| The 2019 NNER Journal, Education in a Democracy, will explore periods of focus on women’s access and achievement within the educational arena and opportunities where the field of education might prioritize an inclusive study of the issues, challenges, and social gains (contemporary and historic) impacting the educational experience of women and girls. Exposing the Inequities: What are the issues? What are the needs? If balance across fundamental social issues is critical to the publics’ perceived road to success, we must first seek balance in our education leadership. While research suggests that educational preparation, professional mentorship, response to job demands, personal life status, and career trajectory for men and women are similar, “men are still four times more likely than women to serve in the most powerful position in education, and both women and men of color are still grossly underrepresented” (Robinson, Shakeshaft, Grogan & Newcomb, 2017, np). Furthermore, women make up an average of 75% of education professionals, but hold only 30% of the leadership positions in education (Morey, 2017). Beyond issues concerning women in positions of educational leadership, we also wrestle with significant problems of school pushout among African American girls. Morris (2016) argued that the traditional framework of the “school to prison pipeline” has largely focused on the experiences and conditions affecting Black males. We continue to find that adopting a one-dimensional gender lens to address important work on inequality, exclusion, and the pushing of students away from schools and into systems of criminal justice invariably limit our full understanding of this phenomenon.
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