Gendered Leadership? Female Community College Presidents and their Leadership Behaviors

Graduation date: 2016Considerable research has been done on women and leadership styles, and while most have found very little to no difference in leadership style between men and women, there has been conflict with individual gender roles and organizational roles (Eagly & Johnson, 1990; Eddy & Cox, 2008; Kanter, 1997). These studies on gendered organizations led to more questions regarding women's leadership behaviors once in presidency roles. Are women a product of their gendered organization, meaning that their leadership behavior represents a stereotypic male? The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which gender has had an impact on women community college presidents. With the impending retirement of community college leaders, the need to evaluate current female presidents' respective leadership behaviors can add to understanding of the individual women in these roles, but also to their institutions' cultures of gender and leadership behaviors.\ud Utilizing critical feminist theory, this qualitative narrative analysis examined how gender has impacted the leadership behaviors of current female community college presidents in the Pacific Northwest. The methods used included 90-minute, face-to-face interviews with eight current female community college presidents in the Pacific Northwest.\ud The findings from the study suggest that gender, among other aspects of identity, has affected the leadership behaviors of female community college presidents. The study found that five themes emerged as a result of the data analysis: 1) intersectionality, 2) image, 3) preserving integrity, 4) credibility, 5) authenticity. This study also attempted to understand through research the institutional and society barriers women community college presidents face in order to create positive change for more women to succeed