The International Labour Organisation

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Globally, there has been an unprecedented change which has occurred in the workforce in the world economy concerning the participation and composition, which have shown the forces of an active involvement of many more women in the economy than before. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2006), out of the world’s 2.9 billion workers, 40 per cent were women.

However it has not been acceptable idea where even in today’s century, many misogyny societies still exist. This type of attitude has lead to years of research and ongoing ones clearing away the glass ceiling. Davidson and Cooper (1983), for example, concluded from their research that women managers are often confronted with greater stresses and career obstacles because of preconceived notions ingrained within the corporate culture, regarding women's managerial skills, inadequate training, home-work conflict, poor mentoring and career counselling, paternalistic organisational cultures, compensation inequities, sexual harassment, and other factors The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand the glass ceiling theory and the relationship of the theory to the employment practices in the Mauritian workforce.

In Mauritius, we are proudly saying that we are celebrating our diversity. Both females and males counterpart have accepted the fact that women do have the right to work with all dignity and be recognized for who they are. A study took place in the context of the August 2008 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development that urges the media and all decision-making bodies in the region to achieve gender parity by 2015. The gender protocol also calls for the mainstreaming of gender in all media laws; policies and training. It urges the media to give equal voice to women and men; challenge gender stereotypes and ensure balance and sensitivity in all coverage; especially that relating to gender violence. (Gender links, 2009). The equal opportunity bill issued in 2008- With respect to discrimination in employment, the Bill provides that every employer shall henceforth have the responsibility to draw up and apply an equal opportunity policy at his place of work, in conformity with such guidelines and codes as are prepared by the Equal Opportunities Division, in order to minimise the risk of an employee being discriminated against. Moreover, it shall be incumbent on every employer to recruit, select and promote a person on the basis of merit.

Statement of the problem

Mauritius has both men and women working in all the sectors from the most menial job to the top executives at senior positions. Data from ILO shows that the number of women working as legislators or managers in 2010 was 919 for females and 1470 for males and at clerical level or females was 3740, males being 142, therefore the under- representation of women in these ranks posit a serious concern for our nation and raised questions about the diversity in the claimed harmonized Mauritian workforce.

Research was needed to explain the perception of the glass ceiling phenomenon and the relationship of the under representation of women in top level decision-making and public policy positions (Gregg, 2010). A qualitative method was used in the current study to better understand perceptions of why there are a disproportionately low number of women in senior leadership positions in Mauritius and why does such perceptions still prevail.

There are many theories which have been used to explain the glass ceiling which include: person centered theories, situation/organization theories, social role theories, interaction theories and

human capital theories.

Aims and objectives

The aims of this study are to assess the woman’s position at her professional level. The research will provide the reasons for the existence of glass ceilings and to be able to define the attitudes of men vis-a-vis their female colleagues.

Objectively, this study attempts to:

Assess and understand the term ‘glass ceiling’

measure why they have not progressed at same rate as males into senior positions

To determine if there is actually gender discrimination at work

To what extent women are influenced by men from breaking the glass ceiling

To develop recommendations about fogging away the gender discriminations

Research questions

The research questions were as follows:

Is there a sufficient opportunity available for women to advance into senior management positions?

Is there an equal career development opportunity for men and women?

Men and women respected equally in your job?

To what extent do you feel a glass ceiling exists in your company?

Do you get the support from your male surrounding?

Chapter 2: Literature review

Women trying to be promoted and move into senior level leadership positions within an organization may experience the invisible ceiling defined as the glass ceiling. The glass ceiling theory may be used to describe the social economic disparity that exists between women to men in senior leadership positions. Although some women are highly talented, well educated, and able to move into senior leadership positions, the disparity exists (Gregg, 2010)

Gender Discrimination

Gregg in 2010 says there has been no law which has attempted to define what ‘discrimination’ is, in the context of employment, though it can be defined as giving of an unfair advantage or disadvantage to members of the particular group in comparison to the members of other group. The disadvantage usually results in the restriction or denial of employment opportunities, or in an inequality in the terms of benefits of employment.

