Backwards in High Heels: Gender and Career in Danish Upper Secondary School Management

Abstract

We often describe Denmark and the other Nordic countries as successful when it comes to equality between the sexes. However, is this true? If we survey the management of Danish upper secondary schools, only one third of the top managers are women, an inequality that will not necessarily change in the coming years. The demand for management is increasing and should result in new career possibilities for all, but in fact we may see a new form of gendered division of labor, a scenario where men as top managers (COEs or A-leaders) deal with externally oriented economic and strategic tasks and women as middle managers (assistant managers or B-leaders) take care of internal “housewife work” relating to employees and students and teaching and learning.

^[1] Referring to the dancer Ginger Rogers regarding her dancing with Fred Astaire