An examination of the intersecting identities of Female Ed.D. Students and their Journey to Persistence

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss challenges specific to female Ed.D. students given their intersecting roles and identities as females and scholars within the sociocultural context of academia. This chapter is motivated by research suggesting a vital reason many women choose not to begin or persist in Ed.D. programs is that they experience conflict between their identities as females and emerging scholars – a conflict between “the enduring sense of who they are and who they want to become” (Cobb, 2004, p. 336). The stress of maintaining separate identities of a scholar and a female and their corresponding roles and responsibilities can cause motivational problems, leading to attrition (Lynch, 2008). Consequences of stress may also include choices to deny aspects of the female identity. After overviewing the nature of Ed.D. degree and a theoretical foundation for identity, we examine tensions females experience in the varied stages of the Ed.D. as they negotiate their potentially conflicting identities as females and scholars within their social and academic contexts. Strategies for successfully negotiating multiple roles and identities, thereby, leading to persistence as a candidate within an Ed.D. program are provided.