The Effect of Race and Migration on the Managerial Advancement of Women

Abstract

Considerable research is available on the factors affecting women’s career advancement. Although this literature has been important in identifying key barriers and facilitators for women’s careers compared to men’s, it has done little to address the diversity of women. This presents a problem for both researchers and practitioners in that little information is available on how the experiences of women who are also members of one or more other marginalized social categories may differ from women who are categorized as members of mainstream groups. This paper reports on findings of Australian research examining whether the experiences of working women vary as a function of their nativity (immigrant versus native) and race. In so doing, it sheds light on how women’s career experiences may vary based upon their categorization as immigrants and as members of the dominant racial group in a society. From the point of view of practice, the findings point to the important role that human resource management practices play, especially those relating to the use of tenure as a decision-making criteria, allocation of management development opportunities, the promotion of a diversity open climate, facilitation of network development, provision of mentoring, and the availability of minority training facilities.