The advancement of women in corporate leadership has remained slow over the centuries. Studies show that despite implementation of policies to ensure that women take leadership positions the same way as their male counterparts, executive and mid-management positions in most organizations have remained a preserve of the men ( Schulze & Amering, 2020 ). Male domination in leadership is not only a case in the corporate world, but is also evident in government, nonprofit, military, education, medicine, and religion. In the U.S., for example, women constitute 57% of the total workforce, but only occupy 52% of management positions in professional fields, such as law, engineering, building and construction, and medicine ( Carli & Alice, 2001; Cook & Glass, 2014). The situation is even worse in professions that have traditionally been considered male spheres, such as military and mining. This trend has been attributed to various social forces, such as traditional perceptions of women as inferior, patterns of socialization, limited human capital in women, and sex discrimination that women face in the workplace. While structural obstacles have been considered the major impediment to women’s advancement in leadership, there is a popular view that problematic beliefs and perceptions held by both men and women have contributed to this gap ( Rast et al., 2018) . Nonetheless, the structural obstacles to women advancement in leadership that would be discussed in this paper include deep-rooted patriarchy, Western religious teachings, social policy and programs, and informal “old boy” networks.
Western societies have predominantly been patriarchal. Because of patriarchy, gender roles have been constructed socially and inspired by overarching influences of families and communities. In patriarchal societies, men are the source of authority and power and this notion technically renders women secondary and inferior humans whose power and autonomy is limited or regulated. Today, sexist and patriarchal undertones are so deeply-seated on the societal consciousness to the extent that they are visible ( Rast et al., 2018 ). In many organizations, whether government, corporate, or religious, top leadership posts are held by men while women are pushed to positions of subjects or spectators. Patriarchal forces have pushed women to lower positions from where they provide support that is necessary to maintain men in power.
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Structural factors that hinder women advancement in leadership are also reinforced by the biblical authority that God accorded the man over women and all other creation ( Miller, 2017 ). In the book of Genesis, the woman was created with the sole purpose of providing support or help to the man ( Miller, 2017 ). By placing men in positions of power, privileges, and prestige, biblical teachings and patriarchy subordinate women and the resultant order brings deleterious effects on women’s leadership. The absence of women in leadership was also evident in Christian and Islamic religious teachings. In the book of Corinthians, for example, Apostle Paul openly prohibited women from standing at the Alter and proclaiming the world of God in public.
Societal obstacles that act as impediment to women’s advancement in leaderships are found both in corporate settings and in the society in general. In the corporate settings, factors that limit women’s advancement in careers include some aspects of social policy and programs. There are also influences of limitations of expectations of the society about how women can contribute and participate in industries such as health, education, and community or social services. First, social policy tends to foster inequality in domestic roles and obligations for men and women. In most U.S. corporations, maternity leaves are more common than paternity leaves ( Schulze & Amering, 2020 ). In some organizations, paternity leaves are even unheard of. However, some more lenient organizations encourage part-time work arrangements after child-birth, in place of leaves. Together, these policies promote the perception that women leaves and part-time work arrangements are more appropriate because women are better suited to fulfill the commitments of taking care of children and families. In turn, the policies given men a leeway to enhance their participation in workplace, advance their careers, and bolster their chances in the event promotions are available. On average, an American woman spends 13.2 hours on housework while their spouse spends an average of 6 hours on the same ( Rast et al., 2018 ). The disparities on time spend on housework, which are created by social policies, are undesirable for women because they force them to choose unhealthy work-life balance while limiting their ability to pursue career advancement goals.
Another widespread social-structural issues that inhibit women’s leadership potentials are old boys and informal networks. Informal corporate networks have traditionally been dominated by men and this has left women with a limited space to network and lobby for top leadership positions. Today’s organizations have male-dominated networks that are long-standing and homogeneous and that have adopted ‘glass ceilings’ that are difficult for women to break ( Schulze & Amering, 2020 ). At times, women feel uncomfortable to be part of these networks because their participation would mean that they sacrifice their valuable home commitments. Typically, ‘old-boy’ networks are constituted by males who were educated together, who went to the same learning institutions, and who climbed the leadership ladder together. These men promote individuals with whom they share past experiences and leave out the others. The old boys are seen in informal social gatherings and events from where they lay groundwork for corporate advancements. In the U.S. context, for example, successful men who schooled together meet at golf courses and member-only clubs in the evenings and over the weekends and use these gatherings to develop and build business relationships and networks ( Rast et al., 2018). Generally, these men assume that women are not part of, or are not interested in these events, and so, they do not invite them. Even though women’s presence in golf courses has increased in recent years, the field is still a male dominated bastion. Denying the women the chance, or excluding them from these invaluable informal networking spaces denies them a chance of forming relationships that are important as far as their desires to climb the corporate leadership ladder is concerned. Given the crucial role these informal gatherings play in leader mentorship, the ever-absent women are placed at a distinctly disadvantaged position. The impact is serious to women who are striving for equal opportunities in workplace because their progression into positions of leadership is undermined through exclusion.
