APPROPRIATENESS AND PROMOTABILITY OF CLOTHING BEHAVIOR OF WOMEN TEACHERS

Abstract

The present study examined differences between school administrators':;Sex-role stereotyping (perceptions of masculine and feminine characteristics) of: (a) the Ideal Principal and the Ideal Teacher; (b) Informal and Formal Clothing Behavior. Perceptions of the appropriateness of (a) Informal and Formal Clothing Behavior for teachers; (b) Informal and Formal Clothing Behavior for school administrators and.;Perceptions of the promotability of teachers whose typical classroom clothing behavior is informal and those whose typical classroom clothing behavior is formal. Fourteen investigator-constructed subscales had internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities of .81 to .93.;The population consisted of school administrators (n = 115): educational administration graduate students from two New York City universities and non-graduate student New York City school administrators.;The study found: School administrators stereotyped the Ideal Principal as more masculine and the Ideal Teacher as more feminine. Formal Clothing Behavior was perceived as more feminine and was seen as more appropriate and promotable for both teacher and school administrator.;Given the diminishing minority of women in educational administration, the power of school administrators in the formal and informal decision-making processes of teacher promotion, and the frequent denial of the influence of an aspirant's clothing behavior on a superior's perceptions of her, the present study findings can be of value to education professionals in several ways:;If an administrator can non-judgmentally accept the possibility that he/she is acting, unaware, in response to cultural norms, he/she can then be less defensive (denying) and more open to changing that response.;For women who aspire to be administrators, there are the implications that it does not pay to believe that they can advance on the basis of their qualifications alone, and that clothing behavior is one of many factors that make an impression on those who have the power to facilitate their advancement.;The findings strongly suggest the importance of further research in the effects of stereotyping of education roles and clothing behavior and the possibility that such research can contribute to an increased utilization of women as leaders in educational administration.