dewi rosnah radin suhadi

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MOBILITY OF WOMEN ADMINISTRATORS IN THEEDUCATION SECTOR IN KEDAH

A thesis submitted to the Graduate School in partialof the requirements for the degree

Master of Science (Management)


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S e k o l a h S i s w a z a h

(G r a d u a t e S c h o o l )U n i v e r s i t i U t a r a M a l a y s i a

P E R A K U AN K E R J A T E S I S(Certification Of Thesis Work)

Kami, yang bertandatangan, memperakukan bahawa(We, the undersigned, certify that)

DEW1 ROSNAH BT. RADIN SUHADI

untuk ijazah(can did ate for the degree Master of Science (Management)

telah mengemukakan tesisnya yang bertajukpresented his/ her thesis of the following title)

MOBILITY OF WOMEN ADMINISTRATORS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

IN KEDAH.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Permission to UseAbstract Malaysia)

Abstract (English)AcknowledgementsList of TablesList of Figures

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 An Overview of Women Employment in Malaysia1.2 Context of the Problem

1.3 Research Objectives1.4 Research Questions

1.5 Research Hypotheses

1.6 Significance of the Study

1.7 Limitations and Scope of the Study

Page

ii i. . .1 1 1

i v

V

v i i

1

1 01516181 92 0


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CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS

4. 14.2

4. 3

4.4

The RespondentsA Profile of the Secondary School Administrators in

A Comparison in Mobility between Female and MaleAdministratorsFactors that have Facilitated or Hindered the

Advancement of the Women Administrators to TopAdministrative Position

CHAPTER V: Y, CONCLUSION ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

5. 1 An Overview 8 3

5.2 Conclusion 8 95. 3 Recommendation 9 2

49

51

7 2

7 6


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX 5

APPENDIX 6

APPENDIX 7

APPENDIX 8

APPENDIX 9

APPENDIX 10

APPENDIX 11

97

101

104

106

107

108

109

117

127

132

140

142


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PERMISSION TO USE

In presenting this thesis in partial of the requirements fora Post Graduate degree the Universiti Utara Malaysia, I agreethat the Library of this University may make it available forinspection. I agree that permission for copying of this thesis

in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may begranted by my supervisor(s) or in their absence, by the Dean of theGraduate School where I did my thesis. It is understood that anycopying or publication or use of this thesis or parts there of forfinancial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Itis also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and tothe Universiti Utara Malaysia in any scholarly use which may bemade of any material in my thesis.


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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to draw a profile of the women administrators of the schools in Kedah. The emphasis was on their demographic characteristics

and mobility pattern. The second aim was to investigate whether the women. .

differ significantly in both aspects above from their male counterparts.

The population of this study were the Principals, Senior Assistants and Senior SubjectTeachers of the secondary schools in the whole state of Kedah. They were randomlychosen using the Statified Random Sampling Method. research instrument was a

item questionnaire mailed to the respondents. It was designed to collectthe following informations: (1) Personal characteristics, (2) Educational background, (3)

Home-related (4) Specific qualities and (5) Mobility pattern of theadministrators. The data collected were analyzed using the SAS programme.

The of this study show that women administratorsdo not significantly indemographic characteristics and mobility pattern as compared to their male counterparts.Generally, a typical woman administrator is married, in 40s and has a BachelorsDegree. 65.9% of them have served as ordinary teachers 10 to 19, years while61.0% have served as an administrator for less than 5 years. 49.6% of them have notattended any training programme concerning school administration before and after beingpromoted to their present position.

Looking at the mobility pattern, 40.99% of the female administrators remain as teachers

in their own districts of origin while 36 2 1% remain as administrators in the same areaTh l bil d d f b f d Wh f il


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Syukur alhamdulillah.. . for at last I have managed to complete this thesis in time.

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the following individuals who weredirectly involved with the development and completion of this study: To Dr. Che bin Mad, my

first supervisor, for his advice, guidance and valuable criticism throughout this work. He hasgenerously allocated and shared his limited time to enable me to complete this study an has been aninvaluable source of counsel and throughout my research effort. His patience and

has motivated me to complete this study in time. To my second supervisor, TuanAbdul Rahman bin for his personal assistance, cooperation and support in the progressand completion of this study. He has extended his insights and introduced me to certainpeople to help me in my statistical analysis. His tolerance in listening to my arguments and editingthe essay is very much appreciated.

I would also like to my appreciation to Prof. Dr. Milandre Nini Bulgarin Rusgal for herinvaluable ideas and continued interests, especially in the research methodology sessions and thepreparation of the research proposal.

I also owe a great deal to many people who have provided assistance during the process ofll ti th d t th ffi d t ff f th K d h St t Ed ti D t t i ll E


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: Total and Percentage Number of Staff in the Goverment Sector,by Sex (1980 1991)

Table 1.2: Employment Distribution by Industry and Sex, 1990 and 1995

Table 1.3 : Employment Distribution by Sex and Industry, 1990 and 1995

Table 1.4: Employment Distribution by Sex and Industry, 1990 and 1995

Table 1.5: Number of Employees in the Civil Service (1995)

Table 1.6: Total Population of Employees in the Education Sector inKedah 1995

Table 1.7: Total Population in the Education Sector: Academic Staff(Administrative and Teaching) and Non Academic Staff (Rankand File)

Table 1.8: Distribution of Employees by Rank in the Secondary and

Primary Schools Kedah According to Gender


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Table 4.5: Length of Service of the Secondary School Administrators inKedah (As Ordinary Teachers)

Table 4.6: Length of Service of Secondary School Administrators inKedah

Table 4.7: Highest Educational Attainment of the Secondary School

Administrators in Kedah

Table 4.8: Year of Graduation of the Secondary School Administrators inKedah

Table 4.9: Training Programmes attended by the Secondary SchoolAdministrators in Kedah

Table 4.10: Organizers of Training Programmes Attended by theSecondary School Administrators in Kedah

Table 4.11: Number and Percentage of Male and Female AdministratorsRemaining in their District of Origin

Table 4.12: Family-Related Matters of the Secondary School



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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Total Number of in The Goverment Sector By Sex (19801991)

Figure 1.2: Percentage of Staff in The Goverment Sector By Sex (19801991)

Figure 1.3 : Number and Percentage of Male and Female Teachers (1995)

Figure 3.1: Schematic Diagram showing the Correlates of the Mobility ofWomen Administrator in the Education Sector in Kedah.

Figure 4.1: Distribution of Respondents

Figure 4.2: Age of the Secondary School Administrators in Kedah

Figure 4.3: Marital Status of the Secondary School Administrators inKedah

Figure 4.4: Rank in Family of the Secondary School Administrators in

Kedah.


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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 An Overview of Women Employment in Malaysia

Women in Malaysia have long been involved in employment. Previous studies by

Husna Sulaiman Rohany Nasir and (1989) showed that besides

being housewives, the Malay peasant society women have traditionally participated in

economic activities such as farming, handicrafts and sales of goods in local markets.

H th l d i h id l t h h ld


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This situation has slowly evolved especially independence. Women first started

joining systematically into the civil service, particularly in the education sector, when a

few of them were sent to Kirby, England to be trained as teachers in the 1950s. Since

then, there was a steady increase in the number of women in the government agencies.

Most of them were concentrated in the education service as teachers, in hospitals as

nurses or attendants and other feminine jobs such as clerks, typists, telephone operators

and social workers.

Reviewing Malaysian Womens Status coordinated by Professor Datin Dr. Jamilah

Ariffin (1994) has revealed several factors which helped to explain the increase in the

participation of women in the government service. The most important factor was

education. The other key factor was the gradual change in parents attitude towards

i i th i d ht l t iti ti ti d t t


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demands for women employees especially in the teaching, clerical and secretarial fields.

