review of literature - shodhganga : a reservoir of indian...
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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Basu et al. (2013) evaluated the gender differential attitude among
professionals of Indian IT companies around Delhi. The study analyzed the
most debated issues in the IT sector in India that how have the ender
differential attitudes persisted in the technology sector which is the most
advance sector. It was found that though women have capabilities, well-
developed skills as well education, their opportunities are constrained by
informal institutions such as caring being solely the women’s responsibility,
limited support system/infrastructure, biased laws, rules and regulations and
social attitude. The study confirmed the need to eradicate gender malice
from the society and the organization for HR Management in highly skilled
professions like IT sector.
Rahjesh and Ekambaram (2013:87) study revealed that women are
not as much interested in negotiation salaries, perks and bonuses, are not
very keen in enhancing their niche skills; are not eager to hop jobs rather
find it extremely uneasy to move themselves out of the comfort zones and
do not have information professional networks as they are not able to put in
efforts after office hours to build the same. Domestic responsibilities,
distance from home to place of work and various other reasons have been
the limiting factors that have contributed to the limiting career.
ACHAM and FLEXI (2013) conducted study to understand on
gender diversity among American multinationals/organizations operating in
India. A total number of 51 organizations considered under study. The
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study found the 26 percent of women workforce participation rate found in
the companies that took part in the study. From the total workforce the
study found a dip at the middle level management from 31 percent of the
entry level to 22 percent in the middle management. From the middle
management there is a dip seen in senior management representation of
women i.e., from 22 percent of middle level to 15 percent on an average.
From the data it is found that the organization experienced 33 percent
attrition rate of women employees.
Smith et.al (2012), the study focuses on the discrimination and the
unfairness towards those women seeking leadership positions in the
organization. The study examined the degree to which women employees
are held responsible for the gender imbalance in leadership by classifying
those metaphors according to whether or not they recommend the
characteristics of women play a role in creating glass ceilings. This paper
highlights those obstacles hindering women reaching the top management in
the organizations.
Baneji et al. (2010) in their study reported the percentage of women
directorship on the boards of major companies for which few data are
available. According to this report, India has 5.4 percent of the directorships
being held by women, Canada with 15 percent, USA with 14.5 percent, UK
with 12.2 percent, Hong Kong with 8.9 percent and Australia with 8.3
percent of percentage of women on board.
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Ashcraft and Blithe (2010) conducted a study to examine the key
factors which come in the way of women’s career progress and adequate
mechanisms to address the same were examined. The study found the
percentage of computing occupations held by women has been decline since
1991, in 2009 women made up only 25 percent of the IT workforce, 56
percent of women in technology companies leave their organizations at the
mid-level point i.e., between 10-20 years in their career. It was reported that
wide variation in the salary gap exists by occupation. He report discloses
that women hold only 10 percent of board directors in Fortunie 500
technology companies.
Buddhapriya (2009) states, although conflict between career and
family roles can be a potential source of stress for both and men manager it
affects women in India more than men because of many reason. While
social, legal and economic reforms have helped women to join the
workforce in India, the continuing influence of normative attitudes and
values have prevented them from altering the perceptions of the society as
well as their own regarding their sex roles (p 34). He explained how family
responsibilities have hindered many women from entering the workforce, he
states that the talent pool of women candidates at the top level is very
shallow and the Indian organization must understand that societal
expectations and family responsibilities do come in the way of the women
professionals and their career decisions.
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Warren (2009) in his assessment of talent management systems
describe that gender bias permeates the promotion and performance review
process. He found that almost half of technical women reported that gender
bias influences performance evaluations. Similarly one in four women
reported that women were often seen as intrinsically less capable than men
in the IT companies.
NASSCOM-Mercer report (2009) emphasized that Glass ceiling still
prevails in the Indian IT industries as most women stagnate at the junior and
the middle levels of their career alongside factors like women still feel less
competent and experience personally the career break as a trend which hold
them back to re enter the labor market.
