Barriers to Career Advancement Opportunities for Female Faculty

A Study of Public and Private Universities in Pakistan

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48112/aessr.v2i1.110

Abstract

Abstract Views: 456

The present research study was conducted to explore the barriers and issues of inequality experienced by female faculty members at their workplace and how they dealt with them. The study employed purposive and referral sampling techniques to conduct in-depth-interviews with 20 female faculty members working at public and private universities of Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 12 open ended questions were asked from individual participants, both in person and on call. Each interview was 40 to 60 minutes long. The data were analysed through thematic analyses by identifying the initial codes, categorizing and analysing the themes, and finalizing the results.  The findings of the study show lack of family support, traditional culture, and gender stereotype as the major barriers in females’ career advancement. The study ends with recommendations to plugin these barriers by creating equal opportunities for working women.

Keywords:

gender inequality, career barriers, career advancement, gendered stereotyped

References

Acker, S. (2010). Gendered games in academic leadership. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 20(2), 129-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2010.503062

Anderson, D. (2013). An integrated system for organizational transformation. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 8(1), 1-18.

Blumberg, R. L. (2008). The invisible obstacle to educational equality: Gender bias in textbooks. Prospects, 38(3), 345-361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-009-9086-1

Bombuwela, P. M., & De Alwis, A. C. (2013). Effects of Glass ceiling on women career development in private sector organizations–Case of Sri Lanka. Journal of Competitiveness, 5(2), 3-19. http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/5742

Bosse, D. A., & Taylor III, P. L. (2012). The Second Glass Ceiling Impedes Women Entrepreneurs. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 52.

Brown, L. M. (2010). The relationship between motherhood and professional advancement: Perceptions versus reality. Employee Relations, 32(5), 470-494. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451011061649

Cheng, C., & Tavits, M. (2011). Informal influences in selecting female political candidates. Political Research Quarterly, 64(2), 460-471. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912909349631

Connell, R. W. (2005). Change among the gatekeepers: Men, masculinities, and gender equality in the global arena. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(3), 1801-1825.

Craig, L., & Mullan, K. (2011). How mothers and fathers share childcare: A cross-national time-use comparison. American Sociological Review, 76(6), 834-861. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427673

Dunn, P. (2012). Breaking the boardroom gender barrier: The human capital of female corporate directors. Journal of Management & Governance, 16(4), 557-570. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-010-9161-2

Durrani, N. (2008). Schooling the ‘other’: The representation of gender and national identities in Pakistani curriculum texts. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 38(5), 595-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920802351374

Eagly, A. H., Eagly, L. L. C. A. H., Carli, L. L., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA.

Ellemers, N. (2018). Gender stereotypes. Annual review of psychology, 69, 275-298. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011719

Hakim, C. (2006). Women, careers, and work-life preferences. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 34(3), 279-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069880600769118

Jogulu, U. D., & Wood, G. J. (2006). The role of leadership theory in raising the profile of women in management. Equal Opportunities International, 25(4), 236-250. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610150610706230

Jogulu, U., & Wood, G. (2011). Career progression of managers: an Asia-Pacific perspective. Gender in Management, 26(8), 590-603. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542411111183893

Kalantari, B. (2012). The influence of social values and childhood socialization on occupational gender segregation and wage disparity. Public Personnel Management, 41(2), 241-255. https://doi.org/10.1177/009102601204100203

Klimova, A., & Ross, R. (2012). Gender-based occupational segregation in Russia: an empirical study. International Journal of Social Economics, 39(7), 474-489. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068291211231669

Laurin, K., Gaucher, D., & Kay, A. (2013). Stability and the justification of social inequality. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43(4), 246-254. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1949

Miller, A. R. (2011). The effects of motherhood timing on career path. Journal of Population Economics, 24(3), 1071-1100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-009-0296-x

Neale, J., & Özkanlı, O. (2010). Organisational barriers for women in senior management: A comparison of Turkish and New Zealand universities. Gender and Education, 22(5), 547-563. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250903524113

Nguyen, T. L. H. (2013). Barriers to and facilitators of female Deans’ career advancement in higher education: an exploratory study in Vietnam. Higher Education, 66(1), 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9594-4

Oakley, J. G. (2000). Gender-based barriers to senior management positions: Understanding the scarcity of female CEOs. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(4), 321-334. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006226129868

O'Reilly, P., & Borman, K. (1984). Sexism and sex discrimination in education. Theory into Practice, 23(2), 110-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405848409543100

Ritz, S. A., Antle, D. M., Côté, J., Deroy, K., Fraleigh, N., Messing, K., ... & Mergler, D. (2014). First steps for integrating sex and gender considerations into basic experimental biomedical research. The FASEB Journal, 28(1), 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.13-233395

Roberto, F., Rey, A., Maglio, R., & Agliata, F. (2020). The academic “glass-ceiling”: investigating the increase of female academicians in Italy. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 28(5), 1031-1054. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-06-2019-1779

Saher, N., Ali, S. S., & Matloob, T. (2014). Cross-cultural management and workplace challenges for women managers in Pakistan: exploring the realities from an emic perspective. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 4(4), 133-137.

Zamfirache, I. (2010). Women and politics–the glass ceiling. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 1(01), 175-185.

Barriers to Career Advancement Opportunities for Female Faculty: A Study of Public and Private Universities in Pakistan

Downloads

Published

2022-02-28

How to Cite

Zaidi, S. (2022). Barriers to Career Advancement Opportunities for Female Faculty: A Study of Public and Private Universities in Pakistan. Academy of Education and Social Sciences Review, 2(1), 33–46. https://doi.org/10.48112/aessr.v2i1.110

Issue

Section

Articles