Beyond the glass facade : women deans of education

There are indications that the number of women in administrative positions in academia is growing. Much of this information is informal and anecdotal. This research focused on women who have become deans of education and the career paths used to reach the upper management level of education administration. This study investigated whether barriers referred to in the 1980's as the "glass ceiling," which slowed women's progress to the upper ranks of administration, still exist or have been compounded by the "glass facade." This term refers to the organizational and cultural impediments that women face when attempting to further their careers into the executive ranks of an organization. The fact that women are now in more administrative roles does not necessarily mean that the upper levels of administration are truly open to or accepting of them. They may, in effect, serve as tokens in what is still a heavily male dominated profession. In the summer of 1998, questionnaires were mailed to 152 women deans of colleges of education whose institutions are members of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Although AACTE collected information on gender for its institutional representatives, data were not reported on how many member institutions have schools or colleges of education led by deans nor the number of member institutions led by women deans. Information from this research augments this database and adds to knowledge on career paths for women in higher education.