The experiences and opinions of women managers on being female managers in educational organizations

The advancement of women in their careers, as well as their participation in business life, poses many difficulties. Working in low waged and insecure jobs, various obstacles to advancement in career ladders, as well as being unable to take part in management positions are among the most basic of these difficulties. Although the education sector in the world and in Turkey is a sector where women are heavily involved, the number of women in management levels is quite low. The aim of this research is to examine the management experiences of women working as administrators in the education sector in Mersin, Turkey. The study group of the research includes 21 female administrators who work in the education sector in Yenisehir, Mezitli, Toroslar and Akdeniz districts, which are the central districts of Mersin province. The data of the research was obtained by face-to-face and semi-structured interviews with female managers. The data obtained was analyzed by descriptive analysis method. According the results of the research, it has been seen that there is no gender in management, women do not prefer management in education because they have many household responsibilities, long working hours and men put obstacles in front of women to be managers. It has been observed that the glass ceiling obstacle continues in the processes of appointment to the management, especially in the upper-level management positions. It has been found that female managers need to improve their technical and financial skills, especially in the field of management. It is among the other results of the research that female administrators exhibit masculine behaviours in their posture and speech rather than their dressing style; being a female administrator in education administration is not different from other sectors; female administrators are exposed to verbal violence/harassment and mobbing.