Abstract

The expectation of society from male individuals is to keep presence in public spheres and consistently sustain rationality. Expectation from female individuals is, however, to be emotional-weak, and to build their lives on their house, spouse and children. In such a context, women continue their lives with a work-or-home dilemma. Although it seems that women make progress in moving towards management in many professional fields, there is no evidence of such progress in the field of education. This research presents the problems that female administrators working in the field of education in Tokat and Samsun provinces stemming from their being female. Of the qualitative research methods, semi-structured interview technique was used in the study – in which ten female administrators participated. As a result of the study, it was concluded that women cannot be represented in management positions sufficiently enough due to the social perception, the roles ascribed to them by society, and their responsibilities and duties within the family. Further, women were found not be very eager to become administrators because of obstacles they put themselves. Female administrators participating in the study reported that they encountered some problems in management of educational institutions because of the reasons stated above.

Key words: Women, female administrators, school administrators in Tokat and Samsun.