Gender Inequality, Career Success and the ‘Quality’ of Organizational Policies

Abstract

The results of a study aimed at finding a relationship between manifestations of gender inequality and the resources available for development in the workplace and with women’s career success are described. А socio-psychological model of success factors of working women was developed, which includes both organizational context and personal career resources. The study was conducted in two stages in 2020-2021 using an online survey. The sample consisted of women working in organizations in various fields. At the first stage, the relationship between particular constructs of the model was tested; at the second stage, the theoretical-empirical model and its alternatives were tested by the structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study confirm the relationship of women’s career success with the availability of organization resources, with the possibility of implementing networking behavior and the perceptions of organizational politics, the negative relationship with structural and normative gender inequality is less pronounced. The results of testing the socio-psychological model and alternatives using the structural equation modeling method show that gender inequality has a negative effect on a woman’s career success, but the main contribution to the limitation of a woman’s career resources and a decrease in career success is made by nontransparent organizational politics.