Mentoring for enhancing females' career development: the bank job

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how formal mentoring programmes may enhance female mentees' career development, particularly in a case study of a major high street bank.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical case study work, from mentees' and mentors' points of view, on the evaluation of a pilot formal mentoring programme for the career development of females is discussed. The two stage evaluation encompasses gender issues such as the impact of gender imbalance and the nature of ambition, together with mentoring issues such as expectations and development of the programme.FindingsOverall, it is found that the mentoring programme is considered, in different ways to mentees and mentors, to be highly successful. Further, it can offer benefits to mentors too. Although females' self‐perceptions, gendered values and perceptions of management and leadership can often impede the career development of females, effective, formal mentoring can be seen to offset such impediments.Practical implicationsThe main inference is that effective formal mentoring can actively bolster females' management career development. The case evaluation exposes a series of good practice points in formal mentoring programmes. Capitalising on these points, organisations can enable females' development in management roles.Originality/valueThe paper acts to support greater gender equity in females' career development in management in the UK finance sector, conceptually and practically.