The Invisible Barriers Before White Collared Female Managers' Promotion Process

Abstract

There are differences in the ratio of men and women in business life. The difference between this ratio attracts more attention, especially as it moves towards top management positions. There are many reasons why women are not as active in business as men. In many countries, efforts are being made to make this female-male distribution ratio more fair. Ensuring gender equality is an important point for the development of countries as well as for institutions. The subject of this study is to investigate the obstacles faced by themselves and their fellow managers in business life and the positive discrimination policies of other working women in order to reduce these obstacles. In this study, it is aimed to examine the position of white-collar women in the business world and their roles and contributions in the positive development of women's labor in the business world. Another aim of the study is to examine whether women who came to senior management positions apply positive discrimination policies regarding working conditions and employment rates of women who were employed at lower levels during their management period. In other words, it was discussed whether they view women's employment and their position in business life from a different perspective according to male managers and whether they implement policies in this direction.

In the theoretical framework of this study gender, discrimination and positive discrimination concepts are analysed and the barriers, which women labors are faced during promotional, are seeked. In this context the perspectives about most frequent barriers which are known as glass ceiling syndrome and queen bee syndrome are discussed. This study is applied to qualitative research methods such as in-depth interview and oral history. During the four-month fieldwork, the researcher met with twenty-one executives from different sectors in Istanbul. Participants were chosen by snowball method, a qualitative research method, and twenty prepared open-ended questions were asked. Fieldwork datas and the rhetorics of manageressess from different sectors, which is about their congenerics’ business life, was examined by discourse analysis method.