Leadership under pressure: Investigating the challenges faced by women departmental heads in South African schools
Buhle Stella Nhlumayo & Ntombikayise Nkosi
Abstract
This paper explored the challenges women departmental heads face in South African schools, focusing on how gendered dynamics, institutional expectations, and systemic barriers shape their leadership experiences. Although departmental heads play a critical role in bridging instructional leadership and school management, women in these positions often navigate additional layers of complexity arising from socio-cultural norms, gender stereotypes, and unequal access to leadership development opportunities. Grounded in the Transformational Leadership Theory, this study adopted an interpretive qualitative approach and utilised narrative inquiry as the research design. It drew on semi-structured interviews with six women departmental heads across primary and secondary schools in a selected district in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The data, collected over a three-month period, were analysed using the thematic narrative analysis method. The findings revealed that women Departmental Heads (DHs) experienced leadership as a role fraught with constant gendered pressure, patriarchy, isolation, and institutional indifference. The findings further revealed that DHs, through resilient leadership, engaged in a quiet revolution, transforming mindsets and communities, breaking stereotypes, not with force, but with grace and strength. By giving voice to the lived experiences of these leaders, the study contributes to the discourse on gender equity in educational leadership and offers practical recommendations for creating more transformational, inclusive, and supportive environments for women in mid-level leadership roles.
Keywords
educational leadership, gendered expectations, patriarchal barriers, resilient leadership, women departmental heads
Author information & Contribution
Buhle Stella Nhlumayo. Corresponding author. PhD. Senior Lecturer, University of South Africa. Email: nhlumbs@unisa.ac.za
Ntombikayise Nkosi. PhD. Senior Lecturer, University of South Africa. Email: nkosin1@unisa.ac.za
"All authors contributed equally to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work is funded by the Women in Leadership and Management Research Project, and the APC is paid by the University of South Africa.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by the University of South Africa. The conduct of this study has been approved and given relevant clearance(s) by the University of South Africa.
AI Declaration
AI tools were not used in writing this paper.
Notes
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Nhlumayo, B.S. & Nkosi, N. (2025). Leadership under pressure: Investigating the challenges faced by women departmental heads in South African schools. International Journal of Educational Management and Development Studies, 6(4), 207-225. https://doi.org/10.53378/ijemds.353291
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