The activities were further enhanced through the establishment of The National Advisory

Council on the Integration of Women in Development (NACIWID), the Womens

Affairs Division and several Non-Government Organizations which

work together as the national machinery for the advancement of womens status in

Malaysia. The NACIWID helps to increase womens participation in employment by

coordinating and acting as consultative and advisory body on womens affairs besides

promoting womens issues at the national level through its linkages with policy-makers.

The HAWA appointed liason officers at the state and district levels to monitor the

implementation and impact of projects for women. It also undertook gender analysis

training and sensitization for policy-makers and programme implementors in the public

sector and initiated similar programmes for the private sector.


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Table 1.1: TOTAL AND PERCENTAGE NUMBER OF STAFF IN THE GOVERMENT SECTOR BY SEX

SEX Number of Staff

Male

Total

1 9 8 0

3 5 6 7 7 5

7 3 . 0

1 3 1 9 5 4

2 7 . 0

4 8 8 7 2 9 6 7 7 1 4 8I

6 9 7 6 8 9I

7 0 9 1 8 4 7 1 7 1 2 4

1 0 0 . 0

1 9 8 1 1982 1983 1 9 8 4 1985 1 9 8 6

3 8 5 9 1 0 4 6 8 2 1 4 4 6 8 2 9 6 4 9 6 4 8 5 5 0 1 5 1 5 5 0 3 7 0 4

72.4 72.3 7 1 . 8I

7 1 . 2 70.7 70.2

1 4 6 8 8 4 179761 1 9 0 8 5 2 2 0 1 2 0 4 2 0 7 6 6 9 2 1 3 4 2 0

2 7 . 6 2 7 . 7 2 8 . 2 2 8 . 8 2 9 . 3 2 9 . 8

1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0

1 9 8 9 1 9 9 0 1 9 9 1

4 8 7 6 9 1 4 6 8 6 3 7 4 7 0 6 0 3

68.5 6 7 I I2 2 4 0 5 0 2 2 9 7 8 5 2 3 8 4 1 5

3 1 . 5 3 3 3 3 . 6

7 1 1 7 4 1 6 98 42 2 7 09 01 8

100.0 1 0 0 . 0 1 0 0 . 0

Source: Norma and Nik Rosnah (1993) IN (1993).


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increase every year. The increase reached 238,415 (33.6%) in 1991 (see also Figure 1.1

and Figure 1.2).

Women continued to make strides in various fields af national development between

1991 and 1995 as reported in the Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996). According to the

report, the number of women employed during that period increased 3 1.4 per cent

of total employed in 1990 to an estimated 33.7 per cent in 1995, as shown in Table 1.2.

An interesting trend observed during the period was the decline in the proportion of

women relative to men working in the primary and secondary sectors, and the

progressive increase in their participation in the tertiary sector, particularly the

distributive trade and financial sectors.

T bl 1 2 EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION BY INDUSTRY AND SEX 1990 AND 1995


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Overall, the manufacturing sector continued to absorb the largest share of employed

women, accounting for about 30.1 per cent of all female workers in 1995 compared to

29.5 percent in 1990. This was followed by other services: wholesale and retail trade,

hotels and restaurants; and agricultural sectors as shown in Table 1.3. In terms of

occupational structure, the proportion of women in the professional, technical as well as

administrative and managerial occupational categories increased significantly from 9.4

per cent and 0.6 percent in 1990 to 13.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent in 1995, respectively

(see Table 1.4).

1.3: EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION BY SEX AND INDUSTRY. 1990 AND 1995

Industry

Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock Fishing

Mining Quarrying

C i

1990 1995

Male Female Male Female

24.8 28.5 20.3 15.9

0.7 0.2 0.5 0.1

15.6 29.5 20.0 30.1


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1990Male Female Male Female

Professional, Technical Related Workers 6.4 9.4 8.4 I 13.5Administrative Managerial WorkersClerical Related WorkersSales Related Workersserives workersAgriculture Workers

Production Relates Workers

TOTAL

1.4: EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION BY SEX AND INDUSTRY, 1990 AND 1995

2.87.0

11.49.9

29.4

3 3 . 1

100.0

0.6 4.4 1.914.1 7.3 17.611.4 10.9 11.314.1 9.9 13.428.1 20.9 15.822.3 38.2 26.5

100.0 100.0

A closer look at certain departments today shows that female have

outnumbered the males (see Table 1.5). Taking the education sector in particular, there

are 23,656 female teachers in 1995 compared to 18,269 male teachers ( see also Figure

1.3). The overall number of 53,757 female has outnumbered the overall 39,886

l (D l di h A d F d P li D )


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teachers. For instance, data compiled from the Kedah State Education Department as

shown in Table 1.6 indicates that out of 2 1,121 in 1995, there were 11,055 or

52.34 per cent females compared to 10,066 or 47.66 per cent males. Is it true that, in

our society, women face a lot of barriers and constraints to achieve job advancement?

Table 1.6: TOTAL POPULATION OF EMPLOYEES IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR INKEDAH 1995

ADMINISTRATIVELEVEL MALE % FEMALE % TOTAL*

1. State Education 110 0.52 92 0.44 202 (207)

2. District Education 70 0.33 1 5 0.07

3. Educational Resource 29 0.14 5 0.02 34 (38)

4. Secondary Schools 4193 19.85 3843 18.19 8036 (8048)

5. Primary and Pre-Schools 5664 26.82 7100 33.62 12,764 (12,772)

TOTAL 10,066 47.66 11,055 52.34 21,121

(21,155)


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secondary schools. There were no top level women administrators in the District

Education Offices or State Education Department (see Table 1.9) but there was one in

the State Educational Resource Centre who has retired in February 1995.

Table 1.7: TOTAL POPULATION IN TEE EDUCATION SECTOR : ACADEMIC STAFFAND TEACHING) AND NON ACADEMIC STAFF

LEVEL

1. State Education

2. District Education

Offices

3. Educational Resource

Centre

ACADEMIC STAFF

ADMINISTRATIVE

41

1 7 1

T o t a l

55

41

1 8

TEACHING

T o t a l

NON ACADEMIC

STAFF (Rank &File)

F

87

M

6 0

T o t a l

14 7

29 1 5 44

4 1 6

GRAND

TOTAL

85

34


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LEVEL/RANK FEMALE

Schools

a) Top level /Principals

(A Schools) 5 1 0.64 8 0.10 59

b) Top level/Principals

Schools) 52 0.65 1 4 0.13 6 6

c) Middle level/Senior

Assistant (A Schools Only)

d) Middle level/Senior

Assistant Schools Only)

1 1 3 1.41 41 0.51 154

155 1.92 6 0 0.74 21 5

e) Low level/Senior Subject

Teachers (A School Only)

Teachers

g) Non-Teachers (Rank and

File)

T O T A L

115 1.43 114 1.42 22 9

2768 34.40 3175 39.52 5943

939 11.68 431 5.38 1370

4193 52.13 3843 47.8 8036

L


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KEDAH DARULAMAN ACCORDING TO GENDER

LEVEL

1 State Education Department

a) Top level (Director

and Deputy Directors)

b) Middle level (chief

Assistant Directors)

c) Low level (Assistant

Directors, Supervisors

and Administrative

Officers

d)

TOTAL

3 1.46 3

10 4.95 10

37 18.32 5 2.47 42

60 29.72 87 43.07 147

TOTAL

2 District Education

a) Top level (District

Education Officer)

b) Middle level (Assistant

110 54.45 92 45.54 202

7 8.24 7


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Various pronouncements has been made by the government about the importance of

womens role regarding their leadership and managerial capabilities either in economy,

politics, education or entrepreneurship. The National Policy was aimed to

women in all economic sectors. The Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996) has emphasized on

strategies to incorporate women in the process of development. The ninth challenge of

Vision 2020 has highlighted womens participation in economy. Even the Prime Minister,

Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said that women has a natural tendency for

management and the country will face an acute shortage of manpower if women were

relegated to doing only housework 6th April 1996).