Susan b. Hansen (2009), the emphasized the importance on
individual strategies helps to eliminate the various barriers caused by family
responsibilities, discrimination and gender stereotypes. To be succeed in the
profession woman has be twice as good as a male counterpart in their
organization. To get advance in the women employee career, she has to
develop leadership skills, to be a leader competence is an important quality
where women have to be more trained up in the organization. In order to
advance in their profession, organization structures expects employees to
work longer hours and especially these long work hours may impede
women’s advancement in their profession.
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Accenture’s global research study (2009) found that 46 percent of
female executives are inadequately challenged. Women accept additional
responsibilities to advance in their professional growth. Women seek new
challenges and stretch themselves to beyond their comfort level to remain
competitive. They found that women employees are less successful in their
profession; they are less innovator.
Hewlett et al. (2008) the study found that, the key barriers for the
advancement of women employee is found to be the lack of mentorship from
the top management and the lack of role models in the organization. The
appropriate mentorship will have an impact on the retention and
advancement of women employees in their professional growth. from the
study it is found that 40 percent of women employees form technical
experience reported lacking role models, lacking of mentors and 84 percent
reported that lacking sponsors or someone who would help them to make
their accomplishments visible throughout the organization.
Gary et.al. (2008), found that advancement to the managerial
position it is necessary for an employee to get international experience. In
the US and many other developed countries women took their steps in
breaking the glass ceiling barrier by getting expatriate experience and
reaching top management positions. In most of the multinational companies
very few employees are utilizing this expatriate experience, due to the lower
percentage of women expatriates will de-motivating the lower level women
managers to not utilizing the opportunity and they will leave the
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organization. Due to this lack of expatriate women managers there is lack of
opportunity for women employees to advance into the top management
position.
Fassinger (2008) posits that in organizations women employees face
an unfriendly work environment. The study conclude that women
employees are excluded from the social networks, corporate activities and
organizational information where these activities were act as barriers for
women employees career growth opportunities. Where these category of
activities will enhance the employees promotional opportunities. Women
employees feel that as they are not entertained in the old boys club, social
networks and so on where women are extra scrutinized will act as barriers
which are normally act not in favor of women employees.
Strategic Direction (2008), found that those women who become
pregnant during their career require a reasonable period for their maternity
and most of the situation women will take a break in her career to take care
of her family, to spend time with a pre-school child and to complete their
families. For women employees motherhood remains a vital element in their
life in spite of the ideals of shared parenting and household management
responsibility, even though these bulk of household work, continues to be
done by women. The societal expectations expect women to take time off
from their work when a child needs during any health issues; come home
early enough to spend time with children and that mothers act as chauffeurs,
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getting children to various extracurricular activities like sporting events,
dancing classes and so on.
Alison, Krista (2008), found that supportive co-workers can serve to
make balancing work and family easier by helping to pick u the slack if an
employee needs to leave early for family reasons. Women working in the
paid labor force confront different evaluations of their behavior by society.
Women workers working in sex-atypical occupations and industries may be
reluctant to take advantage of available programs because they view the
workplace environment as being unsupportive of taking such an action.
They suggested that as the percent of women in an occupation and industry
decreases, that women will be more likely to encounter work and family
conflict.
Eagly and Carli (2007) in their study found that women are les
suitable to leadership positions. The perception about women were create an
ideology in women by promoting women as they are wonderful effect, they
are the better care takers of children, better in handling household
responsibilities and by placing women in a highly favorable light. But these
stereotypical images initially appear to place women in highly favorable
light and making women to go out of the boundary to prove them as a good
leader.
Stone (2007) in their study found that women do take career break to
raise her family and to rise their children. Women employees leave their
prestigious jobs due to the gender inequality they face in their homes. The
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study found that male employees are not willing to compromise or adopt
their own career to get involved in the family responsibility and child care as
women employees do for their family responsibilities.
Upadhya and Vasavi (2006a) study indicated that the workforce was
less heterogeneous than in commonly assumed. The regional diversity in the
IT workforce was addressed and the report disclosed that though the
proportion of women in the software industry has been growing steadily
over time, and a limited number of women IT managers have a presence,
they are still under represented constituting about 24 percent of the IT
workforce. Further the report also shared insights of women who are
underrepresented at the middle and senior levels.