Discrimination is a fine and complex phenomenon that assumes two broad forms:

1. Unequal Treatment: This is an intentional discrimination treatment. For example, it would include hiring or promoting one person over an equally qualified person because of the individual’s race, sex, color or paying a male more than a female to perform the same job.

2. Adverse Impact: is a consequence of an employment practice being the same standards for every one which results in more rejection rate for a minority group than it does for the majority group in the occupation. It is a concept resulting from an apparently neutral, even unintentional employment practice consequence. For example, police department’s same requirement of height and weight for both males and females. (Channar, 2010)

In 2002, the main objective was to promote equal opportunities between gender and thus prohibiting discrimination at workplace. The set up of the equal opportunities commission and equal opportunities tribunal have been put in place for avoidance of gender discrimination.

When the equal opportunity act is not operating properly, it results in the Glass Ceiling effects, originally applied to discrimination against women (Hiau, 2005).

The glass ceiling theory

Glass Ceiling is a relative disadvantage regarding women’s career opportunities, alluding to the growing difficulties for women when moving up the career ladder. This situation is referred to as a "Ceiling" as there is the obstacle to the upward advancement and "Glass" because the obstacle is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy. Such disadvantages for the women are not solely due to differences in human capital but there are several reasons behind the glass ceiling.

Person centered theory

Initial reviewers of person centered theories suggested that lack of socialisation practices and behavioral differences between men and women in leadership resulted in the glass ceiling. Additionally, women were considered as being less ambitious and not confident enough when compared to their male counterparts as well as assertiveness and influential behavior that were critical qualities for leadership. It was also postulated that women lacked the relevant experience and/or education needed to hold or assume leadership positions. It is claimed that cultural factors such as gender-based power dynamics, power in organizational bureaucracy and men’s dominance in terms of norms and values resulted in the informal formation of barriers within organisations (kiaye, 2013). According to Cassell and Walsh’s these cultural factors seems to be the impact that individual differences in attributes between males and females may have led to the glass ceiling. According to Morrison and Von Glinow (1990 cited in Vol. 28 No. 1, 2013

pp. 28-42,); women’s traits and behaviors, socialization practices and attitudes do not make woman inadequate or deficient in any way to assume leadership positions. Furthermore, they denied the assumption that women’s risk aversion and fear of being successful made them being inadequate for leadership positions. In fact their study concluded that male and female managers were very much alike in personality, motivation and abilities.

Situation/organization theory

According to Kiaye (2013), in an open and competitive labour market, Organisations which focus on the individual’s effort and the organisations needs can assist women achieve senior management positions. Situation centred theories are concerned with the nature of the work environment faced by women aiming management positions. According to April et al. (2007), the work environment determines their fate more than their own traits, skill or behaviour as outlined in person centred theories.

Group dynamics in the workplace plays a role in making women feel unwanted due to the negative attitude of workers towards female managers and seeing them as mere token appointments. Token appointments are the unintended consequence of employment equity legislation. Instead of women being empowered by the legislation they pay a heavy price for their empowerment by being labeled or not being promoted (April et al., 2007). With assermative action also contributing to the empowerment the previously disadvantaged, what is emerging is a phenomenon termed "reverse discrimination" where the previously advantaged feel they are being discriminated agains). According to April et al. (2007) a common perception of affirmative action, is that individuals who lack the necessary qualifications, skills, networks and experience are being appointed to executive leadership positions without the needed support structures .As a consequence affirmative appointees are being consciously set up to fail, not because they are not competent but because of the fact that they are being denied access to education and the accompanying support mechanisms such as further education and social networks. There is the perception that women are being appointed based on the gender score cards rather than the professional achievements of their appointees. Tokenism has created a stigma for the previously disadvantaged especially women irrespective of whether they are competent in terms of possessing the requisite skills, experience, training and qualifications . According to April et al. (2007) tokenism results in a lose-lose situation wherein those who do not benefit from affirmative action withdraw psychologically and those who benefit are perceived by colleagues and other employees as having been appointed to their jobs on the basis of their status and not on merit or competence. This "token" predicament leads to women feeling isolated from their colleagues especially if they accept the position and for those who yearn for group acceptance will do their best to lose their visibility. Thus, the legislation which was meant to enable the mobility of women has been made disabled.