Another important event is the appointment of Datin Seri Dr. Hasmah Mohd as

the Chairman of the Regional Steering Committee for Rural and Island Women of


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Previous studies on women in Malaysia were mainly focused on health, family planning,

and social aspects (Jamilah Ariffin, 1992). Later, a review of their status and a collection

ofReadings on Women Development in Malaysia (Jamilah Ariffin, 1994) has covered

certain aspects including womens involvement and participation in the government

sector, politics, medical as well as the impact of education on the development process.

Since there was no previous research particularly emphasizing on the mobility of women

administrators, it is hoped that this study will stimulate the generation of knowledge to

better understand this phenomenon in the Malaysian context.

1.3 Research Objective

The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of women


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l age

l length of service as a teacher

l length of service as an administrator

l year of graduation

number of promotion

l experience as a Principal, Senior Assistant or Senior Subject Teacher.

1.4 Research Questions

The number of women is very significant in the teaching profession which is considered

as a female dominated job. This is well understood as teaching is very closely related to

the feminine task of mothers to educate and look after the well-beings of the children. It


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1. What are the personal characteristics of women administrators in the

education sector in Kedah? Is there a pattern of personal characteristic

variables that discriminate between female administrators and their male

counterparts? The specific variables examined were age, marital status, rank

in the family and length of service as ordinary teachers and as administrators.

2. What is the educational background of the women administrators in the

education sector in Kedah? Is there any difference in educational background

between the female administrators compared to the male administrators as

measured by their highest academic qualification and administrative training

attended?


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4. Is the mobility of the women administrators in the education sector in Kedah

highly depended on their specific qualities and other significant factors?

they differ in specific qualities as compared to their male counterparts?. These

specific qualities include knowledge, skill, and attitude regarding their

administrative position, while other significant factors are the recruitment

and retention undergone by them before holding top positions.

5. Corollarily, is the mobility pattern of the female administrators differ

significantly their male counterparts along age, length of service, year of

graduation, number of promotion offered and experience?

1.5 Research Hypotheses


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Women administrators do not differ significantly in mobility pattern

compared to the male administrators.

1. 6 Significance of the Study

Firstly, it is hoped that this study would help to generate knowledge about the factors

related to the mobility of woman administrators in the secondary schools in Kedah. It is

anticipated that the results would be useful especially to the female teachers to create a

better understanding and positive attitude towards their career planning, opportunities

and advancement as school administrators. The profiles developed and the patterns

discovered would serve as a career development aid by which they may assess and aim

their ascent.


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formation of a new set of questionnaire or instrument which will be used to measure the

specific indicators in an attempt to look out for other factors, differences or similarities

between female and male administrators mobility.

1.8 Limitations and Scope of the Study

Initially, the researcher intended to conduct the study on senior women administrators in

all the ministries in Kedah. However due to time factors, it was later diverted to the

senior woman administrators in the education sector: the State Education Department,

the State Educational Resource Centre and the District Education Nevertheless ,

after scanning through the list of administrators, it was found that the number of woman

in top positions were rather negligible, thereby, limiting the potential respondents.


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Time Constraints

The maximum time available to the researcher to spend on data collection process

including running the pilot test was between 15th July and 28th October 1996 which is

about three and a half months only, while the analysis of data and write up was targeted

to be completed before 30th November 1996. Therefore, the researcher only used

mailed questionnaires instead of field interviews.

Generalizabilitv of Findings

Since the research study was the first one to be conducted, and carried out only in

Kedah, the findings might not reflect the whole current scenario in Malaysia.


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CHAPTER

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Traditionally, the image of females has been viewed primarily as housewives: caretaker of

the home, children and husband. However, the increased rights and opportunities

obtained by women to choose education and profession have resulted in the influx of

women in the workforce (Asplund, 1988). Today, women have been found participating

successfully in almost all walks of life including education, politics, science, international

aids organizations, business and even in the corporate world. However, the number of


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A search of the literature was done based on these questions and summarized according to

five headings. First, the researcher summarizes the key functions of a manager and relates

it to the role and characteristics of a school administrator. This is followed by some

relevant reviews on female-male leadership differences. Then, the researcher tries to

highlight some research findings on the absence of women from higher-education

administration and the barriers towards womens mobility to top positions. Lastly, a few

demographic characteristics on women administrators as observed by previous

researchers are displayed.

2.1 The Function of a Manager and its Relationship to the Role of a School

Administrator


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The major functions and roles of the school administrators are based on the guidelines

endorsed by the Ministry of Education, 1990 (Appendix 1). Basically, it is seen to be in

line with the management function of managers as described by and

Mintzberg.

Another way of considering the function of a manager (administrator) is to look at the

skills and competencies they need to successfully achieve their goals. As identified by Katz

and Kahn (1977) IN Miles a manager has to acquire three essential management

skills: technical (the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise), human (the

ability to work with, understand and motivate other people, both individually and in

groups) and conceptual (the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations).


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2.2 Female-male Leadership Differences.

Studies concerning the questions on whether women are really different men in

leadership behaviours have been explored by many researchers. The findings and

conclusions were however varied, mixed and contradictory.

In general, several studies concerning the sex-role identities on managers found that

good managers were perceived to have characteristics associated with masculine

role stereotypes: assertive, achieving, competitive, rational and independent (Miles, 1985).

Nevertheless, it has also been argued that the good female managers might differ in

leadership styles compared to good male managers. A research study by Brodsky

has discussed the arguments on the similarities and differences in female-male


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that these women have similar value profiles with the males. A further review by Brodsky

(1989) found that in contrast to the stereotypes of the female managers;

woman managers were be energetic (Sheppard,

analytical, rationally oriented and personally competitive (White, Crino

Women rated themselves as having high ability and

intelligence (Bunker Bender, 1980; . . . and saw

themselves as being more objective, decisive, logical, consistent, having

leadership ability, assertive and skilled . . .

It has thus become the interest of the researcher to investigate whether the characteristics

of the school administrators in Kedah differ according to gender. However, due to time

constraints, only the demographic characteristics of the administrators will be emphasized.


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numbers and positions held, profiles concerning career paths, barriers hindering women

to attain top administrative positions and leadership characteristics of woman

administrators.

A study on the status and profiles of woman administrators in education by Ozga

has revealed that women form the majority of the workforce in education but they are

underrepresented in the management. According to her, women are more visible in the

management of education offered to younger pupils. In higher education, especially in the

universities, woman managers are almost invisible.

Similar topic has also been discussed by White who found that sexism is a bar to

advancement in many fields. Even in the realm of academia which is considered as the


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cent of the total of 1,367 faculty members were constituted by females. However only 46

per cent of the total number of executives were of the same gender.

Relating this phenomena to the current Malaysian education sector, it is observed that the

same trend occurs. There has been no women Education Minister or Deputy Education

Minister. Only very recently, a woman was appointed as the Director of the Wilayah

Persekutuan Education Departments and another one as the District Education Officer of

Petaling. An example in Kedah is the Darulaman Teachers Training Institute

which is headed by a lady Principal who has been in that position for nearly 4 years.

Before that, she was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Kedah State Education

Department which lasted for only a few months.


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problems. Recently, more studies has been focused to their role in business, politics,

entrepreneurship and leadership. Rohany Nasir (1984) studied the sex-role attitudes and

some selected background characteristics of women in nontraditional careers, women in

traditional careers and the homemakers in Malaysia. Studies focusing on womens role in

education sector alone has not been given much attention except by Manjit Kaur (1994).

She reviewed the trends of women involvement in education in Malaysia and the pattern

of womens participation in the education system. In line with that, she highlighted its

relevance to the development of womens position and status, particularly with reference

to female force participation.

Another study on women managers in public and non-profit making organizations

undertaken by the University of Malaya (199 concluded that the factors contributing


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towards women mobility to top positions. Most of the researchers under this topic were

mainly concerned with the barriers themselves and the strategies to overcome these

obstacles.