Upadhya (2006), found that the foremost factor hindering the career
growth for women in IT sector is the requirement of women having to attend
short/long/on-site work commitments. He points out unmarried women are
preferred over the married ones for obvious reasons and as unmarried
women find difficulty to adjust with male colleagues abroad while married
women prefer not to take up these assignments due to domestic and social
obligations. Thus non-availing of assignment or continuous refusal therefore
ultimately affects career growth of women and costs their promotion
prospects.
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Verma et.al (2006) studied those factors which will hold back
women executives from accepting international assignments such as safety
and security concerns, potential negative interactions with freight
subordinates, and positive loneliness.
Department of trade and Industry (2005) conduct the research on
retention of women employees in the industry. The study found that the
management has to put more effort in understanding the needs of a women
employee, especially where family commitments are concerned.
Management should maintain gender biases in their organizational policies.
Management should have an equality and fairness among pay, flexible
working, distribution of project work and promotions between genders.
Management should create more opportunities for women employees to
work part-time, and management should involve women in the corporate
activities and should make women to feel included in a male dominated
industry.
Ryan and haslam (2005) in their study used the term as Glass Cliff
for the hurdles for women seeking promotions within their organizations.
They hypothesize women are not often promoted to secure leadership
positions. They study observed that women are promoted, but glass cliff
phenomenon only takes place after women are in leadership positions. The
glass cliff concept relates to those women who have broken through the
glass ceiling and put their step to the top positions which are not
predominant positions. The existence of a these glass cliff in an organization
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indicates that even though promotion is provided to women employees it
may increase the possibility of failure for women leaders in the organization.
South Asia Pre-WSIS Seminar (2005) a research paper submitted at
the seminar criticized that the current working environment and existing
managerial structure, systems, policies, procedures pose greater obstacles to
women than as compared to men. Women also experience hardship in terms
of career entry, to be retained in the organization, and growth prospectus
also poses its own challenges. High work pressures, meeting deadlines,
frequent visits out of country etc compelled women either getting dropped
out or stagnating in the lower level jobs impeding their career growth.
Ghosh et al. (2005) found that in India various factors are responsible
for women employees’ career right from their education to their career.
Mainly socio economic factors are responsible for women lower grade
education, which include direct cost, the necessity for female labor, low
expected returns and social restrictions. In Indian society, the position of
women can be measured by their less participation in decision making and
by the degree of access they have with their outside world.
Niederle (2005) studied that women are less willing to compete with
their co-workers as women dislike and shy away from the competition. This
shyness and not participating in the competition will decrease the chance of
women employees’ career growth as they are not succeeding in competition
for promotions and higher jobs. This in turn will not allow women
employees’ to not take part in the higher positions.
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Maume (2004) noted that glass ceiling is a unique form of gender
and racial bias against women and this bias is more serve at later stages of
career development than at the entry level.
Arflen et al. (2004) studied on the glass walls that are present in the
organization. The study found that these glass walls act as barriers and
restrict women’s career growth in the organization. The study examined that
these walls will hold back women employees by not moving into the next
level in the corporate hierarchy and also to the senior positions. The barriers
were found to be such as lack of informal networks, male preconceptions
and stereotypes among women act as the greater limitations for women
employees in the organization.
Arfken et.al (2004) found that women are almost nonexistent in the
board rooms. They found that 63% of the companies surveyed have no
women directions on their board.
Linehan et al. (2004) in their study found that many female managers
do no actively engage in the self-promotion and development of social
network need to be considered for expatriate assignments as the same degree
of their male counterparts do in the organizations.
Deborah et al. (2004) observed the state of Tennessee as a case
study, the authors collected data on the large composition of publicly traded
corporations and compared the collected data to an original study conducted
in 1995. This article enlightens the various reasons for the minimal number
of women on boards. The study recommended organizations to enhance
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women employees to participate in strategic decisions; and population on the
board should reflect the Organizations consumer population. Thus, women
employees are a vital asset for the organization, but they are over-looked
resource in corporations.
