VDM Emerson, S: Playing a Patriarchal Game

What does it mean to be an authentic leader as a woman and an athletic administrator? In this qualitative research study, I analyzed the lived leadership experiences of women high school athletic administrators in a Midwest State through the lenses of interactionist, feminist, social, and critical theory. Primarily through in-depth interviews, I found that women athletic administrators navigated a professional environment marked by a patriarchal ideology. These women demonstrated that, to exercise authentic leadership, they had to challenge ideology counter hegemony unmask power and overcome alienation to pursue liberation (Brookfield, 2005, p. 39). The stories of the twelve participants revealed that women must play by the rules of what I call a patriarchal game. And, to be successful as authentic leaders, they must practice strategies to establish and ensure their credibility. The women in this study demonstrated that they were marginalized. However, the study revealed that the women, in order to move from margin to center, adapted to the rules of the patriarchal game.