Indicators of Career Success for Women in Male-Dominated Jobs

Abstract

Literature shows that even after decades of the subject being at the top of organisations' agendas, advancement of women in the workplace, especially of women in male-dominated jobs is still progressing very slowly compared to their male counterparts. One of the reasons often cited for this slow progress is the inability of organisations to understand whether male-dominated jobs offer conducive environments for women to succeed in, and how this relates to the level of job satisfaction experienced by women. Organisations also have very little understanding of the career rewards that are preferred by women. Such an understanding is crucial in order for organisations to be able to offer women the preferred rewards so that they can succeed. This study aims to explain how person-organisation fit and person-job fit relates to job satisfaction of women in male-dominated jobs. Furthermore, the study aims to provide an explanation of whether this relationship exists as a result of subjective career rewards experienced by women in male-dominated jobs. This study was conducted in a company within the financial services industry based in South Africa. A deductive research approach was followed and data was collected through a hand-delivered survey. A quota sample (N=62) of males and females in both male-dominated jobs and female-dominated jobs was obtained. Data analysis was performed on SPSS 23.0 software to conduct t-tests, in order to compare means of variables. Regression analysis was conducted in order to assess a mediation relationship between the variables in this study. The results of this study indicate that person-organisation fit and job satisfaction do not have a statistically significant relationship for women in male-dominated jobs. The results also revealed that for person-organisation fit and job satisfaction, no mediated relationship on the part of subjective career rewards could be established. A recommendation for organisations is that they design their reward policies using an individual-based approach instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Researchers could also ensure that the sample of respondents is representative of the demographics that are relevant to the study, in order to be able to better understand what they are studying. Furthermore, it is also recommended that researchers control for social desirability bias when doing research on sensitive issues such as reward differences and gender equity.