Selmer and d leung (2003) in the study those corporate activities that
were available to men and were less available to women are as follows
Fast track programs
Individual career counseling
Career planning workshop
Lind and Kimberly (2003) showed that the women employees have
changed their goals over the years in response to the context of the lives.
Their goals had changed to adjust for real life and their career goals had
altered over time. The reasons for changing plans included financial
constraints that precluded college, greater interest in marriage and family, or
simply finding work at a good wage preferable to more career preparation.
This study evident that women participants had made multiple adjustments
in their own career plans to accommodate family needs and women
pointedly said that they had no regrets about their decisions to put their
families before their career. The participant expressed a strong desire to stay
with what they know to be a secure job with good benefits, putting off
additional schooling or career advancement opportunities until children are
older or more self-sufficient.
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Cotter and collegues (2001) examine three criteria for discerning the
effects of a glass ceiling. First, a glass ceiling exists when an artificial
barrier impede the advancement of women and minorities. In measuring
discrimination, analysts often control for education, work experience, tenure
with current employer, and family factors affecting productivity e.g. marital
or parental status. A second criterion for investigating the concept of a glass
ceiling is that one must use longitudinal data to examine job transition over
time. A third criterion for the existence of a glass ceiling is that inequality
grows over the life course; this implies that the barriers to mobility existing
early in a career become more severe later in the career.
Tharenou (2001) study found that women employees with the help
from their co-workers and top management can grow in their profession and
reach the top management positions. The study found that in organizations
where male hold higher percentage in number in the top management there
is less percentage of women employees are seen in top management. Those
women employees who work closely with women executives in top or those
women who were employed in companies where women employees hold a
higher percentage in the top management have a higher chance of getting
promotion into the high level in the organization.
Rothboeck et al. (2001) in their study identified factors act as hurdles
for women employees in their professional growth in the software industry.
The study concluded that work life balance is found to be the most
prominent factor that acts as an obstacle among the factors that hinders the
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career growth for women employees in the software industry. From the
study it is found that for women employees due to societal requirement and
commitment towards their family they are unable to put more effort by
working off time when compared to their male counterparts.
Fountain (2000) women are more likely to experience a break in
their career due to marriage, child birth while choosing to work for short
durations and not accepting long term and outbound assignments shunning
themselves from high potential careers and loosing away the critical hour
and job segment. She also stated that the untimely shifts and long working
hours have been major detrimental factors impeding their career growth.
Researchers studied Glass Ceiling under different terminologies.
Nath (2000) in the study used the term ‘glass moulding’ to describe the
attitude of Indian managers in the organization. The woman managers are
pragmatic in recognizing and accepting that as women managers; they are
different from their male counterparts. Instead of attempting to emulate
their male colleagues, they use their differences to add value to the
organization in unique ways.
Susan et al. (1999), the study investigates that during the screening
stage of the selection process the gender of the evaluator, applicant, and
reference source have significant effect on the selection process. During the
selection process of an assistant principal, the authors hypothesize that there
exist a gender bias like male prefer male applicants and female prefer female
applicants. This hypothesis was based on the sex similarity-attraction
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paradigm. The authors anticipated that according to sex similarity-attraction
a relation exists between the gender of the applicant and the rater. Thus,
from the study results it was found that the evaluations of administrative
positions of female applicants are improving to the amount that female
applicants were more likely to be offered employment interviews than male.
Huffman (1999) study finds that even though women are well
equipped with education, work experience they are not willing to take
supervisory positions or responsibilities. The study emphasized that for
women employees the work decisions are mainly influenced by their family
factors like the presence of the dependents to take care off, their marital
status. Based on these influential factors women employees are less likely
to hold supervisory authority at work.
Kapoor et al. (1999), married women employees reported that they
face difficulties in maintaining a balance between work and family and their
careers suffer because of family responsibility.
Lori anne wardi (1999) draws attention to the factors like women
employees not being mentored and lack of senior women sharing their
experiences as a critical factor hindering the growth of women employees.
Most women IT professionals lack networking opportunities with senior
members and had if the same would have been provided they would have
performed better.
