KAZAKHSTAN WOMEN’S CAREER PATH FROM TEACHER TO SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

KAZAKHSTAN WOMEN’S CAREER PATH FROM TEACHER TO SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

Zhuldyz Kyzayeva

Master of Arts, teacher-curator, Nazarbayev Intellectual school of chemistry and biology in Almaty,

The Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty

Aidana Shapambayeva

Master of Arts, lecturer, Kazakh national research technical university named after K.I. Satbayev,

The Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty

Kairat Kozhanov

Master of Arts, specialist for youth affairs, Ushkonyr College of water management,

The Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty

КАРЬЕРНЫЙ ПУТЬ ЖЕНЩИН В КАЗАХСТАНЕ ОТ УЧИТЕЛЯ ДО ДИРЕКТОРА ШКОЛЫ: КАКОВЫ ВЫЗОВЫ?

Қызаева Жұлдыз Бахытбекқызы

магистр гуманитарных наук, педагог-куратор, Назарбаев Интеллектуальная школа химико-биологического направления города Алматы,

Республика Казахстан, г.Алматы

Шапамбаева Айдана Насриддиновна

магистр гуманитарных наук, лектор, Казахский национальный исследовательский технический университет имени К.И. Сатпаева,

Республика Казахстан, г.Алматы

Қожанов Қайрат Бекбергенович

магистр гуманитарных наук, специалист по делам молодежи, Ушконырский колледж водного хозяйства,

Республика Казахстан, г.Алматы

ABSTRACT

This article outlines challenges of female teachers in leadership positions in Kazakhstan. The authors review the results of recent studies conducted by Kazakhstani scholars and identified stereotypes and challenges that women face on the career path in Education.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В этой статье дается обзор основных проблем, с которыми сталкиваются женщины-педагоги Казахстана, продвигающиеся по карьерной лестнице. Авторы анализируют результаты недавних исследований, проведенных казахстанскими учеными, и определяют ряд стереотипов и проблем, с которыми сталкиваются казахстанские женщины на пути карьеры в сфере образования.

Keywords: education, leadership position, women`s career path, challenges.

Ключевые слова: образование, руководящая позиция, карьерный путь женщин, трудности.

1. Introduction

For centuries, women in Kazakhstan were not involved in process of teaching, especially in leading the schools. As a patriarchal society and as a traditional nation, Kazakhs saw the place of women inside of the house, as a mother, a childcarer, and a home keeper. So, the feminization of the teaching profession can be named as a progressive step for women in modern Kazakhstan. The government of the country, policies about education and gender give all opportunities to women to express themselves in Educational leadership.

In comparison with other countries, Kazakhstan has a higher percentage of female teachers and principals in school, which let us consider that these policies work to some degree. But still, there are some barriers in women`s lives which placed in mentality, also there are some challenges caused by other factors. Are there inequalities between men and women teacher opportunities? What are the main challenges of women in the path to leadership positions in Education? What are the common barriers and what is peculiar only for women? To answer these questions, it was reviewed some research works conducted in Kazakhstan.

2. Literature review

From the first days of independence, Kazakhstan demonstrated itself as a gender-friendly government. Some laws and regulations related to the gender policy of the country were adopted, in which the support of gender equality in the country was open and noted. One of the first such laws is the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where it is written that any discrimination based on gender characteristics of citizens of the country is prohibited. Earlier in 1981, Kazakhstan signed the "Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women" of UN, wherein Article 10 the participating states undertake to ensure equal rights for men and women to have the same opportunities in employment, in career development, and the right to equal remuneration [1].

In 2005, the President of the country approved the Gender Equality Strategy for 2006-2016. The Strategy sets out overarching goals related to gender equality. One of the main tasks of this policy was to provide equal rights and opportunities for men and women, then reach gender equality at home. However, according to Oskembayeva in this policy, there was not a clear identified timescale of that aims. So, the absence of concrete tasks will still lead to hanging a family responsibility on the shoulders of women [2].

In 2009, the government adopted the Law on State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, which establishes the legal principles of equality. All these policies had to guarantee gender equality in the country.

Following the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, women are provided with equal access to leadership positions in the field of Education with men. The only area of activity in which women dominate among the top leaders in Education. 63.8% of educational institutions are headed by women [3].

However, in proportion to the number of teachers in the country, women are represented less than men in leadership positions. The TALIS-2018 study shows that in Kazakhstan there is an imbalance of gender opportunities in career advancement. According to statistics, 73 percent of teachers are women, and among principals, only 53 percent are women [4].

But, one of the publicists notes that there is no gender discrimination in Kazakhstan: "I think this is an artificial problem. I looked through all policies but did not find any policy where rights of women are limited" [5].  Also, a public opinion survey in Kazakhstan showed that 81% of respondents share the opinion that women-leaders of companies are as competent as men-leaders, and the percentage in support of women was slightly higher than about men.

But another survey from 1500 respondents shows, that there is gender discrimination in Kazakhstan's society [2]. One of the women respondents said: "Kazakhstan is a country of men, everything in it is determined by them ... In fact, they have all the rights, and they release them to us as much as they wish. The Constitution states: "Equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women are guaranteed." But, in practice, women are mainly concentrated in areas with lower wages, specifically in Education which is about 75.3 percent, in healthcare and social services - 79.2%, hotel, and restaurant business - 68.8 percent% " [6].

