Gender and Leadership Style in Nigeria’s Secondary Schools

Abstract

Historically, leadership in Nigeria has been construed to be a male province based on African culture and tradition. As a result of this longstanding convention, females in leadership roles including education are subjected to different standards, which in effect constitute an effort to cast doubt on their ability and credibility. However, the past few decades have witnessed a change in leadership perspectives as many females now occupy supervisory positions. This study utilized survey research to examine leadership practices of male and female principals at the secondary school level in Nigeria in order to ascertain if there are differences in leadership styles. The sample was comprised of 303 teachers, 156 females and 147 males, and 24 principals, 12 females and 12 males. Six hypotheses were tested. The independent t and Mann-Whitney tests were utilized for analyses. Results were mixed as testing gave no significant difference with regard to two leadership dimensions and significant differences existed for four leadership dimensions.