The main barriers to womens advancement are classified as: internal barriers, which

include personal characteristics, motivation and behaviour; and external barriers, which

include societal and traditional structural obstacles such as sex-role stereotyping, lack of

network or mentoring relationships, and lack of role model or professional preparation

(Miles, 1986; White, 1992; and Davidson and Cooper, 1992).

reported that the scarcity of women managers are due to the type of

organization and how it works along power and decision-making, informations


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inadequacies and in capacities on education management and structural explanations which

emphasize on male as playing better management roles.

On the other hand, many researchers have proved that families and home-related factors

have a great influence on the woman administrators career. The most frequently reported

obstacles to administrative advancement for women were due to their responsibilities

towards their family 1994) as well as family strains due to household chores and

children (Seidmann, 1978). Another major block to accept promotion is due to problems

arising from family inmobility especially when the husband is not supportive or having

another career.

As summarized by Izraeli, Banai and Zeira women; either married or single, a


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Womens Day celebration 26th August) reported that the factors that have

hindered women from getting to the top are that many women are too comfortable with

their status quo to want to change. Many of them do not really want to be at the top; they

find that they work better in partnership with men as equal partners with opportunities

to participate and contribute to decision-making.

Secondly, the Malaysian society strongly expects the successful career women to also be a

superb parent and home-maker. Therefore, womens multiple responsibilities is a big

hindrance to mobility unless there is more equitable sharing of family duties, community

support services and changes in the work environment, employment or corporate

structure. Other factors include personal, societal, cultural and religious backgrounds

(such as the belief that women should not be in leadership over men).


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Several strategies have been suggested by previous researchers to overcome these

barriers. They include developing understanding and skills in management, establishing ties

and getting involved with administration, networking with other female contemporaries,

adapting alternative working styles, in-service training on administrative issues and

communication techniques and increasing aggressiveness in striving for administrative

positions such as pursuing further career opportunities at an early age (Gordon and Ball,

1977; Loomis and Wild, 1978; Davidson and Cooper, 1992; Ozga, 1992; and Tabb,

1994).

2.5 Demographic Characteristics of Women Administrators

A study by Tabb (1994) has managed to draw a profile of females who have been


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first born and only child, seven middle children, and five last born children. Seven were in

the position for one year or less, three for eleven years and one for twelve years. None

reported work interruptions during administrative career. Majority were not motivated by

higher income or prestige, More than 60 per cent said that they could do the job as well as

others. Another study by Rusher (1995) to examine the recruitment, retention and

promotion patterns of 154 African American women in higher education in the United

States found that they were mostly over 40 years old, married with children, felt good

about working at their institutions and have mentors.

2.6 Summary

Another similar study conducted by Sogra (1992) in Bangladesh showed that the female


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CHAPTER

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the procedures of this research. First, it gives the details on the

research paradigm. Then, it describes the method of collecting the data, followed by a

description of the pilot test. Lastly, the data analysis techniques used in analyzing the data

is highlighted.

3.1 Research Paradigm


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3.1: Schematic Diagram Showing the Correlates of Mobility of Women

Administrator in the in

* G e n d e r

* of as ordinary teachers* of service as administrators

1. Educational Qualification* Highest educational attainment* Year of acquisition* attended

2. Training

* courses attended

Home Related Factors

Mobility

of

Women

Administrators


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Secondary sources of data were obtained from the documents of the Education

Department, District Education Offices and school records.

3.2.1 Unit of Analysis

The subjects of this study comprised of the current (1996) working male and

female administrators of secondary schools in the state of Kedah. They were the

Principals, Senior Assistants and Senior Subject Teachers. The Principals represent

the top management level, the Senior Assistants represent the middle management

level while the Senior Subject Teachers represent the lower management level of

the schools. Initially, the researcher intended to focus the study on the Principals

only. However, due to the limited number of female Principals who were supposed

to be the most appropriate respondents the Senior Assistants and the Senior


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l Next, the population was divided into three segments; the Principals, the

Senior Assistants and the Senior Subject Teachers according to the seven

districts in Kedah.

l The third stage was to determine the sample size from the known population.

This was done by referring to the table for determining sample size from a

given population as suggested by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). The table is

shown in Appendix 3. It provides a generalized scientific guideline for sample

size decision whereby subjects were drawn in proportion to their original

numbers in the population. As a result, a total of 188 female administrators

were identified as sample or potential respondents. In a similar way, the

number of male administrators identified were 325, giving a total of 513


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32.3 Data Collection Techniques

According to Sekaran data can be collected in a variety of ways:

face interviews, telephone interviews, computer-assisted interviews;

questionnaires that are either personally administered, sent through the mail, or

electronically administered; observation of individuals and events with or without

video taping or audio recording; and a variety of other motivational techniques

such as projective tests.

She (Sekaran) further pointed out that among these methods, interviewing,

administering questionnaires and observing people or phenomena are the three

main data-collection methods. By right, many researchers prefer face-to-face

interviews because it has the advantage of flexibility in terms of adapting adopting


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constraints and the nature of the study, (where the samples are distributed in a

wide geographical area covering the whole state of Kedah), the researcher opted

to the mailed questionnaire method. Although it has the advantage of obtaining

data more efficiently in terms of time, energy and costs, it has however been

expected to have certain disadvantages: the return rate might not be as high as

might be desired and any doubts faced by the respondents cannot be clarified

instantly. Realizing these circumstances before-hand, the researcher thus have

taken certain steps to optimize the outcomes: limiting the questionnaire items as

short as possible, formatting the items in the most simple and attractive way,

translating the questionnaire items into the Malay language and enclosing a

addressed stamped envelope to every respondent.

Before distributing the sets of questionnaire items permission to conduct the


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of Kubang Pasu consisting of four males and six females, They were chosen based

on their personality, seniority and experience as school administrators. However,

their names, schools and positions are not enclosed to maintain their

confidentiality.

The interviews conducted was rather informal and unstructured. They were

planned to occur through conversations and discussions. As the researcher

explained the purpose and the scope of the study, the administrators usually

volunteered unsolicited informations and comments. aside from the data

and informations gathered based on the questionnaire items, these respondents

also provided additional insights, opinions, suggestions and comments concerning

the issue during the discussion sessions. Additional data and informations obtained

the interviews were used as a supplementary and complementary points to


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cover letter, explaining the purpose of the study, the researchers address as

well as home and handphone numbers were accompanied with the instruments.

To develop smooth flow of information, the questionnaire was divided into five

parts :

Part A: Personal characteristics

This part consists of 7 personal characteristic items: present position of the

respondent, age, gender, marital status, rank in family, length of service in the

education sector as a teacher and length of service as an administrator.

Part B: Educational background

This part consists of 4 items which is divided into 2 sections: academic


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intended to find out whether they still serve in the same area either as a teacher or

an administrator.

The second section was developed to uncover the facts whether the

administrators responsibilities towards their family have any impact in enhancing

or hindering their career advancement. The 7 specific variables include their own

evaluation of their role as a wife or husband, their role as a mother or father, moral

support obtained their spouse regarding their career and promotion and the

percentage of help available in carrying out their household chores.

Part D: aualities

Three specific qualities were highlighted in this survey. They are the knowledge in

school administration and management principles acquired by the administrators (2


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3.3 The Pilot Study

In order to test for the reliability and validity of the instrument, a pilot test was carried out

prior to the full scale study. Smith (1975) and Miles (1986) emphasized that reliability is

concerned with the keplicability of findings and consistency between independent

measures of the same phenomenon. They also stated that validity refers to the accuracy

of measurements or observations, which is more important as a criterion than reliability in

evaluating the worth of a study.