Atash, one of the specialists in Kazakhstan about gender issues, notes that women and men can never be equal, by psychological, biological, and physical conditions, the social roles of them are completely different [7].

So, despite all opportunities presented by policy, there is a list of challenges for women to build equal society and higher statistics in leadership positions in public life, career development, in leadership positions, particularly in Education leadership [8].

As in many countries, Kazakhstan retains an understanding of the traditional roles of women and men [2]. According to the analysis of public opinion survey, conducted by Oskembayeva, on the attitude to gender equality and the beliefs of women and men in this regard, many respondents have gender stereotypes about their social roles. Most of them associate the role of women more with family and home. Moreover, the percentage of women who share this belief (39%) exceeds the percentage of men who share this opinion (25%). In the opinion of about 86% of respondents, a woman should do household chores, even if her husband is not working, and this opinion is shared by both women and men. Finally, 68% of the population is in favor of the traditional family way of life, in which a man works outside the home, and a woman takes care of the house and children. The survey also shows that the majority of men surveyed believe that the problem of inequality of women is not relevant (42%), while only 16% of women share this opinion. A significant part of the women surveyed assessed these problems as undoubtedly urgent (44%) [2].

Gender stereotyping is one of the most influential barriers for women teachers to reach high leadership positions [9]. Women with these challenges do not accept themselves as "big role players" [10]. Because from old times people believe that women were less capable than men or not for ruling jobs at all [11].

Moreover, it is accepted to think that men are "breadwinners" and women are "homemakers" [12]. The role of successful women is not welcomed mostly by patriarchal society [13].

And Kazakhstan also considered as a patriarchal society, as there are perceptions among people, that women are not good as a leader. From old times society did not accept women who were ambitious to race with male, so there are such phrases that prove these statements in the Kazakh language:

"Байтал шауып бәйге алмас" (the mare cannot win the race)

"Алтын басты әйелден, бақыр басты еркек артық" (a man with iron head is better than a woman with a golden head)

"Әйел басқарған үй оңбас" (a house where a woman rule does not prosper).

Also according to Kuzhabekova, Janenova, and Almukhambetova, one of the stereotypes about women leaders in Education is that "women leader is bad". Teachers think that women principals are stricter and put a lot of pressure on them [14].

Also, they mix emotions between personal life and work. One of the male respondents says: "Women always live with emotions, and at work, this is not always manifested from the best side. For example, she comes to work with a certain mood, irritated, tired - this often spills over on her subordinates, all cases on this day are considered through the prism of this mood". Another man shares: "A woman takes a hit harder and breaks faster than a man. If problems arise, she will become nervous and inconsistent, which often leads to an aggravation of the situation" [14]. So, this kind of opinion might construct common stereotypes about leader women and cause opposite attitudes from subordinates to them.

The next stereotype about women principals is that they pay more attention to interpersonal relationships, while men are more task-oriented [14]. So, the idea of this stereotype that leaders should be more concentrated on solving problems, making plans and concrete actions toward these aims as they think men do better than women.

Another stereotype lies under the traditional family structure. If a woman has a family and children, it can be a barrier to her promotion. The Gender Equality Strategy 2006-2016 recognizes that stereotypes are a serious obstacle to gender equality, noting that the distribution of responsibilities within the family remains traditional, discriminating against women [8].

Except for stereotypes, there is another problem that women teachers face in their career path. This problem was investigated by Kuzhabekova, Janenova, and Almukhambetova. It is a career break that women take, mostly because of maternity leave. Statistically, every woman in Kazakhstan on average goes on maternity leave 2.5 times in her career. If to count in time, it takes at least about 3 years of a woman's career, which men continue to work successfully. A change in lifestyle after childbirth, emotional changes, possible innovations in the workplace in her absence, and the risk of losing concentration on work after returning from maternity leave because of childcare – can generally negatively affect on woman's development in her career. Therefore, women prefer to stay in the comfort zone and work in one career stage [14].

Another factor that discourages women from being school leaders is low motivation. Despite the high responsibility of work, Kazakhstani school principals can receive less wages than teachers [15]. In Kazakhstan, a teacher who has completed a three-stage professional development course can earn twice as much as a school principal. Because of such courses, no teacher wants to become a principal. "It is better to be an ordinary teacher with less responsibility and a higher salary," says one of the respondents [15]. In addition, to become a school director in Kazakhstan, the candidate does not need to prove practical skills and management competence. Official rules require only knowledge in certain areas, such as the Constitution of the country, the Law on Education, the basis of pedagogy and psychology, etc. Compared to other countries, this system does not identify the best managers. And thus the prestige of the position in front of the teachers falls even lower [8].

3. Conclusion

In general, women have equal opportunities for leadership positions in the Education sphere in Kazakhstan. The government protects all rights of women by law. But barriers mentioned above specifically peculiar only to women such as gender stereotypes, traditional family structure and career breaks as maternity leave make women's career development harder. So, unless the government with its rules, society with its stereotypes, and family with its support will not help women to overcome these barriers, the underrepresentation of women in educational leadership, in leadership in common, would not change its condition.  

References:

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