Abstract
Despite the satisfactory progression of women in workforce over the years, recognition of women in the upper echelons of the finance sector is still falling behind. This study examines the impediments that hinder women's representation in the boardrooms in Sri Lankan private sector finance organizations using Ragins and Sundstrom's (1989) four levels of analysis as the theoretical lens. We employed thematic analysis to explain how the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and social level factors affect the participation and progression of the female workforce. Perceived glass ceiling, individual role choices, the inadequacy of role models and mentoring, lack of networking opportunities, gendered organizational structures and socio-cultural norms were identified as pivotal factors affecting the glass ceiling. Understanding the interrelationship between these factors helps us to better understand the phenomenon of female leadership in organizations.
Highlights
Women's contribution to the paid workforce has been considered one of the paramount and impactful social changes of the 21st century
In-depth interviews provided insightful information on how glass ceiling factors generated at different spheres are concurrently and interrelatedly impacting the career advancement of women in the finance sector
It is apparent that even the handful of women who have already reached the board level positions believe that their role is confined to much of an ornamental director (Rowley et al, 2015), which gives negative signals for those with potential to perceive themselves as non-value adding at board level decisions
Summary
Women's contribution to the paid workforce has been considered one of the paramount and impactful social changes of the 21st century. The glass ceiling for female managers, the under-representation of women at the top management level with significant gender-based wage gap is much pronounced in the developing countries where socio-cultural norms and the system favour the masculine culture (Belitski & Desai, 2019; McAdam et al, 2019; Strachan et al, 2015). In the Sri Lankan context, the proportion of female and male leadership positions remains unequal, females' advantages and opportunities continue to expand. This is further evinced by the fact that gender differences in the formal education and participation in the workforce are rapidly disappearing, the rate of women's advancement to the top boards is relatively slow (International Labour Organization, 2015)
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