don't track for superintendents. It is kind of surprising in 2024 that we're not tracking this. David DeMatthews runs the program and a research lab at UT Austin. The U.S. Department of Education was collecting this data, I think up until like the 1950s or 60s. And I think nobody was really interested at the time and no one was really using it and they just stopped collecting it. But today we can tell you women make up a mere 29 percent of public school superintendents. We can tell you in the past few years when a superintendent left their post they were replaced by a man two out of three times. And we can tell you that one in five American superintendents has one of just ten male first names. We can say all that. The initial analysis shows that there's not statistically significant differences. Because it comes from a group at a different UT with a slightly different shade of orange. This work is really personal to me. Rachel White is a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She founded and runs the superintendent lab. Her team calls every district in the nation every year to document who runs America's schools. Having the data allows women to really, and they shouldn't have to, but it allows them to really strongly lean on empirical evidence that this is what the reality is in the field. Baby pay plays a little bit into it, right? To address an issue, you must confirm it exists. Dr. White. Principles can make a difference. And Dr. DeMatthews say having the data provides a path to discussion. In the meantime. So in kinder and first grade, would we agree? Hodges and Fluker stay focused on the dry, technical, complicated work of preparing to fill a meaningful role. I don't live my day to day thinking about it. I don't allow that to be a reason why I'm not somewhere I want to be. It's just kind of like a epiphany moment I'll have from time to time.

Britain's King Charles will return to public duties next week for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer as he makes good progress following treatment and a period of recuperation, Buckingham Palace said.

London

King Charles to resume public duties after cancer diagnosis

Students blocked access to Paris' prestigious Sciences Po university over the war in Gaza on Friday (April 26), demanding the institution condemn Israel's actions, in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on U.S. campuses.

Paris

Israel-Gaza War

Pro-Palestinian protesters still occupying Sciences Po campus

The number of people killed in floods in Kenya due to heavier than usual rainfall since the start of the monsoon in March has risen to 70, a government spokesperson said Friday. Kenya and other countries in East Africa, a region highly vulnerable to climate change, have been pounded by heavier than usual rainfall in recent weeks, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

Nairobi

Climate Crisis

Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70

An Australian journalist has been named as a key figure in Donald Trump's criminal trial. Dylan Howard, the former editor of the National Enquirer in the U.S. accused of buying and burying negative stories as part of a deal to help him become President.

New York

U.S. Presidential Election

The Australian journalist caught up in Trump trial

A surging domestic economy and rising inflation will see the Reserve Bank change its mind and increase interest rates as many as three times this year, analysts have warned.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reserve Bank set to raise interest rates, expert predicts

The Prime Minister has labelled the security guard murdered during the Bondi stabbing attack a 'national hero' during his funeral today. Mourners gathering at the Baitul Huda Mosque in Marsden Park, Sydney to honour Faraz Tahir.

Marsden Park

Mourners farewell Bondi security guard Faraz Tahir

After a crucial hearing, U.S. Supreme Court justices are weighing arguments for and against Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity from 2020 election interference charges, but a ruling will take time.

Washington

U.S. Supreme Court weighs arguments on Trump immunity case

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction has been overturned after New York’s highest court ruled the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against him that were not part of the case.

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction overturned

Palestinians have begun evacuating Rafah as Israel steps up airstrikes. Israel plans to go forward with a ground operation in the southern Gaza city despite warnings from allies that it could cause mass casualties.

Jerusalem

Israel steps up airstrikes on Rafah ahead of ground operation

After weeks of delays, Haiti is due to swear in a presidential transition council. Gang violence has devastated the economy and social services are on the brink of collapse. Gang leaders say talks over Haiti's political future must include them.

Port-au-Prince

Haiti interim transition council to be sworn in

Israeli forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border. He also claimed that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence.

Beirut

Israel says forces carrying out 'offensive action' in south Lebanon

In a deal facilitated by Qatar, Russia and Ukraine will exchange nearly 50 displaced children due to Moscow's invasion, announced Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin's children's rights commissioner, in Doha.

