Abstract
The issue of women’s participation in top management and boardroom positions has received increasing attention in the academic literature and the press. However, the pace of advancement for women managers and directors continues to be slow and uneven. The novel framework of this study organizes the factors at the individual, organizational and public policy level that affect both career persistence and the advancement of women in top management positions; namely, factors affecting (1) career persistence (staying at the organization) and (2) career advancement or mobility (getting promoted within the organization). In the study location, Chile, only 32 percent of women “persist”, or have a career without interruptions, mainly due to issues with work–family integration and organizational environments with opaque and challenging working conditions. Women who “advanced” in their professional careers represent 30 percent of high management positions in the public sector and 18 percent in the private sector. Only 3 percent of general managers in Chile are women. Women in Chile have limited access and are still not integrated into business power networks. Our findings will enlighten business leaders and public policy-makers interested in designing organizations that retain and promote talented women in top positions.
Highlights
In the last decade, talent management of women has become a priority in the agendas of countries, companies and social organizations
It is estimated that 48.5 percent of women participate in the Chilean workforce (GET Report 2016)
As described in a report made by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on female leadership in Chile (Gabaldón 2015), another relevant aspect is the quantity and dynamism of executive women’s networks which seek to make visible the problem of female participation in senior management positions and to support women in executive positions
Summary
Talent management of women has become a priority in the agendas of countries, companies and social organizations. With the purpose of preventing this loss of female talent and its collaboration to social and economic development, some governments have implemented practices and policies to increase women’s participation in senior management. One of these decisions was especially disruptive: In 2008, Norway introduced a quota of 40 percent female participation in the boards of directors of publicly traded, cooperative societies and municipal enterprises. Dhir (2012) explains that democratization of board of directors in Norway improved decision making and governing board management culture
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