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Kaifi & mujataba in their study show that women have an extremely
high score on the technical and human skills than men which allow them to
work effectively than their co-workers at their levels. Women have the
perception that the promotion into the management hierarchy is often linked
to a manager’s ability to acquire the management skills and competencies
that a particular company believes are important.
Vale and gold (1998) found that organizational culture act as the
greatest barrier to women’s professional within the organizational. Women
employees rarely accept for promotions as they want to be out from those
councilors whose style of management is bullying and control. It was found
that a supportive organizational culture will motivate women employees to
accept promotions and in turn will help in their professional growth.
Ragin et. Al (1998), in their study found the 96 percent have indicate
that to get success in the profession and to break glass ceiling barrier by
developing the professional style with which male employees are
comfortable with it. It is found that women managers should adapt those
styles of work where a male employee is comfortable, predominantly male
culture which will help women to succeed in their career.
Alison and stead (1998) found that there are barriers available to
support the notion that the glass ceiling exists for women, intact in many
areas. The study evident that, the ‘glass ceiling’ remains intact in many
corporate areas. The study found that the upper management demonstrates
support for the advancement of women in the organization. This article
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made an attempt to provide evidence of organizations strategies that have
proved successful in making progress toward shattering the glass ceiling.
Kanters (1997) work showed that female tokens were likely to be left
out of important informal networks, to be constantly watched and to be
subjected to ‘boundary-heightening’ exaggerated displays of masculinity
from men meant to demonstrate to women that they did not fit in.
According to kanter, women must be 15% or less of an occupation in order
to truly be considered token.
Huang (1997) used survey data on 950 male and female lawyers
from law schools to determine the sources of male-female earnings
difference. The study found that only part of the earnings differences were
due to occupational segregation (practice setting); females also experienced
different returns to experience. They noticed that females suffered an
earnings penalty for marriage and family where male lawyers experienced
earnings increases from marriage and family. The study argued that
discrimination occurs through practice setting or firm type segregation that
is women are crowded into the lower paying segments.
Filiz (1997), found that in Istanbul, turkey the mean numbers of
women were significantly lower than the mean numbers of men at each
hierarchical level. There was a drop in the proportion of women as the level
in the organizational hierarchy increases and they found that only 2% of the
top management managers were female. In their study, women top
managers indicated that duties of most women at home were barriers for
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them to succeed in their jobs especially if the husband’s job comes first.
Men were not used to seeing women as managers and not even open to the
idea. Women once they were married or had a child, they prefer their home
to the job and necessarily not to take responsibility in a job.
Burke and mckeen (1996) have reported that those women
employees working in managerial positions in organizations with mostly
men percentage were higher in top level positions were less satisfied with
their jobs. These women employees had greater intensions to quit their job
than those women in organizations who worked under a female in top level
positions. They argued that presence of higher number of male employees
in the top or executive position and the absence of women in executive
positions may resulted in the disinclination to create policies which are
supportive for women employees career goals from lower level managerial
to top level managerial positions and their professional growth.
DeBare (1996) studied on the gender inclusivity in the organization.
The study concluded that if women employees have to break the glass
ceiling in the professional ladder, then they have to work in tandem with
men if they have to grow to the same position in the organization as men
grow. The study observed that there are various issues that act as barriers
for women employees’ career growth, ass such as long working hours, low
job content, imbalanced pay scale, gender discrimination, physical illness
from the dual work in office and home, informal networks, lack of role
models, mentors and support from co-workers.
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Foster (1995) stated that “ [the] glass ceiling remains in place largely
due to the professions male-oriented, one-dimensional paradigm under
which only those attorneys able to focus solely on their careers can
succeed”. He also states that “the ideal female lawyer is unmarried and
childless”, because when a women marry or have children, then male
probabilities exceed that of females. Child rearing responsibilities penalize
female more than males in single households.
Wright et al.(1995) in the study hypothesize that for women
employees the presence of dependents in their houses will impact on women
to not to pursue jobs involving authority and responsibility, while for male
employees the presence of dependents in their houses will not much impact
on their selection of positions in the organization.
