Gendered Ambition: Men’s and Women’s Career Advancement in Public Administration

• Author: Albert Cheng,Kristen Carroll,Robert Maranto,Manuel P. Teodoro
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074018804564
• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074018804564

American Review of Public Administration

2019, Vol. 49(4) 469 –481

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074018804564

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Article

This article proposes a theory of gendered bureaucratic

ambition, in which public administration career systems lead

women and men to advance to management and executive

ranks by different paths. Accordingly, male and female

administrators who select into the same field tend to enter

with and develop different degrees of career ambition, with

attendant results for policy and management in public

bureaucracies.

In Bureaucratic Ambition, Teodoro (2011) argues that

public administration career systems—that is, the institu-

tions and behavior patterns that define recruitment, selection,

and promotion—make different kinds of individuals more or

less likely to emerge as leaders of public organizations.

Systemic biases in career systems thus lead to variation in

innovation, management, and political behavior among pub-

lic executives. One well-established bias in public adminis-

tration career systems not addressed in Teodoro’s work

relates to gender, where recruitment, development, and pro-

motional practices tend to favor men over women in many

fields of public administration (Connell, 2006; Daley, 1996;

Naff, 1994, among others).

Connecting theories of bureaucratic ambition to research

on gender and career advancement, we argue that public

employees are aware of the gender biases that typify the

career systems in which they work. With this knowledge, men

and women of varying ambition select into different career

paths, with ambitious administrators seeking opportunities to

burnish their credentials in ways that are likely to foster

advancement, given their genders. One consequence of these

patterns is that male and female managers are likely to take

very different paths to their jobs; another consequence is that

male and female managers are likely to hold markedly differ-

ent degrees of ambition for advancement to executive posts.

Ultimately, gendered career systems are likely to lead to gen-

dered public management, with attendant effects on politics,

policy, and public administration.

We begin with a discussion of how bureaucratic ambition

shapes managerial behavior. We then turn to public educa-

tion specifically, tracing the gendered history of educational

leadership and its evolution from predominantly female to

predominantly male. Building on this history, we advance

hypotheses regarding the differences between elementary

and secondary principal posts and how these differences

shape bureaucratic ambition in markedly gendered ways. We

argue that a gendered public education career system causes

female and male educators to follow different paths into

administration, and that these differences may cause gender

804564ARPXXX10.1177/0275074018804564The American Review of Public AdministrationMaranto et al.

research-article2018

1University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

2Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

3Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

Corresponding Author:

Manuel P. Teodoro, Texas A&M University, 2010 Allen Building, 4348

TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA.

Email: mteodoro@tamu.edu

Gendered Ambition: Men’s and Women’s

Career Advancement in Public Administration

Robert Maranto1, Manuel P. Teodoro2, Kristen Carroll3,

and Albert Cheng1

Abstract

We explore the relationships between gender, career ambition, and the emergence of executive leadership. Growing research

in public administration shows that career systems shape bureaucrats’ ambitions, political behavior, and management. Yet

career systems are not neutral conduits of talent: Administrators are more likely to pursue advancement when career

systems favor them. This study proposes that women and men respond to gendered public career systems. Using national-

and state-level data on public school managers in the United States, we find gender disparities in the career paths that

lead educators from the classroom to the superintendent’s suite. Specifically, we find that female and elementary school

teachers advance more slowly than male and secondary school teachers. We also find gender disparities in certification and

experience among principals. Accordingly, female and elementary principals report lower levels of ambition. Such gendered

career systems may lead to biases in policy agendas and public management.

Keywords

ambition, gender, careers, education, superintendents