| dc.description.abstract | The survey for the study reported here was carried out between 20th
April and 31:st May, 1989. The study sought to investigate the previous
research findings on factors limiting women's success in management
in a Kenyan organization (the case of Nairobi and Kenyatta Universities)
and the relative importance of these factors in determining the accessibility
of managerial jobs to women.
The population of interest in the study consisted of all the employees
in the management positions at the two Universities (Nairobi and
Kenyatta), The information sought was collected using a structured
questionnaire which was completed by forty managers consisting of
twenty - four men and sixteen women from the two Universities. The
managers views provided the information used in this report.
The findings suggested that the cultural attitudes brought down from
early socialization process, the nature and structure of work in
management, the inadequate education of women, the low levels of
employment of women and their sex characteristics have limited women's
success in management.
The respondents agreed with previous research findings that the
society's perception of women managers and the women's views of
themselves have limited their success in management. This is because
the early socialization process has resulted in
1. women who harbour feelings of self-doubts and,
(vi)
2. a society which perceives women as lacking in managerial
attributes such as competitiveness, aggressiveness and firmness
- and thereby cannot become successful managers.
Cultural attitudes were ranked by both men and women respondents
as the major factor hindering women's progress in management.
On the nature and structure of work in management, the respondents
agreed with the previous research findings that the long hours at
work and discontinuity of work for women has limited their success
in management. This factor was ranked as the least important limiting
factor for women's progress in management.
The respondents also agreed with previous findings that the inadequate
educational qualifications of women brought about by fewer girls'
schools, fewer science streams, high drop-out rates of girls and
cultural attitudes towards the education of girls, have limited women's
progress in management. This is because lack of "adequate" education
results in women who do not have the necessary qualifications
for entry into managerial positions. This factor was ranked by the
respondents as the fourth major obstacle to women's progress in management.
The respondents were also in agreement with the previous findings
that the low level of employment of women in the formal sector has
restricted their access to managerial positions. The respondents with a larger "pool" to draw from, there would be a more proportionate
representation of women in management. The low level
of employment of women was ranked by the male respondents as the
that
second major obstacle while the women ranked it as the third major
obstacle. The disparity came up because the male respondents felt
that women employees are more in certain fields like the secretarial
and the library. The women however explained that women may be
more in these fields but these are jobs which are not on the mainstream
of operations and may not lead to top level management.
Sex characteristics of women was also regarded by the respondents
as an obstacle to women's progress in management. This is also in
agreement with the previous literature findings. This is due to
the fact that the society considers women as moody, dependent, sensitive
to criticisms and emotional and therefore they are not able
to deal with situations rationally and cannot become successful
managers. This factor was ranked by women as the second major obstacle
while the men ranked it as the third major obstacle.
In conclusion it was found that both the previous studies and the
present study agreed that the women's success in management has been
restricted by; cultural attitudes brought down from the early socialization
process, inadequate educational qualifications of women, low
levels of employment of women, sex characteristics of women and
the nature and structure of work in management. The men and women
respondents in the present study agreed, with varying degrees, that
the five factors mentioned above have restricted the promotion of
women to managerial positions, further training opportunities in
the relevant managerial fields for women and the delegation of managerial
duties to women thus limiting their success in management.
From the forefoing, it is evident that the women's potential has
not yet been realized to the full due to the limiting factors mentioned
above. Special policy procedures are therefore necessary in order
to minimize these limiting factors and thus enable women to contribute
fully to the development process as well as share in its benefits | en |