Social role theory

Social roles and social stereotypes play a major role in inhibiting the progress of women.

( Kiaye,2013) asserted that the existence of the glass ceiling was attributable to gendered social systems where work "designed by men and for men" and where patriarchy defined work roles by gender has led to gender discrimination and stereotyping. Where promotion systems work in a gender biased way, it is expected that career paths for corporate leaders are to be unbroken. Such systems work to exclude women who take maternity leave or part-time work or those who relocate due to their spouses’ career moves adding to the glass ceiling. Terjesen further explained that women’s family responsibilities are what hindered or were perceived to hinder their commitment to the organisation and consequent lack of involvement in corporate networks that provided access to powerful people. Around mid-career, when a male counterpart is scaling the corporate ladder, the female may in most instances opt to take career breaks in order to raise a family or attend to family needs: breaks that indeed can prevent women from being seen as potential corporate candidates (April et al., 2007). April et al. (2009) asserted that gender typical roles (breadwinner versus the homemaker) ascribed to men and women, respectively, shaped their behavioural expectations and beliefs about their talents and skills. This view aligns with social role theorists who suggest that women are not associated with managerial effectiveness due to their nurturing, communal and supportive nature which is seen as not consistent with top management astuteness, leading to subconscious gender role stereotyping. Stereotyping women with being kind and caring and men as tough and achievement-oriented has been labelled "think leader think male". Social role theorists associate women with being more of care givers and hence less committed to their careers: a situation that is incongruent with leadership and less prospects for promotion adding to the glass ceilin). Lewis (2001), contradicts the assertion that females are mainly care givers. On the contrary he states that professional women who concentrate more on their careers are less likely to get married and have children and those who do get married are likely to have fewer children.

W omen are at higher risk than men of suffering from increased stress levels and burn out due to the multiple roles they play, labeling women as their own worst enemies. However, it can be concluded that men and women experienced similar levels of work interfering with family and family interfering with work. Whilst findings present a new dimension to social roles, the other research shows that gender stereotyping has mainly impacted negatively on the career prospects of women.

Interaction -centered theory

According to Terjesen, (2008) from an interaction centered viewpoint, women limit their own advancement because of their reluctance to self promoting themselves through networking. Furthermore, they do not actively manage their careers by clearly stating their career ambitions to gatekeepers who influence promotion decisions. Women do not easily voice out their opinions leaving them behind. The consequent result of this is that management assumes that women are happy to maintain the status quo. Male peers on the other side, according to interaction centered theory give clear indications to promotional gatekeepers about their career ambitions, career successes and their readiness for the next step making their movement higher up the hierarchy even faster, a phenomenon which has been termed the "glass escalator" ( Terjesen, 2008).

Human capital theory

The human capital theory premise of the under representation of women in management is attributed to the free choices made by women with regard to their participation in the work force, the type of work and decisions they make to invest in their education and training. Women tend to place higher value on their domestic responsibilities; therefore their voluntary choices related to work differs from those of their male counterparts. According to Powell (2000) the major flaw in this theory lies with the assumption of "free choice", and the theory’s failure to recognise the differences in power between that of the employer and employee which may serve to prevent the progress of female employees.

Moreover, the theory does not explain why women with uninterrupted careers do not reach senior management. Thus, far, the human capital theory has not been supported by sufficient empirical evidence. What must be concluded is that no matter what theory or viewpoint is used, women are not advancing rapidly enough immaterial of where they are working in the world.

For instance South Africa being in 15th position has made major strides in a very short time to beat the global average. "The fact that South Africa outperforms the global average can be attributed to the emphasis placed by government on gender equality and employment equity" (SA Business Women Beat Global Counterparts, 2011). The Grant

Thornton International Business Report (2011) found that South African women in senior management positions were employed as: human resources directors (21 per cent), chief financial officer/finance director (20 per cent), sales directors (9 per cent) and marketing officers (8 per cent). A major concern raised by the study is that only 3 per cent of the companies surveyed employed female CEO’s. There were no statistics to show what levels women occupied in information and communications technology, operations and supply chain management.

