Abstract:
Society, business and academic literature continue to highlight the increased demand
for women in leadership. Despite this, the rate at which women are advancing into
executive and senior roles in corporate organisations remains slow. Academic literature
has shown that gendered forces operate to inhibit the progression of women into
executive and senior roles at societal, organisational and individual levels. There is
very little empirical evidence that society and business have considered that these
factors, operate in combination, to influence the advancement of women into executive
roles in a South African context. The aim of this research study was to investigate the
factors that influence the advancement of women executives into senior leadership
roles.
An exploratory qualitative study was adopted to gain insights into the extent to which
organisations have progressed towards the advancement of women executives in
corporate South Africa. The approaches currently being adopted by organisations to
advance women were investigated. In addition, factors that slow down the rate of
progression for women executives were identified; the potential benefits and
drawbacks to women as well as the potential benefits and implications for corporate
organisations were assessed. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten
senior executives from eight different industries. The insights obtained from the
interviews formed the basis of the data that was analysed by means of thematic
content analysis to produce the findings of this study.
The findings of the research indicate that mentorship programmes, support networks,
leadership development and training, career growth and exposure, and the provision of
a flexible working environment were key approaches that provided benefits for
organisations. In addition, the research findings point towards gender stereotyping,
male domination and self-limiting beliefs as some of the factors that inhibit the
progression of women into executive roles. The model for the advancement of women
was devised using these research findings. The model depicts the interdependence of
societal, organisational and individual level factors towards influencing the
advancement of female executives.