Taking the two quotations into consideration, the researcher thus conducted the pilot

study to assess the data collection technique and the suitability of the questionnaire. It was

also aimed at looking for other problems which might arise regarding the research model

or hypothesis construction, and help the researcher to redevelop, alleviate or elliminate


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The inter-item consistency and reliability of the independent and dependent variables

were obtained by using the Cronbachs Alpha reliability coefficient through the SAS

programme. It was computed in terms of the average inter correlations among the items

measuring the concept. Theories indicate that the closer the Cronbachs Alpha is to 1, the

higher the internal consistency reliability. According to Sekaran reliabilities less

than 0.60 are generally considered to be poor, between the range of 0.7 to 0.79 is

acceptable and those over 0.8 is good and highly reliable.

In general, the pilot study was very helpful especially in giving the experience of

collecting, inputing and understanding the data analysis. It was found that the Cronbachs

Alpha ranged from 0.42 to 0.86. It was also found that the lower value was due to the

nature of the items which were self-incriminating. As a result, a few changes were made

involving the rearrangement and rephrasing of the questionnaire items


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repondents. It is then repeated to see the characteristics of the male and female

administrators separately.

2. In order to determine whether the female and male administrators are different

each other, the t-test was used. This tool is useful to see if there are any

significant differences in the means for the two groups in the variables of

interest such as skill, knowledge and attitude of the administrators. The t-test

was also used to compare the mobility pattern between the female and the

male administrators along their age, length of service, year of graduation,

number of promotions offered and experience as an administrator.

3. The test was used to determine whether there is a relationship between

two nominal variables or whether they are independent of each other It also


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This also means that the variables are not significantly related. On the other

hand, the null hypothesis (Ho) will be rejected if the value of P 0.05.

The value oft = 2 was set (as the rule of thumb) to determine the significance

of the variable when the t-test procedure was used. If the value oft 2, then it

is generally not significant. The results thus indicate that the difference in the

means for the women and men is not significantly different. Thus, the null

hypothesis cannot be substantiated (accepted).

When the test was used in the analysis, the computed value obtained

from the survey was compared to the table which is shown in Appendix 14.

If the computed value is less than the table value, the null hypothesis was


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FINDINGS

This chapter consists of 4 parts: (1) the respondents; (2) a profile of the secondary

school administrators in Kedah: a comparison in the characteristics of the female and

male administrators along personal characteristics, educational background,

related factors and specific qualities; (3) a comparison in mobility pattern between the

female and male administrators; and (4) factors that have facilitated or hindered the

advancement of woman administrators to top administrative position.

4 1 Th R d t


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4.2 A Profile of the Secondary School Administrators in Kedah: a

Comparison in the Characteristics between Female and Male

Administrators along Personal Characteristics, Educational Background,

Home-related Factors and Specific Qualities.

A: Personal Characteristics

The respondents are generally over 40 years of age; the age clustering

in the 45-49 years group (30.2%) with slightly less among the 40-44

years group (29.8%). This implies that seniority and age are the two

important factors in promotion to higher administrative position. A

total of 31 (14.4%) of the administrators are over 50 and hence

retire able in a fe ears Onl 1 Senior Assistant is belo 30 ears


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1. 30 below

3.

5.

6. Above 50 years

N o .

1

5

1 8

2 1

2 4

2 3

9 2

Source:Raw 20).

1. 1

5 . 4

19.6

22.8

26.1

25.0

100

N o . %

4 3 . 2

2 7 22.0

4 3 35.0

4 1 33.3

8 6.5

123 100

T T o t a lN o .

9

4 5

6 4

6 5

3 1

0.5

4.2

20.9

29.8

30.2

14.4

100


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. .

Kedah

1.

T Ma l e F e ma l e T o t a lNo.

9 2

% I No. % No. %


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Table 4.4 shows that about 85% of the secondary school male and

female administrators in Kedah are either the first or the middle

child in the family. This finding is quite in line with some previous

studies conducted in the US and Europe whereby very often the

women administrators are the first or the only child and the middle

child 1994). The reason might be due to psychological

factors: the first child usually has inbome leadership

characteristics because he has to lead his younger brothers and

sisters. The only child of the family are usually independent while

the middle children are said to have built their character because

they have to survive among the elder and younger ones in order

to get the attentions. The youngest child in the family is usually

pampered and therefore does not develop significant leadership


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R a n k o f t h e

1. First child

2. Middlechild

3. Youngestch ild

4. Only child

T O T A L

3

9 2

3 .3

1 0 0.

10).

M a l e F e m a l e

N o . N o .

3 0 3 2 .6 2 4

4 8 5 2 .2 8 2

1 1 1 2 . 0 1 5

2 1 . 6

1 2 3 1 0 0

1 9 . 5

6 6 . 7

1 2 . 2

T o t a l

N o .

5 4 2 5 . 1

1 3 0 6 0 .5

2 6 12 .1

5 2 . 3

2 1 5 1 0 0


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Table 4.5 shows that 78.6% of the administrators have mostly

served in the education sector for more than 15 years. This has

been expected because promotion is closely related to the length

of service of the administrators. However, by comparison, the

female administrators are relatively found to be more junior in

length of service. The majority of them (48.0%) have served

between 5 to 19 years to become administrators as compared to

the men (5 1.1%) who have served for more than 20 years.

Table 4.5: of Service of the School

Administrators in Kedah Ordinarv Teachers1

of service M ale Fem ale

I

i h d i N % N %

Total

I

N %


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Number60

50

40

30

20

0

1 2 3 4

c lMa le F e m a l e

1) Below 10 2) years 3) 15-19 4) Above 20

Source : Table 4.5


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m en is in line with their younger age and

shown in Table 4.5.

of service as

1.

2.

N o .

5 6

2 1

1 5

9 2

No .

60 .9 7 5 61.0

22.8 3 8 30.9

16.3 1 0 8 . 1

1 0 0

Female

1 2 3 100

T o t a l


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B: Educational

Highest Educational Attainment

On the whole, all the secondary school administrators hold at least a

bachelors degree as their highest educational qualification. 74.9 percent

of them have the Bachelor of Arts (74.9%) while only 24.2 percent holds

the Bachelor of Science. Those who hold the Bachelor of Science are

mostly the Senior Subject Teachers. They are filling up the post of the

Senior Subject Teachers for the Science Department.

In terms of option, more female administrators hold a Bachelor of Arts

compared to their male counterparts. On the other hand, fewer of them

hold a Bachelor of Science compared to the male administrators.


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th e School

in

Ma le

1.

2. Bacheh ofscience

3. Masters

4.

No.

6 1

2 9

2

66.3

31.5

2 . 2

82

Raw (Appendix 10).

F e m a l e

No.

81.3%

2 3 18.7

123

T o t a l

No.

1 6 1 74.9

t

52 24.2

2 0 . 9

215 looI


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In relation to the education level of the administrators, their years of

graduation is also observed. It is found that most of them graduated

between 1975-1979. It is also found that generally, the male administrator

have graduated much earlier, that is between 1975-1979 while the women

administrator are clustered a bit later i.e. between 1980-1984. Most of the

Principals graduated before 1974. It is well understood because seniority

is highly considered in the promotion of the Principals beside the merits

and performance as measured by the New Remuneration System (SSB).

The results in Table 4.7 are consistent with our earlier results in Table

4.5.

TabZe4.8: Year of Graduation of the Secondary School



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2 3 4 5 6Year

c l Male F e m a l e

Source: Table 4.8


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4.9: Attended bv the

Female

No. No.

1. 1 2 13.0 11 8.9

2. After promotion 44 47.8 5 1 41.5

3. 36 39.1 6 1 49.6

92 123 1 0 0

Source: Raw 10).

Total


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(iv) Organizers of the Training Attended by the

of the Secondary Schools in

A further analysis of the training programmes attended by the

administrators indicated that most of them have attended courses

organized by the Kedah State Education Department and the

followed by the Ministry of Education (12.6%). The rest of the

training programmes were conducted by other institutions (8.9%). Table

4.10 below shows the organizers of the training programmes attended by

the administrators as revealed by the survey.

