Revisiting women managers and organisational acceptance

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to revisit earlier predictions by Judi Marshall in 1991 to explore whether similar issues were evident in a sample of contemporary female managers.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data from six Australian female managers who had participated in a longitudinal study over a period of ten years were examined. Career advancement aspirations and outcomes were compared with those of male managers, and reflections on the managerial role, and organisational practices were sought.

Findings

Examples of organisational resilience “to involve women in organisations on equal terms” were evident in all the six female managers in the study. In addition, even when levels of success were achieved, it could be questioned whether these women could be seen as “definers of meaning (or culture)”.

Practical implications

Organisational culture appears to continue to create difficulties for contemporary women in management. A system of accountability is strongly recommended, based on a similar reporting programme adopted by the Equal Opportunity for Woment in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) to measure the equal opportunity programmes on offer in the workplaces of organisations with 100 or more employees.

Originality/value

The paper is highly original as it seeks to compare predictions made by an eminent UK scholar in the field of women in management in 1991 with the experiences of a small sample of contemporary Australian female managers over a ten‐year period in their management roles.

Citation

Wood, G.J. (2009), "Revisiting women managers and organisational acceptance", Gender in Management, Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 615-631. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542410911004876