Challenges of Women in Leadership Positions in the Banking Industry
Historically, women are considered as the weaker sex, as a result, for the past centuries, women are deprived of most of the rights of the opposite sex, particularly the issue about leadership and management. This is particularly because of the issue of leadership. The early leadership theories focuses on the Great Man theory, thus, all of the theories primarily focus on describing men and male leaders. As a result, women are all excluded from being seen as a leader, due to the fact that during that time, literatures and researchers considered men and women having different behaviours, skills and attitudes, consequently, the said differences between the two sexes are considered as hinder for women in terms of career advancement (Morrison & Von Glinow 1990). However, due to changes in regulations and laws, women had started to experienced equal rights as men. However, according to Scott & Brown (2006) even though, the number of women in the field of management had doubled for the last 30 years, women are still underrepresented in different managerial positions in the globe.
This can be observed in the accounting industry, particularly in the banking industry – which is the largest financial sector. However, globally, it can be observed that there is a vital difference between the proportions of women managers between the industrialized or developed countries with those developing countries. For instance, in the USA, 37% of the management positions are handled by women (US Bureau of Labor Statisservtics 2005), this percentage is high compare with only 20% in the entire European Union (European Commission 2005) and only 26% in Germany (German Institute for Research in Economics 2007).
There are different studies which show the different factors or aspects which affect and result to challenges and hindrance in career development of women in the banking industry as well as other industries in the world. The main or general barriers towards the development and advancement of the careers of the women in the industry are stereotypes (Heilman & Okimoto 2007); recruiting practices (Reskin & McBrier 2000) or the lack of access towards the powerful networks and connections (Ibarra 1993). Another important factor is the issue about family, particularly the process of balancing the time and effort exerted in work and family (Linehan & Walsh 2000). Furthermore, the study of Fineman (2004) showed the government regulations and laws are suitable in the facilitation of the care of the employees towards the care for the children and less sacrifices their job opportunities and advancement. However, this reason creates another reason to hinder the leadership and management career of women in the industry. In Germany, for instance, laws and regulations are designed in order to protect and give special treatment towards the women, particularly those with family and single parents. This includes financial benefits, maternity protection and rights for the working parents. The financial benefits pertain on the individual supports towards the dependent children, while the maternity protection law include protection from dismissal to those employees expecting to be a mother. This also includes protection from any harmful and risky tasks and influences in the workplace which prohibits them to work on Sundays, holidays as well as at night. This can also be observed in the case of America; however, German government is focusing on extensive support towards the working parents. It is important to consider that all of the expenses and cost of the programs and benefits stated above will all be solely handled by the employers. As a result, this gives the employers to hesitate in employing female managers because, in case of pregnancy and family matters, there are laws and regulations which give them the rights to excuse from their work, which is very important because managerial and leadership position in banking industry is considered as vital and complicated. Therefore, it will be beneficial and feasible for the employers to employ male leaders and managers.
References
European Commission 2005, Decision Making in the Top 50 Publicly Quoted Companies, http://europa.int/ (accessed 17 June 2010).
Fineman, M A 2004, The Autonomy Myth: A Theory of Dependency, New Press, New York, NY.
Heilman, M E & Okimoto, T G 2007, ‘Why Are Women Penalized for Success at Male Tasks? The Implied Communality Deficit’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, pp. 81 – 92.
Ibarra, H 1993, ‘Personal Networks of Women and Minorities in Management: A Conceptual Framework’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 18, pp. 49 – 58.
Linehan, M & Walsh, J S 2000, ‘Work-Family Conflict and the Senior Female International Manager’, British Journal of Management, vol. 11, pp. 49 – 58.
Morrison, A M & Glinow, M A 1990. ‘Women and Minorities in Management’, American Psychologist, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 200 – 208.
Reskin, B F & McBrier, D B 200*, ‘Why Not Ascription? Organizations’ Employment of Male and Female Managers’, American Sociological Review, vol. 65, pp. 210 – 233.
Scott, K A & Brown, D J 2006, ‘Female First, Leader Second? Gender Bias in the Encoding of Leadership Behavior’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 101, pp. 230 – 242.
US Bureau of Labour Statistics 2005, Women in the Labor Force: A Databook, http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2005-2005.pdf (accessed 17 June 2010).
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