Table 4.10: of Proerammes Attended bv the

S h l Ad i i t t i K d h


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35

30

25

20

1 5

1 0

5

0

1 2 3

F e m a l e


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district of origin. This that women are less mobile and do not

a n d o f M a l e a n d F e m a l e

in Their District of

GenderTeacher

M a l e

F e m a l e

S II)

Th d t f th it i thi ti t i t d t i


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The second part of the items in this section tries to determine

whether the female administrators differ their male

counterparts in family matters. The relationship was analyzed by

comparing the means and standard deviation as well as the values

of P and The decision for substantiating the null hypothesis

was based on the criteria for analysis as discussed in Chapter III.

The null hypothesis which states that women do not differ from

men in terms of home-related matters was accepted. Table 4.12

shows that the women administrators do not differ significantly to

the male administrators (composite = -1.72, P = 0.10). The

differences in the means is not significant, even though it is noticed

th t th f l d i i t t littl l ll ff th l


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Indicators

1 . Ro l ea s a

2 . Role as a

mother/father

3 .

sp o u se

about career

4. Moral support

f rom spouse

ab o u t

promotion

1.71 0.56 1.89

1.79 0.72 1.94 0.76 -1 .42 0.16 2.816

1.65 0.62 1.85 5.229

1.69 0.64 1.87

0.88

0.97

-1.91

-1.55

0.06

0.12 3.204

Source: T-test Procedure and Chi-Square data (Appendices 12and 13).

To a question of how much helps available to the administrators to carry

out their household responsibilities, most of them responded that they


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Three specific qualities of the administrators inquired in this study were:

(1) their knowledge about school adminstration and management

principles; (2) managerial, communication and situational shills of the

administrators in carrying out their duties; and (3) their attitude towards

their job and positions. The results yielded are shown in Table 4.14. The

null hypothesis was again tested based on the values of and the

computed

Table Skill and Attitude of the Secondary

School Administrators in Kedah

Indica tors M AL E mean (SD) mean (SD)

3 . K n ow le d g e 1 73 0 39 1 82 0 39 -1 05 0 29 1 316

Both groups responded that their knowledge is better


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Both groups responded that their knowledge is better

or almost the same as others. Furthermore, the computed

square value of 1.3 16 is less than 5.991 from the table. Therefore,

the null hypothesis that knowledge is not significantly related to

gender is substantiated.

Skill

The skill of the administrators was measured using the Likert

scale with a range of 1 to 4. Table 4.13 shows that there is a

statistical evidence that the female administrators slightly differ

the male administrators in terms of skill (composite = 2.12,

The female administrators are better off from their male

i i i l kill b l k f i i kill

7 815 This indicates that skill is not significantly related to gender


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7.815. This indicates that skill is not significantly related to gender

was accepted.

Attitude

Table 4.13 also shows the outcome of the survey on attitude. It is

assumed that woman administrators differ from male

administrators in term of attitudes (composite = -2.05,

An anaylisis of the questionnaire shows that female administrators

differ from male administrators in certain attitudinal aspects:

perception about their job, job performance and commitment

towards organization.

The survey reveals that women administrators do not perceive


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In addition, the women also admit that they have to give less

priorities and moral supports to the school activities compared to

male administrators. The reasons are due to home-related factors

as elaborated in Section 4.4.

4.3: A Comparison in Mobility between Female and Male Administrators

Specific variables used to measure mobility are age of the administrators,

length of service as ordinary teachers, length of service as an

administrator, year of graduation, number of promotion, and experience

as a Principal, Senior Assistant, or Senior Subject Teacher.


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With regard to the age of the administrators, it is found that the

value oft = 1.6 and 0.11. Therefore, woman administrators

do not differ in age compared to the male administrators. The null

hypothesis is accepted. Both female and male administrators are

found to be homogenous in terms of age = 0.96, =

1.27). The difference in the means for the female and male

administrators is not significant. However, it is also found that age

is significantly related to gender since = 18.084 is greater than

11.070. The result is consistent with our earlier finding discussed

in Section 4.2.

T bl M St d d D i ti d l f M bilit

Length of Service as a Teacher.


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g f

(iii)

From table 4.14, it is found that the value of = 0.99 and P =

0.32. Therefore, the null hypothesis is accepted, which means that

women administrators do not in length of service as

compared to the male administrators in terms of service as a

teacher. However, the computed value is 14.717 which

is greater than 7.8 15 suggests that the length of service is

significantly related to gender in terms of being promoted as an

administrator. This further confirms our findings as discussed and

shown in Tables 4.5 and 4.6 earlier.

Length of Service as an

(iv) Year of


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( ) f

The value oft 1.22 and P= 0.22 suggests that the year of

graduation of the administrators do not differ according to gender.

It further suggests that there is no difference in the year of

graduation of the female administrators as compared to the male

administrators. It helps to conclude that women administrators are

not discriminated in promotion to administrative positions. The

computed value of 12.909 (greater than 11.070)

further suggests, as expected that the year of graduation of the

administrators is not significantly related to gender was rejected.

Promotion

Women administrators do not in accepting promotion

1.17 for the -1.04 for the Senior Assistants and -0.26


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for the Senior Subject Teachers, respectively. All the values of

are less than 2 and P 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis are

accepted which means that women administrators do not differ in

terms of experience compared to the male administrators. In

addition, the computed values are 6.856, 3.842 and

1.509 respectively which are less than 7.8 15 further suggest that

experience as an administrator is not significantly related to

gender.

To summarize the findings, it can be concluded that, on the whole,

women administrators do not differ in mobility pattern as

compared to male administrators

transfer due to family constraints and moral support from spouse (items


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35 to 37). The results of the survey are shown in Table 4.15.

In all cases, the 7 items were structured using a Likert scale ranging

1 to 4. The respondents were requested to indicate their agreement or

disagreement by circling the number which was best suited to them. As an

overall, it is found that, the women administrators did not show a strong

agreement about the factors that could facilitate the advancement of the

administrators The women administrators did not seem to

agree that recruitment and experience or exposure to school

administration before being promoted to the present position is important

whereas the male administrators seem to agree about it

To the men it helped them to on accepting the offer

Table Means and Standard Deviation for Factors that


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Facilitate or Hinder Career Advancement of the Male

F a c t o r s

and Female Administrators

1 .

recruitment2 . experience

3 .

4 . s t a t u s o f s p o u s e

5 . transfer

6 . transfer

7 .

3 . 0 8 0.90

3 .39 0 .7 9

3 .04 0 .76

2 .92 0 .91

1 . 3 0 1 . 0 1

2 .5 9 0 .9 8

3 .0 0 0 .9 6

FEM

2.71

3 .16

3 . 0 3

2.86

3 . 3 3

2.14

0.89

0.72

0 .74

0 .87

0.98

0.86

1 . 0 2

S o u r c e : K a w

About the factors that could have hindered the advancement of the


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administrators, both female and male administrators agreed that they

would have accepted the previous offer if it did not involve a transfer

from their permanent residence (M~3.33, To the next

question whether they would accept any further promotion if they have to

move away from their present residence, both of them did not agree

The last item in this section was intended to see the implication of moral

support from the spouse. The item was: I shall only accept the next

promotion if my husband (or wife) agrees. The responses were found to

be different between the female and male administrators. While the

female administrators agreed to the statement the male administrators did

Results From Interviews


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To enrich the study, the researcher did 10 follow-up personal interviews; with 4 male and

6 female administrators involved at random. The same set of questionnaire items were

used as a basis for discussion. However, greater emphasize was given on factors that have

facilitated or hindered the advancement of female teachers to top administrative position.

These responses are presented as a descriptive corollary to the results reported earlier.

Both male and female administrators interviewed reported analogous bases for factors that

have facilitated or hindered mobility advancement towards principalship. Both groups

agree that a strong leadership characteristic, a high knowledge about school

administration, good personality and strong interpersonal skill as well as experience and

attitude towards school administration are among the major factors for promotion. Both


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Another barrier reported and agreed by the female administrators is that women has less

opportunity to rise to principalship. They also agree that there is a lack of role model.

