Abstract
Women are not new to management; however, they are still underrepresented in top-level management roles, and very few hold positions of power within education, business, religious institutions, politics, and so on. Research has shown that there is no lack of competent and skilled women to fill management positions, as women earn the majority of university degrees at most levels and more women are in the workplace today than before. Yet, female managers are outnumbered by their male counterparts in positions in businesses, universities, courts, as well as religious organizations by wide margins. Because men have been in the position of authority for so long, management positions are now seen as masculine. As a result, when some women become managers and display some traits that are considered masculine, they are perceived differently. The purpose of this chapter contribution is to explore the obstacles to women in management positions and offer recommendations on what individuals, employers, and policymakers can do to close gender gaps and diversify management positions that could result in the disruption of prescribed gender norms.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Amaechi, E. (2016). Exploring barriers to women entrepreneurs in Enugu State, Nigeria. PhD dissertation, College of Management and Technology, Walden University.
Bolton, S. C. (2015). The effect of glass walls on women achieving top management role. Retrieved from https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2015/03/the-effect-of-glass-walls-on-women-achieving-top-management-roles
Brooke-Marciniak, B. A. (2018). From glass ceiling to glass cliff: Women are not a leadership quick-fix. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/glass-ceiling-cliff-women-leadership-fix
Cansu, A-S. (2013). Women in management research: Theoretical perspectives. Trends in International Business. Lyon, France. pp.11.
Catalyst. (2018). Quick take: Women in management. Retrieved from https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-management
Cuddy, A. J. C., & Wolf, E. B. (2013). Prescription & punishments for working moms: How race and work status affect judgement of mothers. Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/conferences/2013-w50-research-symposium
Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Eastman, M. T., Rallis, D., & Mazzucchelli, G. (2016). The tipping point: Women on boards and financial performance. Retrieved from https://www.msci.com/documents
Einarsdottir, U. D., Christianson, U. D., & Kristjansdottir, E. S. (2018). “Its a man who runs the show”: How women middle-managers experience their professional position, opportunities, and barriers. SAGE Open, 8, 1–13.
Fagenson, E. A. (1990). At the heart of women in management research: Theoretical and methodological approaches and their biases. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(4–5), 267–274.
Heilman, M. E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent women’s ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 54(4), 657–674.
Heilman, M. E. (2012). Gender stereotypes and workplace bias. Research in Organizational Behavior, 32, 113–135.
International Labour Organization. (2017). Breaking barriers: Unconcious gender bias in the workplace. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-ed_dialogue/%2D%2D-act_emp/documents/publication
Johnson, W., & Mohr, T. (2013). Women need to realize work isn’t school. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/01/women-need-to-realize-work-isnt-schol
Kacmar, K., Bachrach, D. G., Harris, K. J., & Zivnuska, S. (2011). Fostering good citizenship through ethical leadership: Exploring the moderating role of gender and organizational politics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 633–642.
Kagesten, A., Gibbs, S., Blum, R. W., Moreau, C., Chandra-Mouli, V., Herbert, A., et al. (2016). Understanding factors that shape gender attitude in early adolescence globally: A mixed-methods systemic review. PLoS One, 11(6), e0157805.
Koenig, A. M. (2018). Comparing prescriptive and descriptive gender stereotype about children, adults, and the elderly. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1086.
Krivkovich, A., Naduau, M-C., Robinson, K., Robinson, N., Starikove, I., & Yee, L. (2018). Women in the workplace 2018. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2018
Lagarde, C., & Ostry, J. D. (2018). When more women join the workforce, everyone benefits. Here’s why. Retrieved from https://wwwUN.weforum.org/agenda/2018/12/economic-gains-from-gender-inclusion-even-greater-than-you-thought
McGinn, K. L., & Oh, E. (2017). Gender, social class, and women’s employment. Current Opinion in Psychology, 18, 84–88.
Newman, C., Chama, P. K., Mugisha, M., Matsiko, C. W., & Oketcho, V. (2017). Reasons behind gender imbalances in senior global health roles and the practice and policy changes that can catalyze organizational change. Global Health Epidemiology and Genomics, 2(19), 1–26.
Organization for Economic Corporation and Development. (2018). Entrenched social norms prevent the equal distribution of caring responsibilities between men and women. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/gender/data/entrenched-social-norms-prevent-the-equal-distribution-of-caring-responsibilities-between-men-and-women.htm
Overseas Development Institute. (2015). Social norms, gender norms, and adolescent girls: A brief guide. Retrieved from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9818
Pafford, S., & Shaefer, T. (2017). Women at work and business leadership effectiveness. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communication and Conflict, 21(1), 1–18.
Scarborough, W. (2018). What the data says about women in management between 1980 and 2010. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/02/what-the-data-says-about-women-in-management-between-1980-and-2010
Schwanke, D.-A. (2013). Barriers for women to positions of power: How societal and corporate structures, perceptions of leadership and discrimination restrict women’s advancement to authority. Earth Common Journal, 3(2), 15–28.
Stamarski, C. S., & Son Hing, L. S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: The effects of organizational structure, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1400.
Still, L. (1997). Glass ceilings, glass walls and sticky floors: Barriers to career progress for women in the finance industry. Churchlands, Australia: Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi
UN Women. (2018). Facts and figures: Economic empowerment. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures
United Nations Human Rights. (2014). Gender stereotypes and stereotyping and women’s rights. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/women/wrgs/onepagers/gender_stereotyping
World Economic Forum. (2017). Disrupting the status quo of gender roles. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/about/disrupting-the-status-quo-of-gender-roles
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Amaechi, E. (2020). Women in Management: Disrupting the Prescribed Gender Norms. In: Thakkar, B. (eds) Paradigm Shift in Management Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29710-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29710-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29709-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29710-7
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)