Gul E Mariam2014-08-202014-08-202013https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/1223The conceptual debates and empirical studies have persistently stressed upon the role of school leadership in school effectiveness and school improvement. It is known, “Scratch the surface of an excellent school and you are likely to find and excellent principal. Peer into a failing school and you will find weak leadership” Leithwood, K.A. and Riehl (2003). This statement suggests that the success or otherwise of any school totally depends upon the school leadership practices. This study aims to find out educational experiences of female leaders in schools of rural areas of Pakistan. This research is an attempt to explore the barriers and constraints in the working of female educational leaders in the rural community. In the rural environment many obstacles need to be overcome for female head teachers to reach levels of professionalism and recognition. Exploring the leadership practices in the private schools of rural context would be helpful in identifying the best practices which might assist the newly emerging schools in improvement and effectiveness. This research has been conducted in qualitative paradigm to measure behavior and construct of female school heads in rural area. The sample selected for qualitative research was purposive. Respondents were four female school heads, selected from the rural area of District Okara, Punjab Province, Pakistan. The tool employed was interview with open-ended questions so that valid and reliable data is collected for research purposes by face-to-face interview technique. It was observed that in Pakistan, particularly in the rural areas, the educational leadership among females is a challenging job. Lack of professional training for school heads, societal pressures of preconceived notions on the behavior of women in a patriarchal society, juggling home and work, accompanied by other barriers for females hinder the progress of women in work environment. Pressures from feudal lords and influential politicians in work place, transport problems, religious extremism are additional factors that negatively affect performance. The current study was intended to explore the challenges faced by the female heads of schools in the rural areas of Punjab, their experiences and their perceptions about the gender discrimination. Two female leaders from government Secondary schools and two from semi-government Secondary schools have been selected. An open ended interview schedule was employed to interview four female Head teachers of the sampled schools. The study was Ethnographic in nature. The respondents were given chance to respond to the interview schedule freely. There were 12 questions in the interview protocol, covering the various dimensions of women leadership, especially the female heads of rural schools. The major findings that came up were that the women took up the nature of their duties as a challenge, they wore the dress that suited their position they held, they identified their official and domestic tasks, the discriminating scenario does exist but does not hinder or hamper the duties to be discharged.enMA ThesisEducationThesis