WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT POSITIONS CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

ABSTRACT

The  aim  of  this  study  is  to  find  out  about  women  in  management positions, challenges and prospects. In the process of this research work, the researcher formulated three research questions, and sample sizes of 50 respondents all randomly selected were used. Questionnaires were used to get the opinion of respondents on the research questions posed by the researcher. In testing the opinion of the respondents, the researcher discovered that majority of the respondents believed that women have been making effort towards getting to top management positions despite all the constraints. Both secondary and primary data were used in the process of this work. Chi-square method of analysis was employed in the process of data analysis for the test of hypotheses. Based on the data analyzed, the researcher found out that there are numerous challenges, among which are lack of proper child care services by government and various organizations, the stress of combining home management, child bearing  and  care  with   work,  gender  discrimination,  socio-cultural, religious barriers etc. These challenges faced by women hinder growth in their various career choices.

As a result of these findings, the researcher is of the opinion that there should be no discrimination against women during employment and that appointments should be based on merit and not on gender, that employers of labour should create deregulated atmosphere that would enable both men and women to attain management positions within the organizational framework through fair and healthy competition   and finally, that there should be public education for both men and women on the dangers of gender discriminations and its effect on organizations and society in general.

CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.1     INTRODUCTION

There   is   a   general   feeling   that   despite   the   Beijing   1995,  many organizations are still gender sensitive (Ifedili, 2009). Law and customs make it much harder for women to access the factors of production and obtain education, training, information and health care in order to play a full role in the economy and in society in general (Mamounata and Natacha, 2002). This is coupled with that they are regarded as the weaker sex who can not perform certain role or undertake certain difficult tasks. This perception has unfortunately given the men undue leverage over women who by this very fact have been relegated to the background.

Years ago in Africa, there was disappropriate share of responsibilities born by women as they seek to combine both productive and reproductive responsibilities within an inadequate resource base. There is no doubt that significant progress has been achieved in furthering the cause of gender equality in the labour market over recent decades. Women have been moving steadily into occupations, professions, and managerial jobs previously reserved for men.

Women access to education and training continues to improve, providing many with the necessary qualification to aspire to jobs in senior management. Women organizations, trade unions government etc have devoted much thought and energy to overcoming the attitudinal discrimination that bars women from certain jobs and hinders their career development, while the commitment to  fight gender discrimination  is renewed periodically at international conferences.

The promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women is the Goal third of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in which United Nation members pledged to meet by the year 2015 (Ambe-Uva,

2008). There is no place where this enhanced status of women is glaring than in paid employment. This progression of professional women into leadership positions has been slow. The number of women holding chief executive positions or equivalent in the tertiary and public sector is more promising (Hannah Piterman, 2008). Women comprise a large segment of the globe, yet their representation at top level management in business and public administration, is rather obscure. Women find it difficult to rise to positions of leadership in environments that are male-dominated, irrespective of the sector of employment.

There  is  no  doubt  that  significant  progress  has  been  achieved  in furthering the cause of gender equality in the labour market over recent decades, yet traditionally in Africa, a woman’s role is considered to be mainly that of child bearing and rearing. It can be stated that at a time when women should be acquiring skills that would ensure their effective participation in the labour force, they are pre-occupied with child bearing and rearing since there are hardly any facility to take care of the children when women go out to work (Amon-Nikoi, 1978). In view of this perspective, Fapohunds (1978) argues that the full capabilities of women in Nigeria will remain under-utilized. Measures have been taking to support  the  implementation  of  policies  of  women.  According  to  the Fourth International Conference of the Association of Women Development (political, economic and educational) of women in 1989, some of these measures taken are based on the recognition that the social, economic and political status of women should correspond to the social- cultural reproduction of individual countries and to their role as participants in the overall progress of each individual country (Mercey,

1983).

There has been concerted campaign to shun all forms of discrimination against women since the 1980s but to empower them to contribute their quota in the development of their society. The International Labour Organization (ILO) since its foundation has made critical contributions to promote  equality  between  men  and  women  in  the  world  of  work. Maternity protection of women was adopted by the ILOs Convention No.

3 in 1919. Series of instruments to protect the working conditions of women has also been adopted by the ILO. As a result of these campaigns, women have been moving steadily into occupations, professions and managerial jobs previously reserved for men. Their access to education and training continues to improve, providing many with the qualifications to aspire to jobs in senior management. Businesses, trade unions, women organizations, governments, have devoted much thought and energy to overcoming  the  attitudinal  and  institutional  discrimination  that  bars women from certain jobs and hinders their career development. There is the renewed commitment to fight gender discrimination periodically at both local and international conferences. The leadership prospect of women is a critical issue in gender equality. This work therefore is going to look at “Women in Management Positions: Challenges and Prospects”.

1. 2.   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the promotion of gender equality and empowerment, greater majority of managerial positions in public and private companies/organizations in Nigeria and around the World are occupied by   men.   In   other   words,   women   are   poorly   represented   at   top

management positions. The society at the end is the loser if this trend is not checked because gender discrimination is unsociable, uneconomical, apolitical and non-progressive.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study are;

1. To determine how culture affects women in management positions in

Nigeria.

2. To determine how family background affects women in management positions.

3. To determine the influence educational background has on women in management.

1.4      RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.     Does  cultural  background  of  women  have  any  effect  on  their aspiration to higher management positions?

2. How does family background affect women in management positions?

3. How does the educational background of women affect their aspiration to management positions?

1.5     STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

1. Cultural background does not significant positive effect on women in management position.

2. Family background does not significant positive effect on women in management position.

3. Educational background does not significant  positive  effect on  the aspiration of women to management positions.

1.6     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research work will be useful to organizations, the society in general, government officials and future researchers in the following ways:

1. It will help organizations to be gender sensitive in appointments to decision making positions.

2. It will change the negative attitude of men in the society towards the advancement of women to management positions.

3. It will enable the government to see the need to make laws for the protection of women folk as well as providing opportunities for women to serve in boards of both public and private organizations.

4. It will serve as an avenue for future reference and further research.

1.7      THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study will cover women in managerial positions in the Office of the Head of Service of Enugu State, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu, Access of Bank Nigeria and the University of Nigeria Enugu campus numbering fifty (50). This number was chosen because of the similar features of the elements making up the population, difficulty of coverage in studying the entire women in managerial positions due to the pattern of the distribution of the population and in order to meet up

with the deadline. The potentiality of women as capable managers and the efficiency of Nigerian women as well as their achievements in decision- making and the challenges they encounter shall largely be captured using questionnaires and.

1.8      LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The major limitation of  the study are that of cost of  assessing materials in the internet, travels as meeting the managers on sit for the collection of data required two to three times visit and finally, the attitude of some of the managers towards gathering materials.

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