Alder (1984, 1994) examined that organization should create
international assignments which will include women employees in the
assignments. Most of the organizations assume that due to cultural
prejudices from their home country, women employees are less willing to
take the international assignments.
Ohlott et.al., (1994), in their study found that even though men and
women are present at similar organization levels women are not given the
same amount of responsibility or supervisory tasks as males.
Adams (1993) mention their study that women are unwilling to
relocate for the sake of their career; that women leadership style is not suited
to the executive suite; that a woman natural role is that of the nurturing and
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supporting gender and are more predisposed to the career areas of teachers,
nurses, secretaries, homemakers and so on.
Kabasakal (1991) argues that Turking women’s own attitudes about
what traits comprise a good manager keep them from advancing to more
powerful senior positions. They found that women have difficulty in
identifying with the masculine traits that are traditionally associated with
good management and leadership skills
Murgai (1991) in their study renowned that in an organization the
highly prestigious and fairly paid positions like administrative position were
held by male employees and where as female employees are tend to occupy
with the less paying job and engage in less prestigious position in the
organizations. These placements in turn may act as barriers in women
employees’ professional growth and not allow women to reach the top and
prestigious positions in the organization.
Lim (1990), this study reveals that for women employees the family
act as an obstacle and in turn it makes them feel incapable. The study found
that, based on the data from a number of surveys conducted in the mid-
1980s showed that the percentage of Malay women working outside the
home was not greatly different and did not indicate restriction of Malay
women from the employment sectors that entail contact with men. They
found that Malay women faced the greatest objections from their husbands
and we most restricted in their efforts to assume economic roles outside the
home. They were also least likely to feel confident that they would be able
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to financially support themselves, much less their children, in spite of having
higher mean income from employment.
Neera jain and Shoma MuWierii in their study emphasized that glass
ceiling exist in India as it does in the world. Women despite being highly
educated often remain in lower management position with little access to
challenging assignments and power. Women are often promoted to senior
positions but the job content and compensation remain lower than those
offered to men in similar position. The study found that 84 percent of the
respondents agree that women face career interruption for child and family
responsibility, 73 percent of the women agree that they are reluctant to
relocate and 52 percent agree that women are unwilling to make sacrifice to
retain in top positions. The study concluded that women stop believe in
them-selves and they are conditioned to believe that unless they adopt male
attributes they will not achieve success in their work arena.
Mc Cormack (1985) the study emphasized that women employees
still face glass ceiling barriers in their organization. They discussed that
women employees’ do included in the workforce at the entry level to have
diversified work culture but still women employees face glass ceiling
barriers in the organization. In the top management still men hold a lion
share throughout the world which in turn acts as a barrier for women
employees in reaching the top level in the corporate world. The study
concluded that glass ceiling do present in the career ladder of women
employee who want to put their steps into the top level especially the
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employees who are in middle level of their career. When women employees
want to grow into higher position glass ceiling cannot be seen but when they
strike their heads then cannot grow more beyond it.
Bhalla and kaur concluded that in India labor force participation rate
for women is very low for various reasons like discrimination against
women in the workplace, lower wages; do not get entry into paid jobs. Most
women leave the job once she get married, especially she marries to highly
educated male who earn a substantial income. The study concluded that
once women enter the labor force, the barriers are low. They observed that
women have less experienced than men for the same age and education due
to child bearing. They also pointed out that if given that education levels are
reaching parity with male employees than the future wage gaps will decline
but not because of better non-discriminatory practices of the organization.
Richard martell and Christopher parker examined in their study that
for women employees the stereotypes about themselves act as a major
barrier in their career. The researcher found that perception about women
employees act as barriers for their career and the barriers were found to be
women employees are lacking with those characteristics which are very
necessary for the career progress and women employees have a ideology and
found themselves as they are less qualified than male employees.
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Kanter (1977) in the study examined the representation of women
employees will influence them to get higher work experience in the
organization. The study also found that women’s proportional representation
will influence and support to increase women employee proportion in the
organization and in turn will help to reduce the discrimination against
women employees in the organization.