Despite gender equality statistics in South Africa showing improvement and with enabling legislation in place the disparity between the number of men and women holding senior management positions still exists, alluding to the existence of the glass ceiling.

Mauritius Present at all major international gender forums (Africa Platform for Action in 1995,

Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995, and a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)), since 1984, Mauritius was one of the first UN members to set up a Ministry for Women (Ramgutty-Wong, 2000), although women constitute 51 percent of the population of Mauritius and are equally represented at all educational levels, they remain secondary citizens in all spheres- political, social, and economic. Women constitute 17% of members of parliament and only 6.4% of councilors. While the country has experienced an increased percentage of women in its labour force from 25% in 1972 to 35.6% in 2005, over the last fifteen years the unemployment rate for women has increased from 4.9% to 16.5% (compared to 5.8% in the case of men). Women continue to be concentrated in low skilled and low paying jobs. According to a recent time use survey women in Mauritius earn, on average, 36% less that men (UNDP and Ministry of Women’s Rights, 2005). The gap is 44% in the rural areas compared to 28% in urban regions. The study found that while the unaccounted for contribution of women to the economy is 11.3% to 24.1% that for men is 3.9% 6.6%. This is because most of the work that women perform in the home and in the community is not remunerated. Although comprehensive statistics are yet to be com piled, the "gender division of labour" is glaringly apparent in the staff composition of local government. There are no women in the top management echelons o f local government. Women comprise approximately 30 percent of middle and senior management. Women comprise the majority of the secretarial/clerical staff. No targets have been set for achieving gender balance in all areas and at all levels of local government by 2015, as required by the forthcoming SADC under Protocol on Gender and Development. Although there is no discrimination in recruitment (in other words jobs women and men are equally eligible to apply for different posts advertised) there has been no "positive discrimination" to bridge gender gaps where these exist for example openly encouraging women to apply for more senior management.

As long as the glass ceiling is perceived to exist in organisations, women will be deprived from reaching their full potential in the workplace. This study will identify the barriers preventing the progress of women in the workplace and provide recommendations to facilitate their upward mobility First, homosociality, which implies that men have a tendency to prefer men for self reflection, relaxation and social support (Reskin et al., 1986).

Second, prevailing of the sexist attitudes for example men are better suited to leadership position than women (Ackler, 1990). Such attitudes can be used by the men in strategies to secure power, authority and other privileges (Rosefed et al.,, 1990). Third, statistical discrimination, have shown where employers avoid promoting women because woman is believed to be the group who is absents more from work because of child bearing or family commitments.

There are three levels of glass ceiling barriers that were explored for the current research study and are related to the perceptions of the barriers that impeded the advancement of women into senior leadership positions. These barriers are can be societal and internal structural

Societal barriers have two major components: (a) supply barrier, defined as educational opportunity and attainment, and (b) the difference barrier, defined as stereotypes, prejudices, and biases. The difference barriers incorporated cultural differences as well as race and gender differences (U.S. Department of Labor, 1995).

The second level of barriers, internal structural barriers, defined as the recruitment practices of the organization, the organizational climate, and the organizational culture that may dispense negativity toward women. The organizational climate defined as the communication efforts of the members of the organization. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, organizational leaders may address what behavior was deemed appropriate from all members with regard to women in the organization and what behaviors will be tolerated.

Organizational barriers or social structures defined the attitudes and beliefs of the organization’s members. One such barrier was the belief that women are not good leaders and that men are better leaders The organizational barriers that described the organization’s culture or environment are sometimes labeled the gendered organization. The label indicated that the culture of the dominate sex in the organization will be adapted to the organization. Pipeline barriers are concerned with communication efforts throughout the organization and the direction and support from the leadership of the organization. Pipeline barriers included the lack of management training and professional development and the lack of mentorship within an organization (U.S. Department of Labor, 1995).

Sticky Floor

Sticky Floor is defined as "The situation where identical men and women might be appointed to the same scale or ranks, but the women are appointed at the bottom and men further up the scale". The gaps widen at the bottom of the wage distribution (Channar,2010). Sticky Floor also refers to the horizontal discrimination against women, which means that females are discriminated in appointment, trainings and assignments.

