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Breaking second glass ceiling: lived experiences of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan

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Abstract

The glass ceiling is a well-recognized phenomenon in the corporate sector thwarting aspirant women to gain senior management positions. It is an indiscernible barrier and a strong ceiling blocking women moving up in the management hierarchy. This paper, however, explores the existence of the second glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs who escaped the corporate world to start their businesses but are trapped by another glass ceiling. This research mainly explores the existence of a second glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs and the ways they used to get through it. This study is conducted for an in-depth understanding and uses the phenomenological approach. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women entrepreneurs of Lahore. This paper apart from explaining the second glass ceiling also finds solutions to break it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gender Studies, University of Management Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

    Ambreen Salahuddin

  2. Department of Sociology, International Islamic University , Islamabad, Pakistan

    Qaisar Khalid Mahmood & Akhlaq Ahmad

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  1. Ambreen Salahuddin
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  2. Qaisar Khalid Mahmood
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  3. Akhlaq Ahmad
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Correspondence to Qaisar Khalid Mahmood.

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Salahuddin, A., Mahmood, Q.K. & Ahmad, A. Breaking second glass ceiling: lived experiences of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Qual Quant 56, 61–72 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01119-5

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