Abstract
Despite banking industry having more female employees than males, women are still underrepresented in management and senior management levels. This study focused on the effect of glass ceiling factors (GCFs) on women’s career development in non-state banking industry in the Colombo district. Five glass ceiling factors, namely individual, childcare and spouse care, elder care and housework, organizational and cultural factors were considered. The study was guided by three objectives, namely to identify the current level of women’s career development, assess the existing level of GCFs and identify the effect of GCFs on career development of female executives. All female executives employed in the Head Offices of four non-state, licensed commercial banks in Colombo, Sri Lanka were selected for the study. This study revealed significant positive and negative effects of individual factors and organizational factors, respectively on career development of women. Other three factors, namely child care and spouse care, elder care and housework and cultural factors did not show significant relationship on women career development. This study recommends developing self-efficacy by encouraging management to use social modelling, verbal encouragement and constructive feedback. Furthermore, conducting developmental performance appraisals, instead of traditional performance appraisals to increase their personal growth initiatives is suggested.
Highlights
The most significant feature of the global labour market in the last half of the twentieth century, is increasing participation of women
This study focused on the effect of glass ceiling factors (GCFs) on women’s career development in non-state banking industry in the Colombo district
Mean values of individual factors were between 3.7 and 5.0. This reflected that the existing level of individual factors such as selfefficacy beliefs and personal growth initiatives are at a higher level
Summary
The most significant feature of the global labour market in the last half of the twentieth century, is increasing participation of women. During the last two decades in the global labour market there has been an increase in the proportion of women at lower and middle-level management positions, resulting from the activities of the women’s movement, policies of the political system, and corporate equal opportunity initiatives. According to Meyerson and Fletcher (2000) women at the highest levels of business are still rare. They comprise only 10% of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies; less than 4% of the uppermost ranks of CEO, President, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operation Officer (COO); and less than 3% of top corporate earners.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