Even if there is any, they are often considered as a bionic women or an iron lady.

Their in limited numbers are also considered as tokenism (Steadt, 1985).

Furthermore, since the top positions in the Education Education Department, and

even at the ministry level are headed by men, a bias seems to occur in the sense that

males are more favoured for promotion. Even all the male administrator interviewed gave

a similar opinion that they would preferably suggest a male rather than a female teacher

for promotion. The reason is that males are usually not hooked to the family and children

as much as the females. Males are also perceived as easier to accept promotion with a

transfer, whereas a lady has to involve the husband who might have another career.

Ho e er this kind of bias is someho accepted openl b the omen administrators as

position and status are not important as long as there is less headache in the sense of


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managing the school. They prefer to have more time to spend with the family. They do

not really feel the pride of being a Principal because they realize the big challenge they

would encounter for being in that position. However, all of them agreed that the salary

and other benefits received by a Principal is interesting but that is not all for happiness.


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CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This final chapter consists of three sections. The initial part is an overview of the whole

study. It is then followed by the conclusion of findings. Lastly, a few recommendation

for future undertakings and investigation by other researchers are suggested.

5.1 An Overview of the Study

The purpose of this study was to draw a profile of the women administrators of

and its relationship to the role of a school administrator, (2) Several studies on


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female-male leadership differences, (3) A review of literature on the absence of

women from education management, (4) Barriers towards womens mobility to

top administrative position, and (5) Several results on previous studies dealing

with the demographic characteristics of women administrators.

The population of this study were the current (1996) secondary school

administrators in the whole state of Kedah. They consisted of the Principals who

represented the top administrative position, the Senior Assistants who represented

the middle administrative position and the Senior Subject Teachers who

represented the lower administrative level. They were randomly chosen using the

Statified Random Sampling Method.

First, the informations gathered had managed to help the researcher to draw a


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profile of the secondary school administrators as a whole, and then the female and

the male administrators separately. On the whole, this study has succeeded in

providing answers to the research questions on the characteristics of the women

administrators as compared to their male counterparts.

Secondly, a comparison of the responses did not show large differences in their

demographic characteristics. It was found that the female administrators differ

very slightly in term of skill and attitude. The female administrators were better

off in situational skill but less in communication skill. On the other hand,

the male administrators showed a more positive attitude towards promotion which

entails transfer, where as, the attitude of the female administrators was rather

negati e d e to famil constraints

female Principals compared to 103 male Principals in January no evidence


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indicating their differences was discovered from this study; either in personal

characteristics, educational background, home-related factors, specific qualities as

well as mobility advancements.

Several assumptions are perceived in summarizing this phenomenon. Firstly, as far

as the ratio of 22: 103 female versus male Principals (or approximately is

concerned, it is assumed that the women who have accepted the promotion to be

Principals are the ones who have most of the criteria of a good leader. They

possess high educational qualification, have attended several training programmes

on school related administration, have less home-related problems and have a

good support from the husband or helpers to carry out their household chores and

childcare duties It is also possible to assume that they have accepted the

The second assumption is that there seem to be a little bias or prejudice towards


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woman administrators capabilities, thus resulting to their low numbers being

promoted to be Principals. Even though this study has revealed that the female

administrators possess almost similar personal characteristics with their male

counterparts, yet their upward mobility is somehow limited as seen from their

negligible numbers. There is no strong reason or obvious explanation for this.

However, it is possible that in this aspect, there seem to be a range of cultural and

organizational barriers hindering women to move upward. As suggested by Shaw

and Perrons women are more often judged informally and subjectively on

the basis of their perceived suitability for a post or for promotion. Judgements

are often made in terms of assumptions and not the real confessions of the

women. Currently, most of the decision-makers and top administrative

involved in the promotion of the school administrators are men Their

pursuing higher level of education among the teachers and administrators. This


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trend is expected to be much dominant as the recent pronouncements made by the

Minister of Education, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul to encourage teachers

to pursue or continue their studies in a bid to upgrade the teaching profession. In

line with that, the Aminuddin Baki Institute (IAB) has offered

with local universities to conduct courses in Masters of Science (Management) for

graduate teachers in Universiti Utara Malaysia Universiti Pertanian

Malaysia Universiti Malaya Universiti Sains Malaysia and

also with the University of Houston. Beside masters programmes, the IAB is

also conducting other in-service trainings. Several universities are also offering

courses at doctorate levels, both full-time and part-time. However, as gender is

concerned, it is currently observed that the number of females enrolled for these

d h f d t th l th f it i t d

5.2 Conclusion


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From the findings of this study, several conclusions can be drawn:

Profile of school administrators

It is observed from this study that the typical administrator in the

Secondary Schools in Kedah in 1996 is male, married, in the born

and served in the same districts, has a Bachelor of Arts, and has attended

administrative training programmes after being promoted to administrative

position. They are also found not to be hindered by family-related matters

and have a considerably good knowledge, skill and attitudes towards their

job and position.

(II) P fil f d i i t t

their male counterparts in terms of knowledge, performance and


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demographic characteristics as concluded below.

Personal Characteristic

From this survey it can thus be said that a typical woman administrator is

generally married, in the born and served in the same districts and

has a Bachelor of Arts.

As for service, 81 (65.9%) of them have been serving as ordinary teachers

for 10 19 years, and 75 (61 .O%) of them have served less than 5 years as

administrators.

(ii) Educational Background


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study show that women administrators do not differ significantly in

d hi h i i d h l d i i d


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5.3

demographic characteristics as compared to the male administrators, and

women administrators do not differ significantly in mobility pattern

compared to male administrators.

Recommendation

Recommendation to increase the number of woman administrators

1. Both female and male teachers should be exposed to school

administration before being promoted to administrative positions. They

should also be encouraged to prepare themselves for administration so

By taking these suggestion into consideration, it is hoped that there

ill b l l f l d d lifi d h f hi h


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2.

will be a larger pool of talented and qualified teachers from which to

draw for the top administrative positions.

The Ministry of Education, the State Education Department and the

District Education Offices should provide female teachers with greater

access and opportunities to administrative and top level positions.

They should be less prejudiced on whether they could or could not

handle their duties. Given the same educational qualification and

adequate training, women actually can perform as good as men in

administration. Therefore, giving equal opportunity to the women is

important and let them decide whether to accept the offer or not,

b th k th i j d t b d th i

Realizing the competencies and capabilities of women in the

kf l t ti h ld b d t d t


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workforce, new employment practices should be adopted to

the needs of women both with careers and family. Some

of the suggestions that have been proposed are the implementation of

a flextime, permanent part-time, job sharing, teleworking or

compressed working week. As for our country, the flextime and the

establishment of childcare centres at the work place is currently being

discussed. It is hoped that the government and non-government

organizations will continue lobbying to these needs in

order to enhance better opportunities and mobility of women

administrators and women managers.

Areas for further research

2 R lt f thi i iti l t d th f f ll d i


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2. Results of this initial study seem worthy of follow-up and expansion.

More data need to be gathered, especially from the female Principals

because members of this group is currently very small (only 22 in

1996).

3. Another extension of this study is to conduct a similar investigation

using subjects in other educational or professional settings. This should

include those in the Ministry of Education, State Education

Departments, State Educational Resource Centres, District Education

Offices and even the primary schools.

4 Additional leadership styles ought to be investigated As more

5 . More research into leadership and gender should be undertaken in

order to ascertain which factors have facilitated or hindered the


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order to ascertain which factors have facilitated or hindered the

progress of females in leadership positions in educational, industrial,

political, and business institutions. Specifically, this research should

consider religious, economic, social, and political factors which may

contribute to the discrepancy between genders in access to leadership

positions. This is particularly important as the current Malaysian

political climate is very supportive of females demands for equality

and upward mobility.

It is hoped that this study makes an important contribution to the sparse research

in this area.

