Creating and Expanding Space: A Narrative Inquiry of Women's Mentoring Relationships in K-12 Administration

Purpose: This qualitative study examined the co-constructed mentoring stories of women administrators in K–12 public schools in New Jersey. Using a feminist lens, we explored how women in mentoring relationships experience, navigate, and make sense of their leadership and identity work within gendered systems. Design and Methods: Using narrative inquiry to capture the temporal, social, and contextual nature of experience, we co-constructed mentoring stories with participants through telling, listening, and restorying. Four dyads participated in the study; three were informal partnerships and one was district-assigned. All eight participants served in curriculum and instruction roles. Findings: Most women developed informal, bidirectional mentoring partnerships that created spaces for authenticity and identity work. Within these partnerships, women connected personally and professionally, generated innovative programs, and supported one another's growth. Mentors helped protégés navigate invisibility, embody leadership, and strengthen women's leadership presence in K–12 education. Implications for Research and Practice: Women need mentors who understand the realities of leading within gendered systems and who can also act as sponsors for career advancement. Because women's pathways often run through curriculum and instruction, providing formal mentorship for those entering supervisory roles is essential. Expanding supportive spaces to include male allies is also important for making structural barriers visible.