Doha

Ukraine Invasion

Russia and Ukraine to exchange dozens of displaced children

Rudy Giuliani, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, is among 18 people charged in Arizona with illegally seeking to claim the state's 2020 electoral votes for the then-U.S. president.

Phoenix

Giuliani indicted in election vote-rigging case

Dozens of whales have died after 160 became beached during a mass stranding event in WA's south-west. Community members turned out this morning to the mouth of Toby Inlet at Geographe Bay near Dunsborough, where dozens of pilot whales were stuck in shallow water.

Geographe

Mass whale stranding in southwest WA

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has completed a two-day trek of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, alongside PNG Prime Minister James Marape in commemoration of ANZAC Day

Kokoda

Australian Prime Minister's Kokoda pilgrimage

Five teenagers have appeared in court, after being arrested in connection with the stabbing of the Bishop in the Wakely church stabbing. Counter-terrorism police are continuing searches in south-west Sydney and Goulburn.

Wakeley

Teenagers face court over terrorism offences

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign a law that sets a January 2025 deadline for Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operation. Lawmakers behind the ban have warned of national security risks from the popular social video app.

Biden to sign law that could ban TikTok in U.S.

Morning rush hour in central London turned chaotic Wednesday as five escaped military horses galloped at full speed through busy city streets, injuring at least four people. All five horses were rounded up and given veterinary care.

Runaway horses cause peak-hour chaos in London

The United Nations is calling for an inquiry after bodies were found beneath Gaza's Nasser Hospital, in the city of Khan Younis. The hospital was recently abandoned by Israeli troops who said they’d finished searching it for Hamas fighters.

Sderot

U.N. calls for inquiry after unmarked graves found in Gaza

People living in Athens have seen the sky turn orange. It was caused by clouds of dust from the Sahara desert, which blew in from Northern Africa blanketing much of Greece.

Athens

'Apocalyptic' orange haze descends on Athens

Thousands have lined the streets of Sydney's CBD to honour veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the annual Anzac Day march.

Thousands of veterans take part in ANZAC Day marches

President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law that provides billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia. The legislation also includes $26 billion for Israel, as well as $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Biden also signed a separate bill tied to the aid package that bans TikTok in the U.S. if its owner fails to divest the video app.

Biden signs Ukraine, Israel aid, TikTok ban package

A North Korean delegation led by a cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, according to state media. The rare public visit signals increased cooperation between the two countries, which are believed to have secret military ties.

Pyongyang

North Korea delegation visits Iran in rare public trip

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the United Nations agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza. The announcement comes after a new report concluded that Israel had not provided enough evidence to back up its claims that hundreds of UNRWA staff are military operatives in so-called terrorist groups in Gaza.

Berlin

Germany to resume funding UNRWA Palestinian agency

The United States Justice Department has agreed to pay almost $139 million to victims of sex abuser Larry Nassar, for its bungled investigation into the former USA Gymnastics team doctor. For nearly two decades, Nassar subjected hundreds of people to abuse under the guise of performing medical treatment.

Justice Dept. to pay $139 million to USA Gymnastics abuse victims

The United Nations called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

U.N. calls for investigation into Gaza mass graves

A bishop whose stabbing was live streamed while delivering a church service wants his video to remain online, supporting X founder Elon Musk's stance. The technology company is currently in a legal fight with Australia’s e-Safety commissioner over the graphic video.

Stabbed Sydney bishop supports Musk stance

Seven juveniles have been arrested and a further five are being interviewed by police, after a series of raids by counterterrorism police in the south-west Sydney suburb of Greenacre. The arrests follow the stabbing a bishop.

Teenagers arrested in ongoing Sydney anti-terror raids

The US Senate has passed a 95 Billion dollar aid package providing aid to Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian relief for Gaza, as well as 8 Billion dollars for security in Taiwan. Part of that package is a provision that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok.

U.S. Senate approves $95b aid package for Israel and Ukraine

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is heading to Shanghai and Beijing for three days of talks with senior Chinese officials as US-China ties are at a critical point. His visit also comes amid rising concern in Europe over Chinese espionage with several suspected spies detained in Germany and the UK.