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Convergence of Gender and Sexuality in the History of Educational Leadership

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Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education

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Abstract

This chapter explores how gender and sexuality have been salient aspects of educational leadership through the history of tax-supported schooling in the United States. It examines whose leadership has been supported and whose has been suppressed or excluded on account of perceived gender and/or sexual expression. It also discusses how leaders have worked within the sexualized and gendered contexts of their educational communities, sometimes even tasked with regulating these aspects of education cultures. Because gender and sexuality are necessarily interconnected aspects of our humanity, this chapter explores some ways they have interacted in the experiences of education leaders – and certainly how they have been erroneously correlated and misunderstood by others. It also examines how in recent decades students have played increasingly important leadership roles in defining the gendered and sexual cultures of schools, as have policy-makers, legislators, and educationally affiliated organizations. Along the way, it considers some of the complex ways that gender and sexuality have intersected with other dimensions of lived experience such as race/ethnicity and social/economic class. Finally, it particularly focuses on public schools because of their pervasiveness and importance to communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jackie M. Blount & Sin Guanci

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  1. Jackie M. Blount
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  2. Sin Guanci
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Correspondence to Jackie M. Blount .

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  1. Comparative & International Education and Leadership, Soka University of America , Aliso Viejo, CA, USA

    Rosemary Papa

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  1. The Graduate School, Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, California, USA

    John M. Heffron

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Blount, J.M., Guanci, S. (2019). Convergence of Gender and Sexuality in the History of Educational Leadership. In: Papa, R. (eds) Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74078-2_88-1

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