Dusting Off the Phoenix

Abstract

This paper focuses on gender and educational management in the context of a critical review of the treatment of this issue in Educational Management & Administration since 1972. Gender emerged as a discrete topic in the journal only after 1980 and the first major call for a serious treatment of this issue did not take place until 1988. The paper argues that making gender figure rather than ground in studies of school leadership contributes to a more comprehensive picture of current practice. It raises questions about the relationship between home and work, family and career, early socialization and later performance. Educational leadership is firmly rooted in professional identity. To understand one, we must understand the other.