Lehigh University

This article examines, from a female perspective, the complexities of gender and ethnicity embedded in successful urban school leadership. The authors use qualitative data, collected from female participants in two cohorts of aspiring urban principals in a yearlong experimental leadership preparation program, to discuss issues that arise during the coursework mentoring and school internship components of the program. Recommendations for future programs, drawn from the study, include selecting program participants based on their commitment to social justice, utilizing opportunities to confront gender and ethnic leadership stereotyping, providing the training to conduct school dialogues on social justice issues, and exposing aspiring principals to ethnically diverse urban school environments. Women seeking leadership positions in urban school districts face many challenges but can, potentially, reap many rewards. All urban school administrators must confront complex political, socio-economic, and pedagogical issues regardless of gender and ethnicity. For minority women—for the purposes of this study we acknowledge that all women are “minority ” within the context of urban school leadership—these issues are frequently compounded by negative perceptions of female leadership competencies and gendered ethnic stereotypes. Yet, it is vital that women teachers from urban schools are inducted into positions of school leadership and given the training to be successful leaders of multicultural schools where equity issues presently loom large. It is vital both to satisfy issues of social justice at the school leadership level where men’s and women’s voices should equally be heard, and to allow women to apply understandings gained from their own gendered and ethnic experiences to the problems faced by many of their students from struggling urban communities