Date of Award

12-11-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Soala Dede

Abstract

Despite increasing attention to gender equity in higher education leadership, Black women remain disproportionately underrepresented in senior administrative roles. Women's Leadership Development Programs (WLDPs) emerged to cultivate leadership talent, yet often reflect race-evasive, gender-centered frameworks that marginalize Black women's intersectional experiences. This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of Black women who participated in a women-only higher education leadership development program in North Carolina. Guided by Black Feminist Thought and Endarkened Feminist Epistemology, this research centered Black women's knowledge systems and ways of knowing as legitimate sources of insight and resistance. Through interviews with eight Black women who completed the BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program between 2019 and 2023, using hermeneutic phenomenological analysis, five themes emerged: The Dual Curriculum, revealing participants' creation of parallel, race-conscious learning spaces; Navigating Intersectional Stereotypes, describing managing racialized and gendered perceptions; Epistemological Critical Mass, capturing collective representation and affirmation; Practical Skills as Necessary but Insufficient, emphasizing technical tools alone fail to address structural barriers; and Authentic Leadership Through Self-Definition, illustrating participants' reclamation of leadership grounded in wholeness and liberation. Findings show Black women constructed informal counter-curricula to address epistemic gaps in formal programming. Narratives revealed effective leadership development must integrate intersectional analysis, culturally responsive pedagogy, and authentic self-expression. This study reimagines leadership paradigms centering justice, identity, and transformation rather than assimilation into oppressive structures.

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