Leadership and women: the space between us. Narrating 'my-self' and telling the stories of senior female educational leaders in Malta

The main aim of this qualitative research study is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of senior female educational leaders in the Department of Education in Malta. Although Malta’s laws relating to gender equity are in line with those of the EU, traditional beliefs and values, including those influenced by the Catholic church, mean that in many areas of social life, women and girls continue to be perceived to be inferior. It is also the case that the gender gap in Malta in many sectors is one of the highest in Europe.

The study is framed within the constructivist and interpretivist paradigm and took a narrative approach. I have looked at gender and leadership through a lens of social justice rather than feminism. Throughout 2017-2018 in-depth interview data was collected from the eight female senior leaders in the Maltese education department. Data were analysed manually using a hybrid approach method (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006), to decide on the relevant themes. An autoethnographic approach was also employed, whereby I critically examined and reflected on my experiences of female leaders. Data was crafted into a fictitious staged drama script to present the findings from the interviews, and another fictitious radio drama script to present some key relevant experiences from my life. To the best of my knowledge no such study has been conducted locally using a similar approach, and focusing on senior female educational leaders.

The findings from the study demonstrated that women in educational leadership in Malta have to face challenges specific to them being females. Furthermore, the study contributes to understanding around women already in leadership posts, and also those aspiring to be leaders. The study recommends among other things, real family-friendly measures by organisations; organised professional development programmes for women in leadership and for those aspiring to be leaders; and training programmes focused on how to build healthy collegial relationships. Also, this thesis suggests some potential proposals for future research.