Abstract
Just like any other country in the world, women in leadership positions in Botswana are faced with a plethora of challenges emanating from cultural beliefs, prejudice to gender stereotypes. Although the government of Botswana has put together various policy documents on gender equity awareness, the challenges that women in educational leadership positions experience are still ubiquitous in the present day. The objective of this study was to provide an understanding with regard to challenges that female primary school principals encounter, in Francistown, Botswana. This qualitative study was interpretive in nature. The feminist theory was used as a theoretical framework. Feminists are of the opinion that people ought to have equal opportunities and freedom to develop their human interests and talents regardless of their gender. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. In order to gain rich descriptive data from the participants, semi structured interviews were used. Five primary school female principals were selected in the Francistown Northern District of Botswana. Responses of female principals were based on three key questions: What are the challenges of female primary principals in leading schools? Why do fewer females than males aspire to assume leadership positions in Botswana? How can female principals strengthen leading primary schools? Findings from the study indicate that female primary school principals face challenges, such, insubordination by teaching staff, lack of support from school parents and frustrations of establishing a healthy work-life balance. Findings also highlight that if women are given an opportunity to lead without prejudice, they can effectively make a positive difference to the workforce.