SINGAPORE - Women hold a larger proportion of leadership roles in schools, with about 60 per cent of principals and vice-principals being women, compared with 32 per cent in 1989.

Women teachers have consistently made up about 70 per cent of the teaching force over the years.

The growing proportion of women to men principals over the decades shows that there is no disadvantage for women teachers seeking promotion to leadership positions, said educators.

These figures also mirror a greater gender diversity in management roles in society, they added.

In 1989, women principals accounted for only 27.2 per cent at the primary and 40.8 per cent at the secondary school levels.

Last year, these figures were 75 per cent in primary schools and 49 per cent in secondary schools.

Mr Razali Senin, vice-principal of Endeavour Primary School, said teaching, like other professions, is now more mixed in gender. "Both men and women are given the responsibility to lead schools when they have the abilities."

Queenstown Secondary School principal Rasidah Rahim added: "Society has evolved and there is a growing acceptance that females are just as capable as men in their abilities, work, even to be leaders."