Is the practice of equal opportunities management keeping pace with theory? Management of sex equality in the financial services sector in Britain and Turkey

Abstract

This paper examines the theoretical works on management of sex equality and the findings of a cross-country comparative study between Turkey and Britain, revealing discrepancies between the espoused theoretical formulations and the practice of sex equality in the financial services sector in both countries. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted and documentary evidence was collected from seven financial organizations in Britain and three financial institutions in Turkey. The field-work, which was conducted in 1996 in Turkey and in 1997 in Britain, generated forty-five interviews (twenty-five of which were in Britain and twenty in Turkey) and 362 completed questionnaires (fifty of which were in Britain and 312 in Turkey) with female and male staff of the financial services organizations in both countries. Three ideological approaches to managing sex equality at work were identified in literature: liberal, radical and transformational change approaches. Based on the framework of these three main approaches, the findings of the field research indicated that there were different approaches to managing equal opportunities in the financial services sector in both countries, and that the organizational approaches to sex equality in both countries lagged behind progressive theoretical formulations in literature.