TITLE FOCUSING ON CHANGE IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP: THE NEED FOR FEMALE LEADERS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA BY AKUDO, FLORENCE U. (Ph.D) & OKENWA, GETRUDE N. (Ph.D)

OVERVIEW FOCUSING ON CHANGE IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP: THE NEED FOR FEAMLE LEADERS IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA.  The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guaranteed social, economic and political rights to all citizens irrespective of sex, age, religion, cultural background among others.  But the issue of equality of sexes in the domain of management in Nigeria has been neglected.  Leadership in Nigeria is being identified with masculinity.  The perception that men unquestionably dominate in the domain of management and administration as well as other social institutions has been challenged.  Women are under-represented in leadership positions in the education sector, even though they constitute the majority of the teaching workforce.  But it has been observed that women managers tend to be more democratic, and focus more on relationships than men do (Shakeshaft, 1989; Eagly & Johnson, 1990, Park, 1996 & Blackmore, 1999) etc.  School administration and its association to gender is a significant topic in leadership.  It has been argued that gender may not be a determinant of the leadership and management styles.  That application of more sustainable leadership styles would lead to change in educational leadership in Nigeria.

PURPOSE/PROBLEM To examine the need for female leaders in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and determine the personality qualities and motivational factors which are the core of the underlying gender differences.

METHOD  The study was carried out in the government and private owned tertiary institutions in Anambra State of Nigeria.  Population were all the female and male educational leaders in the tertiary institutions in the State.  A sample of 60 female leaders matched to a representative sample of male leaders were selected using simple random sampling technique.  A valid and reliable personality assessment questions as well as demographic analysis and in-dept interviews were adopted for the study.

RESULT/CONCLUSION Result shows that:  Female leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts.  Female leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an ‘I’ll show you’ attitude.  Female leaders have an inclusive team building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.  Female leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks. The study therefore concludes that:  Female leaders bring distinct personality and motivational strength to leadership.  That there are no distinctive variance in male and female leadership roles.  That application of more sustainable leadership styles would lead to change in educational leadership in Nigeria.