March 19, 2024

Women Leading Ed released its 2024 Insight Survey findings today, revealing widespread gender-based bias affecting women in top district and state education leadership roles. Conducted between November 2023 and January 2024, the survey received responses from over 110 women, collectively serving nearly 8 million students across 81 school systems in 28 states.

Key findings of the inaugural WLE Insight Survey include:

• Widespread Bias Impacts Women in Leadership: 82% of respondents reported often or sometimes feeling external pressure to dress, speak, or behave a certain way because they are women in a superintendent or senior leadership role.  Women of color feel even more pressure: 55% of women of color report that they “often” feel this pressure, compared to 36% of white women.

• Women Forced to Make Sacrifices Males Peers Do Not: Fully 95% of superintendents said they believe that they have to make sacrifices that their male colleagues do not in their professional life. 

• Gender Impacting Advancement and Compensation:  57% say they have been overlooked or passed up for advance opportunities that were given to male colleagues and 53% of superintendents say they have had conversations or negotiations about their salary where they felt their gender influenced the outcome. 

• Burnout Due to Stress and Strain:  Nearly 6 out of 10 respondents stated that they think about leaving their current position due to the strain and stress of their job.  Of the women who registered this sentiment, 75% said they think about leaving daily, weekly, or monthly. That equates to almost 50% of all respondents.  

• Women Face a Skewed Leadership Pipeline: Of the respondents who had ever been principals, just 18% served as a high school leader and 75% of respondents spent the majority of their career in academic pathway. These results reflect the fact that leadership pipelines often position men more quickly and efficiently for top leadership positions, from teacher through high school principal to executive leadership and ultimately to superintendent, while women are coached into roles in elementary- or middle-school leadership and academic pathways.

The experiences illustrated by the first-ever Women Leading Ed Insight Survey demonstrate the need for systemic change to take on the gender gap in education leadership.  Fortunately, there is now a playbook for just that. 

The Time is Now: A New Playbook for Women in Education Leadership synthesizes years of workplace research and outlines catalytic strategies. More than 700 education leaders signed onto an open letter calling for the adoption of the strategies contained within The Time is Now.