Developing an anti-misogynist culture in your school starts from the top. There must be a commitment from leadership at all levels, and it must be threaded throughout all school practices and policies.
However, women remain under-represented within school leadership (Bergmann et al, 2022). In England, the school leadership characteristics report (DfE, 2022) reveals that at primary level, 85% of primary teachers are female compared with 74% of headteachers.
It makes me wonder whether the reason that we don’t talk about the menopause as much as we should is because senior leadership teams can often be male-dominated.
Traditionally, notions of leadership are connected to perceptions of masculinity – having “strength” or “gravitas”. In reality, being a successful school leader requires someone who is both strong and vulnerable, someone who is driven and compassionate, someone who is commanding and empathetic.
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