BARRIERS TO ADVANCING FEMALE CAREERS!

Organisational policies

Within the working environment, organisational policies and procedures are derived from senior leadership decisions. These decisions are of crucial importance where they effectively act as a transparent barrier for female leaders in an organisation. Recruitment and selection policies, promotion policies, work-life balance and mentoring policies are examples of such instances. Not having clear selection criteria for promotion to leadership level, as is the case in many organisations, for example, this allows considerable scope for discretion by senior leaders. This discretion is likely to be influenced by their personal views and attitudes towards women. Often, promotion criteria are focused on a preconceived notion of who should perform the role rather than the qualifications required.

It is accepted that women’s careers are more complex than those of their male counterparts, stemming mainly from the traditional role played by women in the home. A woman retains a disproportionate responsibility for domestic work and childcare, even in situations where both partners are working. Although research indicates that men have increased their participation in domestic duties, the burden of responsibility is still carried by women.

Networking

Studies on both networking and mentoring suggest some similarities. Both mentors and peer relationships can facilitate career and personal development. Peer relationships are different from mentoring relationships in that they often last longer, are not hierarchical, and involve a two-way helping. Peer relationships have advantages, particularly since a significant number of both women and men may have not had mentors. It is suggest, however, that “it seems clear, however, that women leaders are still less integrated with important organisational networks, and it is these internal networks that influence critical human resource decisions such as promotion and acceptance, similarly suggest that organisational power structures determine access to the opportunity to use informal networks.

Mentoring

As mentioned above, a complex inter-dependency exists between networking and mentoring in organisational life. As a result of exclusion from informal networks, women often experience difficulty in attracting the attention of powerful “organisational players” who could act as mentors. While many of the larger organisations operate formal mentoring programmes, informal mentoring relationships are a more common approach. Mentoring is widely acknowledged as a critical step to career progression. Generally, a mentor provides information, training, advice, direction, achievement of social and professional integration in organisations and psycho-social support for a junior person in a relationship lasting over an extended period of time. It is suggested that mentoring relationships, while important for men, may be essential for women, as female leaders face greater organisational, interpersonal, and individual barriers to advancement.

A self-imposed glass ceiling

There is the believe that the dual burden of reconciling work and home tend to be a significant factor, in relation to both their personal aspirations and the reality of the difficulties involved in juggling both. This is a factor for women who are already married with children and those who one day hoped to raise a family.