Career advancement challenges for women executives in the service sector

Abstract

Admittedly, in the happening world of today, the woman has become concertedly visible. She is treading every domain of activities with self‐belief and proven competence. Her forays into the male monopoly of executive role in management affairs have registered a significant success in spite of so many constraints in her march to hierarchical positions. The present paper investigates the challenges preventing women from reaching the top management positions especially in the service sector. A sample of 271 women executives has been drawn from the selected organisations of the service sector from a progressive state of India – Pubjab. The results of the study reveal that lack of network access; gender discrimination; and gender stereotypes are the three major factors which inhibit women from advancing to top corporate positions. The findings depict an overall negative picture of the women executives’ advancement in the service sector. Women still face subtle discrimination and evaluation of their performance tends to be prejudiced against them. The results would help alleviate the challenges that women executives face by enhancing the awareness of the factors that inhibit their advancement in the corporate world.