6.2.1 Barriers to women’s advancement

Chapter 2 discusses and answers sub-research question 1:

Which barriers hinder women’s access to the corporate top, are they interrelated and, if so, how?

This sub-research question was further operationalized and revised to render it more specific. This resulted in the following research question that is answered in Chapter 2: In which way do barriers that impede women’s advancement to the corporate top in Europe interrelate according to the extant literature? This sub-research question was subsequently divided into two sub-research questions, namely: (1) what are the most significant barriers; and (2) how do the multifaceted aspects of the barriers interrelate?

Chapter 2 and its sub-research questions formed the starting point for the PhD research. The barriers and their interrelatedness needed to be identified before an analysis could be developed regarding governmental and organizational interventions that could be appropriate for overcoming the barriers.

The study in Chapter 2 was conducted by means of the systematic literature review method. Relevant articles were identified by using specific predefined keywords. A total of 51 articles were found to be relevant and were included in the study.

The research identified the barriers hindering women in their access to the top in the Netherlands and in the rest of Europe. This means that only studies pertaining to Europe were included in the study. The specific focus of the research on Europe was first of all to acquire a thorough understanding of the barriers identified in literature. Since the literature on the Netherlands would have been too limited for the purposes of this study, the scope of the research was, therefore, on Europe. This wider view provided more knowledge and insights into the barriers and their interrelationships. Moreover, the focus on Europe was opportune because within Europe, and the EU in particular, several policies and legislation have been developed that aim to achieve gender equality at the corporate top. In addition, numerous EU Member States have enacted national gender quota legislation to increase the number of women on corporate boards. However, despite these efforts women are still underrepresented at the corporate top and gender equality has not yet been achieved in quite a few European countries; as, for instance, is confirmed by the EIGE database.1 The fact that women are still underrepresented at the corporate top seems to indicate that barriers exist that hinder women from advancing to the corporate top.

Chapter 2 first indicates the barriers that were identified in the extant literature that hinder women in their access to the corporate top in Europe. In total seven barriers were identified: (1) psychological processes that include gender stereotypes and bias in selection and performance appraisal, (2) devaluation of women, (3) career preferences, (4) organizational culture and organizational processes, (5) work-family balance/work-family conflict, (6) professional support and (7) the leaky pipeline.

After identifying the barriers, Chapter 2 discusses how these barriers interrelate. In the research, it is highlighted that the barriers are both interrelated and intertwined, meaning that the barriers are not only considered barriers in themselves, but that they are also interrelated with other barriers. Due to their interrelatedness, the barriers reinforce each other. Some barriers create a double bind. This is, for instance, the case with gender stereotypes. Descriptive stereotypes determine whether women are likely to be considered competent for leadership positions, whereas prescriptive stereotypes disapprove of women when they occupy such positions and have proven to be competent. Other interrelationships were found across barriers. For instance, between the barriers gender stereotypes and social networks; devaluation of women and gender stereotypes; and organizational culture and work-family balance/conflict.

It was found that the gender stereotypes barrier plays the largest role in hindering women in their advancement to the corporate top because this barrier is related to almost all other barriers identified. Gender stereotypes play a role in the bias barrier, because descriptive stereotypes may cause women to be considered unsuitable for corporate top positions, which in turn leads to bias towards women in promotion and selection processes. In a similar vein, the gender stereotypes barrier also leads to the devaluation of women based on stereotypes, thus establishing the link between gender stereotypes barrier and the devaluation of women barrier. The gender stereotypes barrier is also related to the barrier career preferences of women, because women may abstain from pursuing a career as a result of these stereotypes. Gender stereotypes can also lead to women’s exclusion from networks. Prescriptive stereotypes can cause women to be disliked in their jobs. This can then lead to the exclusion of women from social networks. The gender stereotypes barrier is also related to the barrier work-family balance/conflict, because the assumption that women are less committed to their jobs once they start a family may influence their promotion opportunities.

The findings in Chapter 2 furthermore show that the barriers are multifaceted. This means that the barriers hindering women from advancing to the corporate top can be attributed to individual features of the barriers as well as to organizational features. Individual features of the barriers determine whether such barriers make women refrain from taking on leadership positions, whereas organizational features determine whether women are selected for and promoted to leadership positions. The findings show that, due to the multifaceted nature of the barriers, it is not only women who abstain from leadership positions, but also companies that do not promote women for reasons that can be found in barriers. The findings show that the scarcity of women at the corporate top can, therefore, be attributed both to the choices women make and to the practices in organizations. A combination of individual and organizational features of the barriers plays a role here, making it even more complicated to overcome these barriers.

The research findings reflect which barriers were identified and show how each of the identified barriers interrelates with the others. This study contributes to existing literature and research by filling a gap concerning the interrelatedness of the barriers. The findings mostly contribute to liberal feminism. The organizational culture barrier is not in line with liberal feminism, because this finding implies that organizations and/or organizational cultures are gendered. It is not in line with liberal feminism, because this stream of feminism believes in the gender neutrality of organizations. This finding of the organizational culture is, however, in line with critical feminist studies (socialist and post-structuralist feminism).