BIBLIOGRAPHY


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I. Books

G. (1988). Women Managers: Changing Organizational Cultures.Chichester: John Wiley Sons.

Brown G. and Brady, C. (1991). Women in Management Series: Getting to the Top.London: Kogan Page Limited.

Davidson, M. and Cooper, C.L. (1992). Shattering the Glass Ceiling: The WomenManager. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Enkelis, L. and Olsen, K. with Lewenstein, M. (1995). Potraits of Women BusinessLeaders. San Francisco: Berrett-Kochler Publishing.

Allen Walters. (198 1). Women in Top Jobs. London: Heinemann EducationalBooks.

Jamilah Ariffin. (1992). Women and Development in Malaysia. Petaling PelandukPublications.

Jamilah Ariffin. (1994). Reviewing Malaysian Womens Status. Kuala Lumpur:

Shaw, J. and Perrons, D. (1995). Making Gender Work: Managing Equal Opportunities.Buckingham: Open University Press.


111/158

Sitterly, C. (1993). The Woman Manager: How to Develop Essential Skill for Success.London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Sitterly, C. and Duke, B. (1988). A Womans Place: Management. New Jersey: PrenticeHall.

Stead, B.A. (1985). Women New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

Valentine J.L. and Mennis E.A. (1980). Quantitative Techniques for Financial Analysis(Revised edition). Ontario: Richard D. Irwin Inc.

Vinnicombe, S. and Colwil, N.L. (1991). The Essence of Women in Management.London: Prentice Hall.

White, J. (1992). A Few Good Women: Breaking the Barriers to Top Management. New

Jersey: Prentice Hall.

II. UMI Dissertation

Miles, (1985). A Inquiry info the Administrative Behavior of a

Level Woman Executive in a Two-Year College. Ph.D. University of Colorado at

Boulder.


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Boulder.

Rohany Nasir. (1984). Sex-role A and Some Selected Background C h a r a c t e r i s t i c sof Women in Nonfradifional Careers, Women in Tradifional Careers, and theHomemakers in Malaysia. Diploma of Education Thesis. Western MichiganUniversity.

Turk, G.R. (1985). The Manager Ph.D Thesis. University of Denver.

III. CDROM

Cartwright, C.A. (1994). of the Critical Skills, and ExperiencesCould Increase the Probability of Women Being Selected as School

Principal. University of La Verne.

K. A. (1993). Women Administrators in Community Colleges.Diploma of Education Thesis. University of Southern California.


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A P P E N D I X 1


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4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

R O L E A N D R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S O F T H E S C H O O L P R I N C I P A L

Head of department (the school is considered as a department).

Secretary of the School Administrative Body.

in of School Objective and Policy Making based on and coordinated with the policyof the Ministry of Education and National Education Objectives.

Chief to dis educational rules and other government to fix and controlschools task

Planning an task

Making and distributing and regulations regarding or

to the

Chief planning and of and

Chief guidance to teachers and

and Distributor to all

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SENIOR

h d i f h P i i l i hi b ( l i )


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out the duties of the Principal in his absence (on leave or outstation)

Teaching certain subjects as allocated by the Principal.

all activities of the Ministry of Education

4. Coordinator and External Examinations.

5. Member of the school and students Board

6. Supervisor of the school time table.

7. of the school accounts.

8. of the school stocks and for equipment and

9. Chief communicator of the teachers and

10. out duties as directed by the Principal.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF SENIOR

ASSISTANTS (STUDENTS AFFAIR)


ASSISTANTS I


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1. out the duties of the Principal (ii the absence of the Assistants).

2. Teaching certain subjects as allocated by the Principal.

3. Responsible for the Principal in:

. Physical Education

l

. Safety, health and studentl

School functions (Annual Sports, Speech Day etc.).

4. Carrying out other duties as directed by the Principal.


SUBJECT TEACHERS I

1. of the subjects panel and conducting and meetings at least once a term and other

hocmeetingswhennecessary.

2. Roles of the Senior Subject Teachers.

l

Providing up-to-date syllabus to the

APPENDIX 2


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In the context of this study, the following operational definitions were used:

Mobility:

refers to the upward movement in the career of the school

administrators measured by the promotion, recruitment and retention

from ordinary teachers to holding the top positions in the education

sector; specifically towards principalship in the schools.

Top Management Level (in secondary schools): refers to the position held by

the Principals in both grade A dan B schools.


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Middle Management Level (in secondary schools) : refers to the position held

by the Senior Assistants in both grade A dan B schools.

Lower Management Level (in secondary schools): refers to the position held by

the Senior Subject Teacher in Grade A schools only.

Promotion:

refers to the movement fiom one rank to another either in

positional title or added responsibility and/or decision-making.

APPENDIX 3


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Table for Determining Sample Size a Given

N

1 0

1 5

2 0

2 5

3 0

3 5

4 04 5

5 0

5 56 0

6 5

7 0

7 5

8 0

8 5

S

1 0

1 4

1 9

2 4

2 8

3 2

3 6

4 0

4 4

4 8

5 2

5 6

5 9

6 3

6 6

7 0

N

220

2 3 0

2 4 0

2 5 0

2 6 0

2 7 0

2 8 0

2 9 0

3 0 0

3 2 0

3 4 0

3 6 0

3 8 0

4 0 0

4 2 0

4 4 0

S N S

1 4 0 1 2 0 0 2 9 1

1 4 4 1 3 0 0 297

1 4 8 1 4 0 0 3 0 2

1 5 2 1 5 0 0 3 0 6

1 5 5 1 6 0 0 3 1 0

1 5 9 1 7 0 0 3 1 3

1 6 2 1 8 0 0 3 1 7

1 6 5 1 9 0 0 3 2 0

1 6 9 2000 3 2 21 7 5

2200 3 2 71 8 1 2400 3 3 11 8 6 2600 3 3 51 9 1 2800 3 3 81 9 6 3000 3 4 12 0 1 3500 3 4 6

2 0 5 4000 3 5 1

D AN

2. 3 DAN 5,

BANDAR DAMANSARA.

50604 KUALA LUMPUR


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50604 KUALA LUMPUR

K um i .

Pn.Oewi Rosnah bte Raden Suhadi,6 8 , T m n .

06000 J i t r a ,Kedah.

Puan.

Kebenaran Menjalankan Kajian Sekolah-Sekolah,Jabatan-Jabatan Institusi-Institusi Bawah

Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia

Adalah diarah untuk memaklumkan bahawa permohonan puan untukmenjalankan ka j i a n m e nge na i

Mobili ty Of Women A d m i n i s t r a t o r s In The E duc a t ion Sectorin Kedah .

APPENDIX 5

JABATANKEDAH DARUL

BANGUNAN PERSEKUTUANJALAN SULTAN05604 SETAR

(Ked. Pendidikan 32)(Pin.

TELEFON:

Pengarah 732113Pejabal AS. 7331311

FM No: 7317242


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Ruj.Tuan :Ruj.Kami : (116)

Tarikh : 28 Ogos 1996

Pn. Rosnah bt. Raden Suhadi,68. 06000 Jitra,Kedah Darul

Tuan, ,

Kebenaran Henjalankan Kajian Sekolah-SekolahJabatan-Jabatan Dan Institusi-Institusi Di BawahKementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.

Adalah saga diarah merujuk surat KP(BPPP) Jld.46 (413)bertarikh : 06 Ogos 1996 mengenai perkara di

APPENDIX 6

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA


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06010

CO D E

The

All Secondary Schools,

Dear

The undersigned, a graduate student of Universiti Utara Malaysia, is currently

a research entitled Mobility of Women Administrators in the Education Sector in Kedah,in partial of the requirements for a masters degree Management). Themain of this study is to draw a profile of the secondary school administrators inKedah with an emphasis on the P to conduct this study has beenobtained from the of Education and the Kedah State Education Department.

UTARA MALAYSIA

Sintok, 04010 Ji

dewi rosnah radin suhadi

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