ABSTRACT
This chapter examines empirical evidence on the different likelihoods that men and women teachers have of being promoted to principal of an elementary public school in Mexico. Not only is female leadership associated with a safer sense of community in the school, there are also better relations with the community outside the school where women are principals. Consistent with the hypothesis that the teaching field attracts women of greater general ability than their male counterparts, students of female teachers have higher levels of literacy on the curriculum-based tests than students of male teachers. Particularly in rural communities teachers were, especially between the 1920s and 1940s, commonly expected to play the roles of community leaders and agents of change. Female teachers have higher expectations for the educational attainment of students than male teachers, 29 percent of them expect students to reach high school or college, compared to 18 percent of male teachers.
