Organisational response strategies for the removal of career advancement barriers experienced by women managers

Abstract

Women make up 52% of the population in South Africa, and yet are significantly underrepresented in top corporate leadership positions, constituting only 21.4% of all executive managers and 17.1% of all directors in the country (Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa Census, 2012). The purpose of this research was to identify the response strategies organisations implement to remove the career advancement barriers that exist for women managers, and to determine if these response strategies are beneficial or detrimental to women’s career advancement. The research also aimed at determining why certain response strategies are successful or detrimental to women’s advancement. The research design chosen was a mixed-method design, and included a quantitative descriptive study and an explanatory study. The data was collected from women at middle and senior management level by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 101 female respondents. The highest ranked career advancement barriers were found to be work-life balance, lack of networking, and excessive modesty. In response, the research results indicated that organisations mostly implement fair performance review processes, flexible working, and equal pay in an attempt to remove career advancement barriers. Appointing women in leadership positions with profit-and-loss responsibility, equal pay, and transparent review processes were found to be the most successful strategies to remove career advancement barriers. Based on the questionnaire results in response to why certain response strategies are more successful than others, a framework was built, classifying the response strategies into different archetypes and creating a framework for companies to understand the landscape of women’s advancement response strategies.