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This paper addresses the issue of the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions within the information and communication technology (ICT) and engineering fields. The study examines the complex issue of vertical segregation and gender equality by exploring the barriers that women encounter and the potential coping strategies they adopt to advance in their careers.

The study employs a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with 17 women at middle and upper management levels in the ICT and engineering sectors. This approach aims to better understand women's workplace experiences and gain deeper insights into the nature of the barriers they face.

The study identifies four main factors hindering women's progression toward senior management positions, namely working hours, work-family conflict, social role stereotypes and second-generation bias. The results also offer useful insights into the coping strategies adopted by women to overcome these barriers.

The study highlights the persisting underrepresentation of women in senior positions, indicating a societal and organizational lag in terms of inclusion and equity. It underscores the importance of developing effective policies to address the challenges faced by employees striving to balance their work and family commitments. Training is recognized as an important tool for raising awareness about gender stereotypes among employees and reducing second-generation bias.

This study provides valuable lessons derived from its findings, including potential strategies that organizations can implement to help women navigate and overcome workplace barriers in the ICT and engineering fields.

Based on the resource-based theory, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between operational employment levels of gender diversity and business performance over a multi-year period. This study also explores if gender parity moderates this relationship and how gender diversity is directionally developed.

A cross-lagged panel design and path analysis is applied to a global data set of women employees, women managers and women senior executives – in relation to revenue, of over 6,000 companies over the six-year period from 2012 to 2017.

Overall results confirm a positive relationship between women managers and revenue over a multi-year period for all companies. A moderating analysis also finds a positive relationship between total women employees (as well as women managers) and revenue growth of companies headquartered in countries with medium levels of gender parity. The overall and moderating analysis do not find a positive relationship between senior women executives and revenue growth. Longitudinal analysis also finds that the multiple operational levels of gender diversity directionally develop in a mutually cyclical manner.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first diversity and business performance study to use a global data set of multiple operational levels of women employees, managers and senior executives over a multi-year period. This study contributes new perspectives on the positive relationship between women managers and business performance. This study also confirms prior findings of a positive relationship between women employees and business performance in medium gender-parity countries. Finally, this longitudinal study introduces the concept of the gender pipeline of executive advancement along the multiple operational levels of employment and finds that gender diversity is directionally developed in a mutually cyclical, bidirectional pattern.