Enhancing Equity for Women’s Leadership in International Schools Through Transformative Action

Despite increased recognition of its importance, most activities promoting the inclusion of women in leadership in the international schooling sector occur within discrete pockets or subgroups of women advocating for and supporting other women. Actions being taken by these women for women are not reaching a broader audience and have yet to sufficiently address the challenge of meeting gender equity in leadership in international schools. This article presents findings from interviews with eight women who are experts in the field of International Schooling. We use Shields’ Transformative Leadership Theory as a lens to analyse, problematise and theorise the structures surrounding women in leadership in international schools and propose a way forward. Our findings reveal the difficulty of defining the problem and the evidence of significant silences around women in leadership. We argue that if International Schooling is to be transformative, then institutions and systems must pursue a more socially just agenda. We argue for the need to overcome silences and challenge traditional notions of leadership that have disadvantaged women. Finally, we present an adaptation of Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Capability Framework to propose a potential pathway forward to support equity for women in leadership in International Schooling.