The management and leadership styles of women in township secondary schools

M.Ed.This study focuses on the management and leadership styles of women in township secondary schools. It highlights the styles of women principals by examining their impact on school effectiveness. Furthermore, the study highlights that women are better than men in aspects such as the ability to motivate and to acknowledge the efforts of subordinates. A qualitative research method was employed to investigate the management and leadership styles of women principals in township secondary schools. Purposive sampling was sued for the selection of the participants and the sites. Data was collected by means of two individual and two focus group interviews (with two women principals, six male and six female educators), observation and document analysis. The findings suggest that women management and leadership styles emphasize sharedeldership, shared-decision making and the ability to resolve sensitive issues because they tend to trust, respect and accept other people more easily. Furthermore, the research highlights that the respondents perceived the nature of women management and leadership styles to be conducive to a healthy working environment. The findings reveals that woman principals in secondary schools need support to develop and enhance their management and leadership styles further. This necessitates the development of innovative intervention programmes tailored to the specific needs of women in management and leadership positions in these schools. If enough support in terms of workshops for development is provided it will assist in improving their schools and thus creating viable institutions of learning. The study on women management and leadership styles provides valuable insight into how women leader-managers perform their roles in township secondary schools