Obstacles encountered by female school administrators in the management process and ways to cope with these barriers: The province of Diyarbakır

Throughout history, women in all societies of the world have always struggled to exist in all areas of society. One of the most important reflections of this struggle is working life. While women strive to survive in the working life, they have also struggled to overcome obstacles caused by various reasons. These obstacles, which exist in all areas of the business world, also show their effects in the education sector. In the process of becoming a manager and administrator, women resort to various ways to overcome the obstacles caused by the glass ceiling syndrome. This study aims to determine the obstacles faced by women in the process of management and becoming a manager and their ways of coping with these obstacles. The research is based on the explanatory sequential design model from mixed research methods. In order to obtain the data in the quantitative part of the study, 16 national and international articles were analyzed and a questionnaire containing 28 data and 5 main themes was obtained. With this questionnaire, it is aimed to determine the most common obstacles faced by female school administrators. The population of the study is all female school administrators working in Diyarbakır in the 2022-2023 academic year. The sample of the study is 138 female school administrators working in Diyarbakır who voluntarily participated in the study. As a result of the questionnaire administered to the participants, the most common obstacles women face are lack of family and spouse support, lack of skill development and support policies, the negative impact of patriarchal social structure, gender-based segregation and stereotyped male leadership. In the qualitative part of the study, a semi-structured interview form was applied to 12 female school administrators on a voluntary basis. In the study, the participants' personal views and experiences about the obstacles they face and the ways of coping with these obstacles were quoted. At the end of the study, recommendations were made to researchers and educational practitioners.