Exploring the Implication of Gender Balance and the Factors Affecting Women’s Attainment to Top Leadership Positions in Organization
- May 7, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRISS, Religion and Cultural Studies, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Alabi-Sessou Omobonike Adeola
Seventh Day Adventist Church, West-Central Africa Division, Ivory Coast
Abstract: Underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions in organizations is a global phenomenon. Though studies show an increase in the number of women pursuing higher education globally (Catalyst, 2020) and approximately 47.1% of women have employment globally as well (International Labor Organization, 2014a), yet the obvious reality is that only few women occupy top leadership positions globally. This article reviews the implications of gender balance in leadership in organizations, discusses the leadership theory and leadership styles that serve as bedrock to this article, explains the apparent factors affecting women’s attainment to top leadership positons in organization (Individual, Socio-cultural and Organizational Factors) and it concludes by highlighting the need to eliminate or mitigate the effects of these factors so that more women can attain to top leadership positions in organizations.
Keywords: Top leadership, Women, Organization, Patriarchy, Female Education, Social Role Theory, Transformational Leadership Style, Democratic Leadership style
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the implications of gender balance leadership in organizations and the factors that affect women’s attainment to top leadership positions with the aim of highlighting the need to eliminate or mitigate the effects of these factors, in order to enhance the attainment of women into top leadership positions of the organizations.
Limitation Of The Study: The benefits of having women in top leadership positions and the factors that affect women’s attainment to top leadership positions in organizations presented in this article are not exhaustive, many more benefits and factors are still available in the literature but the author has included few of them necessary within the scope of this article.
INTRODUCTION:
In recent times women assuming leadership positions is no longer a taboo as more women are assuming both political and corporate leadership roles, thus the researchers and scholars have shifted their research questions from whether a woman can lead to whether there is a difference between how male and female lead (Northhouse, 2018). Despite the progress women have made in leadership, it is obvious that “women leaders are strikingly low in every sector of the government and economy” (Bierema, 2016, p.1). Indeed, women who are CEOs of the world’s largest corporations are very few and women who occupy senior roles globally represent only 29%, less than a third (Catalyst, 2020). In order to remedy this situation it is important to portray the benefits of having women at the top leadership in the organizations and to be aware of the factors that affect the attainment of
