Barriers to women managers’ advancement in education in Uganda

Attempts to explain women’s lack of achievement in educational management, both in countries in the developed world and in Africa, particularly Uganda. Suggests that women are hindered by both internal and external barriers which keep them from advancing; internally in the main owing to the effects of socialization and sex stereotyping, and externally because organizations so structure the behaviour of their workforce that women limit their performance because they are locked into low‐power, low‐visibility, dead‐end jobs. Points out that these barriers are particularly applicable to women educational managers in Uganda, whose advancement is further impeded by the cultural imperatives of male dominance and suppression. Highlights a number of strategies which can help Ugandan women to overcome these barriers, such as a sensitization programme to alert women to the opportunities available, and affirmative action by the government to put equality of opportunity as a high priority on the Ugandan national agenda.