Beth Hargreaves

Women's Discourses Within the Culture of the High School Principal: Resistance and Acceptance Within a Masculinized Cultural Discourse to Negotiate Difference and Develop Emancipatory Constructs Beth Hargreaves

This book examines the place of women in the culture of the high school principal. It uses feminist analysis as a critique of the positivist paradigm of educational bureaucracy and the masculinist discourse that forms the culture of the high school principal then uses this culture as a microcosm of the larger culture. Through semi-structured interviews with five female high school principals from northern Ohio, these women gave voice to their discourses regarding their places in the culture of the high school principal. Through an examination of their discourses, it was possible for the author to comment on expressions of resistance and acceptance of the masculinized discourse of the culture they inhabit. An interpretation of their discourses can be used to make visible the link between gender and power relations. This visibility may further help the reader to re-evaluate processes and situations and help negotiate multivoiced differences and develop possible emancipatory constructions.