The Underrepresentation of Women in Executive Management Positions in the South African Banking Sector

Abstract

Women representation at senior management level is a significant step towards women advancement to C-suite. The study’s objective was to explore factors that contribute towards the significant and continued women’s underrepresentation in executive management positions within the South African banking sector post the adoption of the South African constitution and implementation of different regulations aimed at women advancements and equality for men and women. The primary goal of this research was to examine the interplay between first line roles within the banking sector, career progression and gender equality. The study was thus guided by the social cognitive theory, social role theory and attribution theory as the theoretical framework. Methodology: A phenomenological study design was used to investigate the lived experiences of women and to collect the perspectives of men in executive management positions on the persisting issue of gender disparity in executive management positions. The researcher was able to select suitable respondents to meet the study objectives using a nonprobability sampling approach during the participant selection process. Semi-structured interviews with a total of 25 participants were used to gather data. The study deduced the following key findings - first finding; it is important to choose a role which provides future career successes and acceleration to executive positions early on in your career planning. Second finding; a lack of suitable role models in key positions such as CEOs can lead to compression of women in support roles which are traditionally viewed as suitable for women due to gender role norms. Third finding; Sponsors play an important part in the advancement of women's careers. Having a sponsor who advocates for you is part of career development and planning, and most women do not have sponsors when compared to men. Sponsors do not have to be of the same gender as a person being sponsored, their role is to advocate for one who is being sponsored and should typically be in a position of influence. Finally, there is a connection between first-line roles and advancement to executive management positions, and first-line roles are dominated by men, with women facing barriers to entry into first-line business areas. First line roles carry more power in banks’ strategic direction as these are roles with risk ownership responsibilities, they perform mostly client-facing activities in pursuit of income generation and have responsibilities for banks’ profits and losses. Contribution: A contribution was made by developing a theoretical framework on internal (personal) and external (organisational & societal) factors women should consider in their career progression to executive management levels. Scholars can build on this framework, but also obtain insights on strategies that women could adopt early in their careers that may enable them to navigate through barriers and challenges emanating from, amongst other, gender biases, organisational cultures and women’s lack of self-belief. Furthermore, the study provided key insights into the interplay among roles, career advancements and gender transformation which could be used by executive management in the banking industry, human capital specialists and government in advancing their gender equality initiatives. In addition, several recommendations were provided by this study for future research.