The under representation of women in educational leadership has been highlighted in the literature for several decades, although, Black women’s visibility or lack of in educational leadership, has only recently become a significant issue in the literature. The literature (Collins, 2000, 2002; Howard-Hamilton, 2003, Showunmi et al, 2016) has shown that the experiences of Black women are different because of their intersecting identities. Very little literature addresses the experiences of Black women in light of their intersecting identities and even less originates from the Black women themselves (Collins, 2002). A variant of BFT called intersectionality, is used in this paper to make sense of Black women’s experiences narrated from their own perspectives. In making a case for BFT, Collins (2002: 469) asserted that Black Feminist Thought uses, “the Black female intellectuals…to produce facts and theories about the Black female experience that will clarify a Black woman’s standpoint for Black women”. By so doing, BFT attempts to acknowledge the “outsider within status” that Black women may experience within organisations (Howard-Hamilton, 2003:21). In accounting for the experiences of Black women in academia, Howard-Hamilton (2003) described the outsider within status as the lack of belonging Black women experience when they are included in the ‘dominant group’ but still lack a voice and remain invisible because they do not fit in with the culture of the dominant group.  The outsider within status has been identified as affecting all women (despite their colour) in traditionally masculine organisational leadership (Blackmore, 2009). However, there exists evidence to suggest that the situation is more prominent for black women because of their intersecting identities.

There is limited dialogue in the literature on the experiences of Black women on their journey to and in leadership particularly in England, which could be perceived as an indication of the attention [or lack of] given to Black women leaders in education. A problem cannot be addressed until it is visible and is acknowledged as such. This study was therefore conceptualised in order to explore the experiences of Black women who in educational leadership positions. It focused on Black women’s perspectives of the role that race and gender plays on their lives and on their paths to leadership. The following specific questions were addressed:

• to what extent does race and gender play a role in Black women’s path to educational leadership?
• what barriers do Black women encounter on their path to leadership?
• what strategies do they employ to overcome these barriers?

To understand how gender and race affect the lives of black women leaders, intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1991), which stems from Black feminist thought (Collins, 2000; 2002) was utilised. Intersectionality is thus seen and used as an aspect of BFT that explains the intersecting experiences of gender and race. Although American feminists have examined how African-American women have suffered discrimination on two or more multi-layered and compounding levels oppression for decades through the works of the likes of hooks (1981) and Collins (1990), the term intersectionality itself was coined by Crenshaw (1991) in addressing the gaps exposed by feminist and anti-racist dialogues in the experiences and struggles (for empowerment) of African-American women. Crenshaw argued that laws that were made to address the injustices against women were not sufficient to also address the discrimination against women when they are also Black, and that laws meant to address the discrimination of Black people were also inadequate to cover Black people who were also women. Intersectionality thus, offers an alternative social construct of the experiences of Black women that helps us pay attention to the history of the struggles endured by Black women overtime (Grant, 2012).

Four Black women were interviewed through a life history approach. Participants were identified from the researcher’s social networks and through further snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is normally used where there is limited access to the necessary participants who share characteristics relevant to the study. Given the small number of Black women in senior leadership positions, reliance was placed on participants referring others who fit the same criteria. Two of the participants’ who were identified in the early stages of the study identified the other two participants who ended up being part of the study. Life history was found appropriate in analysing how individuals discuss their life experiences (Conley, 2000), ignoring the public/ private life divide, viewing lives as whole and not as fragmented. In this sense, life history interviews became a method that allows for an honest understanding of individual experiences (Dhunpath, 2000). This approach gave Black women leaders an opportunity to be vulnerable about their experiences of race and gender in education and shared stories that helped advance our knowledge of the phenomenon. Interviews are social interactions (Kvale, 1996) and the interviewer must always be prepared to sensitively probe or ask additional questions. According to Kvale (1996:147), “effective interviewing requires more than subject knowledge, one should be an effective communicator both verbally and non-verbally”. The rapport the interviewer has with the participants can affect the data gathered and how much the participants are willing to share. Given some similarity in background with the researcher (being Black women in education), it was easy to establish rapport and the participants were eager to share their stories. Methodological nuances surrounding the taken-for-grantedness of the participant-researcher similarity are dealt with in the paper. Each interview took approximately one hour, and interviews were later transcribed to facilitate analysis.

The findings reflected the awareness of participants’ own ‘Blackness’ from a very early age and how they thought this was perceived by others in various environments. This awareness informed how they worked twice as hard in school/work, how they planned their careers, and how they dealt with micro aggressions of racism, showing agency, resilience and determination to succeed against the odds. Consistent with the literature, barriers experienced by the Black women leaders revealed the nature of their barriers was influenced by their identity, being Black women. The main barriers related to discrimination, being overlooked and lack of support. Discrimination manifested itself in the form of stereotypes, institutional practices and unfair recruitment practices, including how they experienced resistance if they attempted to be vocal or go against the status quo. The strategies the women used to overcome existing barriers were spearheaded by them. They initiated the relationships that supported them on their journey, utilising mentoring, networking and family relationships. This study advances knowledge from previous studies on Black women in England. The women in the study were Black British women leaders who were born in England. Being educated in England awarded the participants with a level of privilege they probably did not realise in comparison to Black women leaders born or educated abroad (Bush et al, 2006, Singh, 2002). Singh (2002) found that teachers from a BME background encountered more challenges attributed to factors such as accents and/or cultural differences. There is a gap in literature on the experiences of ‘other’ leaders and the normativity of whiteness and otherness of Blackness in educational leadership. Intersectionality theory can give a detailed understanding of the uniqueness of Black experiences while it allows problematization of the taken-for-granted-ness of whiteness in educational leadership. Both perspectives have significant implications for policy and practice.

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