Sandwiched between groups: Upward career experiences of South African Indian women

Nasima M.H Carrim

doi:10.4102/sajbm.v52i1.2150

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the challenges Indian women managers face in their career ascendancy.Design/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative approach, to gain an in-depth understanding of the intersectional issues and challenges younger and older Indian women managers face in their career progress towards senior- and top-managerial positions.Findings/results: The results indicate that the intersection of the socio-historical-political contexts, together with racial, gender, cultural and workplace impediments, produces both different and converging outcomes for older and younger Indian women managers in their upward career mobility. Compared with their older counterparts, the career ascendancy of younger participants is more challenging, as they have to compete against a bigger pool of qualified black candidates. A research limitation is that the study did not compare the experiences of Indian women with Indian men regarding their career ascendency.Practical implications: Practical implications include managers needing to implement targeted succession planning, eradicate sexism and patriarchy and introduce formal mentorship, coaching and networking programmes.Originality/value: The article compares the experiences of younger and older Indian women managers in a changing political landscape. The findings of the study indicate that the experiences of women across generations differ, as their career ascendancy is dissimilar.

Highlights

The post-apartheid era has brought about many advantages for South African women, one such transformation being the greater advancement of women into managerial positions (Carrim, 2012)
Intersectionality, which is the intersection of social identities such as race, gender, culture and age, can be used to understand the challenges that women from diverse backgrounds, Indian women in the case of the present study, face in their upward career mobility
The themes that emerged from the data were grouped into three categories

Summary

Introduction

The post-apartheid era has brought about many advantages for South African women, one such transformation being the greater advancement of women into managerial positions (Carrim, 2012). Most studies on Indian women’s career advancement were conducted in Western countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia (Chhatrapati, Bhardwaj, & Singh, 2011; Rastogi & Bansal, 2012; Riza & Gatrell, 2013). Many challenges within these contexts were found to relate to Indian women’s upward mobility, ranging from social impediments to organisational factors (Kaushik, Sharma, & Kaushik, 2014; Radhakrishnan, 2008; Riza & Gatrell, 2013). In South Africa, colonialism and, thereafter, apartheid, together with cultural impediments, thwarted the upward mobility of Indian women

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Discussion

Conclusion