Some social psychology theorists have underplayed structural issues as the main obstacles to women’s advancement in leadership and instead argued that limited human capital in women is the major reason for women’s limited involvement in leadership. According to Ford (2016 ), human capital is the set of skills, knowledge, prowess, and experiences that an individual can use to bring a positive change to an organization. Because of preoccupation with family and childcare, women often lack opportunities to advance in education and to invest fully in their careers. As a result, fewer women than men have bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees. Because of their limited human capital, women are encouraged to pursue less intellectually demanding careers and work in departments that do not translate to leadership advancement. Limited human capital also means that women’s leadership skills are constrained. During interviews for promotions, evaluations of women’s leadership potential result in less favorable results compared to men’s ( Carvalho et al., 2018 ). Additionally, women seeking leadership positions are more likely to be from backgrounds that have few or no leaders. This view raises another factor that is important for development of human factor: mentorship. Essentially, mentorship is an arrangement in which a person who has skills and experience guides and facilitates the learning of another who has fewer skills and lesser knowledge and experience ( Carvalho et al., 2018 ). The male-dominated old boy networks, however, have meant that men are given priority in mentorship while women have fewer mentorship opportunities. From the human capital perspective, this is a serious hurdle to advancement of women in leadership positions.
Limitation in human capital among women, however, does not carry as much weight as structural barriers as factors that act as impediments to women’s advancement to leadership and management positions. This is because, even if there are limitations in human capital that affect most women job advancement, they are imposed by structural factors. For example, too much involvement in house and family care mean that women will not have as equal opportunities as men to take more demanding courses, advance their studies, network, and participate in mentorship programs. The concept of ‘glass ceiling’ suggests that would not have as much opportunity as men to attend workshops and seminars and travel to international business trips ( Ford, 2016 ). Also from the socio-structural perspective, the society has unique expectations that it sets for women, distinct from those of men. There is the religiously-inspired, biblically-informed notion that man should be head of a family and that women should subordinate to men. Competing for leadership roles with men may be interpreted as a form of defiance from the societal lenses and this explains why women readily accept to be under leadership of men, whether in families, churches, business, or governance ( Miller, 2017 ). Equally notably, women have gradually come to accept that they are inferior to men when it comes to leadership in highly demanding work environments. Very few women would accept to lead or command a military operation in higher-ranking positions, such as generals.
From a closer look into factors that act as obstacles to women’s advancement in leadership, it apparent that structural obstacles that have existed in the society for centuries are responsible to women’s slow advancement in different spheres of leadership. These structural factors include patriarchal traditions of the western and orient worlds and the ‘old boy’ complex that act as the platform for networking and lobbying for promotions. There exists an opposing view that gives human capital limitations among women precedence over structural factors as the key influencers of male domination in leadership, but this view ignores the fact that the gender-based differences in skills, experiences, and knowledge emanate from these structural issues.
References
Carvalho, I., Costa, C., Lykke, N., & Torres, A. (2018, November). Agency, structures and women managers' views of their careers in tourism. In Women's Studies International Forum Vol. 71, pp. 1-11
Cook, A. and Glass, C. (2014). Women and Top Leadership Positions: Towards an Institutional Analysis. Gender, Work & Organization , 21, pp.91–103.
Ford, L. E. (2016). Two steps forward, one step back? Strengthening the foundations of women’s leadership in higher education. Politics, Groups, and Identities , 4 (3), 499-512.
Miller, O. C. (2017). Christian Ministry Leaders: The Barriers that Women Face in Non-profit Organizations . Lulu. com.
Rast, D. E., Hogg, M. A., & Randsley de Moura, G. (2018). Leadership and social transformation: The role of marginalized individuals and groups. Journal of Social Issues , 74 (1), 8-19.
Schulze, M., & Amering, M. (2020). Women’s Political and Economic Participation. Mental Health and Illness of Women , 2(11): 59-80.
