Women in Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Women in Business Management - Essay Example Women’s representation has increased drastically in the labor workforce in last few years. The point to be emphasized is that despite of the fact that women are now more educated, highly qualified and more career orientated than they were ever before they still don’t reach the top most positions in the organization and are still either underrepresented on the senior positions or are stuck in the middle managerial levels only. However many researches and scholarly worked showed that women can due to their uniqueness can benefit the organization in many ways. Their different style of leadership can help organization achieve its objectives and their representation on senior level adds greater diversity and transparency in the organization. Despite of all these researches women don’t make their way to the top management level due to many reasons that hinder women growth. In this essay I shall discuss the problems faced by women in reaching the top levels in organizat ions, the sex stereotyping and misconceptions about working women, how men and women lead differently and the advantages and benefits an organization can have of women representation in the senior management. Theoretical background: Statistical Analysis: With the passage of time women all over the world are striving to become independent, the increasing number of women have joined the labor workforce in last few years and they continue to do so. According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics of 2008 women constitutes about 48% of the total labor workforce in US. Despite of being almost half of the total labor workforce, women are unable to make their mark in the top position. The first article that discussed barriers for women’s advancement in the senior managerial roles appeared in The Wall Street Journal in 1986. The study and work on the subject is also referred to as ‘glass ceiling’ which blocked women to take the senior level positions. Since then many researche s and scholarly works have appeared regarding the issues. Studies revealed that women are not presented equally on the senior management positions, even if they reach these positions they remain under paid. In 2002, in the Fortune 500 companies women only acquired 15.7% of the corporate officer level position. While in recent times, according to a study released by Catalyst- a non profit organization working for the empowerment of women, the main reason stopping women to be a part of senior management in the organization is the gender stereotyping. Despite of being equivalent to men, women are often left with conflicting, unfavorable options due to such circumstances. Catalyst’s data released in 2011 showed that women hold 46.7% of total labor workforce in US out of which 51.5% of women, almost half hold professional and management occupations and according to Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) women hold 33% of top managerial positions in UK. However, even after holding su ch high percentage of total workforce women are still underrepresented in the top 500 fortune companies of the world where they hold only 6.7% of the top senior management positions that include corporate officer positions, board seats and chief executive titles. (BILIMORIA & PIDERIT. 2007; ARFKEN, BELLAR & HELMS. 2004; PICHLER, SIMPSON, & STROH. 2008; EVANS, D. 2011) With the passage of time there have been certain changes in women’s participation in the total labor work force. Initially women workers constitute more of part-time workers than full time, now with the changing trend the number of