Barriers to ascension to senior management positions in retailing

Citation

Broadbridge A (2008) Barriers to ascension to senior management positions in retailing. Service Industries Journal, 28 (9), pp. 1225-1245. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642060802230148

Abstract
Using a case study of retailing, this paper examines the continued under-representation of women in senior management positions. Via a questionnaire survey, it reveals that those factors retail managers (men and women) themselves attribute to the disproportionate number of women in senior positions. The findings revealed that the main factors were associated with women's 'other' role: the family. Thus, lack of child care facilities and high family commitments were regarded as especially problematic and the organisation of retailing with its long anti-social hours and lack of flexi-time at managerial levels contributed to these problems. Other factors were also regarded as important including company cultures that uphold patriarchal social systems. The paper demonstrates how women's primary position in the home and domestic domain and men's primary position in the economic domain have shaped the way retail organisations are organised and the roles that men and women are traditionally expected to adopt within them. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Keywords
retailing; retail management; gender; career advancement; human capital; masculinity; flexible working; patriarchal social systems

Journal
Service Industries Journal: Volume 28, Issue 9