Glass Cliff

The year 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of the phrase the glass ceiling; an extension of the glass ceiling is the phrase glass cliff. The metaphor represented the conclusion that organizational leaders set women up for failure and left them hanging on a cliff. Organizational leaders with glass cliff practices had a tendency to give women tedious and difficult leadership positions and tasked and gave men easier tasks. The women who inherited these difficult positions are blamed for any failures of the organization.

Women may be provided leadership roles and opportunities for different reasons than men. Researchers suggested that as a prelude to the glass cliff, women were given the less attractive leadership positions because women’s leadership skills differ from men. Women were likely to take the blame for the failure of the component under their leadership. The component may have already begun a downward spiral before the woman’s appointment, and the woman is faulted and blamed for the total failure of the component.A negative factor of the glass cliff was that women may believe that organizational leaders have rendered them expendable while maintaining that men in the organization are not. Organizational leaders placed women in risky and difficult leadership positions. The positive aspect of the glass cliff phenomenon was that organizational leaders believed that women were better suited for the less popular leadership positions because of women’s ability to perform corrective action. The original concept of the glass cliff was concerned with poorly performing organizations. Recent research indicated that the phenomenon was not limited to poorly performing organizations. Empirical research indicated that women may seek difficult appointments in these types of organizations because if the woman was successful, her efforts may advance her career and she may gain the experience and leadership capacity necessary to move forward in the organization (Wilson-Kovacks et al., 2006).

The glass ceiling phenomenon had three key points. The first point detailed women’s difficulties with trying to reach senior level leadership roles and the acknowledgement of stereotypes and prejudices against women. The second key point was that the glass ceiling phenomenon framework is a means for understanding of the organizational culture and the affect the culture has on the women in the organization. The final point was that organizational leaders identified and reviewed barriers that impeded women’s progress into leadership positions.

Organizational leaders must understand the benefits of mentorship programs in the organization in an effort to combat the phenomenon (Connell, 2006). An explanation of glass ceiling barriers and the glass cliff was provided. A discussion of how these barriers explained the impediment of the progress of women advancing into senior leadership positions was also presented.

Backlash Effects

According to Rudman and Phelan (2008), backlash effects are "social and economic repercussions for disconfirming prescriptive gender stereotypes" (p. 64).

Although discrimination directed towards women in the workplace may have lessened, the barriers presented by the glass ceiling are still unabashedly present. For instance, there is plenty of empirical evidence (Moris, 2010) showing discrimination still occurs even when women are undeniably successful at their jobs. In fact, researchers (e.g., Heilman & Okimoto, 2007;Heilman et al. 2004; Rudman, 1998; Rudman & Glick, 2001) have demonstrated that even when women make their way into the upper management they are still discriminated against in some form or the other. For many women, this discrimination may take the form of negative performance reviews, denial of promotions and lower salary or refusal of taking a leave. In the late 1990’s Laurie Rudman began examining the dilemma for women who display the agentic traits often viewed as necessary for many higher-level jobs and the communal traits ascribed to the feminine gender role. The problem is that women must engage in self-promotion to highlight their strengths and successful performance; however self-promotion of this kind is counter-normative for women (Rudman, 1998).

Rudman predicted that violating female stereotypes in this way might lead to a backlash against agentic females in the workplace. Her research on "backlash effects" (p. 629; Rudman, 1998) has indeed supported this prediction (Rudman, 1998; Rudman & Glick; 1999; Rudman & Glick, 2001).

Summary

The literature review was an exploration the glass ceiling barriers explaining the lack of advancement of women into senior leadership positions within an organization. The barriers that women faced in leadership positions within an organization were external barrier and societal barriers that included stereotypes, biases, and gender favoritism. These barriers may be used to explain the low number of women in senior leadership positions.

The study will help demonstrate the level of gender stereotyping and how working women are being viewed in our society. From the help of the theories mentioned above, the will be used to demonstrate whether women are really capable of breaking the glass ceiling.