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After many years of equal opportunities legislation, motherhood still limits womens' career progress even in a feminized occupation such as nursing. While the effect of motherhood, working hours, career breaks and school aged children upon career progression has been discussed widely, its actual scale and magnitude has received less research attention. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of these factors individually and cumulatively.

This paper considers the impact of the above through a longitudinal analysis of a demographically unique national database, comprising the 46,565 registered nursing workforces in NHS Scotland from 2000‐2008. The variables examined include gender, employment grades, number and length of career breaks, lengths of service, age, working patterns, the number and age of dependent children.

The results indicate: motherhood has a regressively detrimental effect on women's career progression. However, this is a simplistic term which covers a more complex process related to the age of dependent children, working hours and career breaks. The degree of women's restricted career progression is directly related to the school age of the dependent children: the younger the child the greater the detrimental impact. Women who take a career break of greater than two years see their careers depressed and restricted. The results confirm that whilst gender has a relatively positive effect on male career progression; a women's career progression is reduced incrementally as she has more children, and part‐time workers have reduced career progression regardless of maternal or paternal circumstances.

This paper is the only example internationally, of a national workforce being examined on this scale and therefore its findings are significant. For the first time the impact of motherhood upon a women's career progression and the related factors – dependent children, career breaks and part‐time working are quantified. These findings are relevant across many areas of employment and they are significant in relation to broadening the debate around equal opportunities for women.

There are significantly fewer women than men in managerial positions, mainly project management. This problem is noticeable in the construction and engineering sectors, traditionally male-dominated industries with leadership much dependent on masculine qualities. This study examines the obstacles to the career progression of professional female project managers (PFPMs) in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Twenty potential obstacles to women's career progression in the construction industry were identified from a comprehensive review of the literature. A questionnaire was prepared and administered among eighty project managers who work in large construction firms in Ghana. Data obtained were analysed using one sample t-test, Kendall's concordance test, Chi-square test and exploratory factor analysis.

The findings suggest the significance of all the twenty factors as potential obstacles to the career progression of PFPMs. The exploratory factor analysis identified five underlying grouped obstacles: “leadership and human capital related issues”, “issues related to discrimination of all forms”, “career aspiration and planning issues”, “female related role conflicts”, and “recruitment and selection issues”.

The subjective nature of the views of the respondents could influence the evaluation of the obstacles. With this study only exploring the dimensions underlying the significant obstacles, future studies could examine the interrelationships between the various obstacles and move on to determine their impacts on the career progression of professional female PMs as well.

Having an in-depth understanding of these obstacles, stakeholders and other industry practitioners in Ghana could make informed decisions on measures to put in place to address some of these critical issues to raise the standard of professional female PMs in the construction industry. Policymakers and gender advocates in Ghana could also take up some of the critical obstacles identified and provide suitable strategies to educate and create the needed awareness of the industry on those obstacles. Practically, the findings from this study can be valuable for informing decision-making at different management levels in the construction industry.

With country-specific (Ghana) obstacles identified, the findings significantly contribute to the literature on the career advancement of females in the construction sector.

The paper aims to explore the increasing feminisation of the medical profession and career progression of women in the medical profession. Furthermore, the paper explores the implications of gender segregation in the medical profession for health service provision.

The paper presents an overview of studies in this area and draws upon primary, empirical research with medical practitioners and medical students. However, unlike most other studies the sample includes male and female participants. The research involved élite interviews and self‐completion questionnaires in order to provide perspectives of both male and female medical practitioners and medical students.

The findings are consistent with those of other studies; that gender discrimination and segregation is still prevalent in the medical profession. But there are significant differences in perceptions between the genders. Moreover, it is concluded that the gendered career structure and organisational culture of the health sector and medical profession create a role conflict between personal and professional lives. The current difficulties in reconciling this role conflict create barriers to the career progression of women in the medical profession.

Further research in this area could include a longitudinal study of medical students and the impact of changes in the design of medical training and career structures to assess whether these changes enable female career progression in the medical profession. Further analysis is needed of gendered practices and career development in specific specialist areas, and the role of the medical profession, NHS and Royal Colleges should play in addressing gender and career progression in medicine.

Gender segregation (vertical and horizontal) in the medical profession will have implications for the attraction, retention and increased shortages of practitioners in hospital and surgical specialities with the resultant economic and health provision inefficiencies.

The paper provides a review of literature in this area, thereby providing a longitudinal perspective of gender and the medical profession. Moreover, the research sample includes both male and female medical practitioners and medical students, which provides perspectives from both genders and from those who have experience within the medical profession and from those beginning their career in the medical profession. The research will be of value to the medical profession, the NHS and Royal Colleges of Medicine.

For a long time, women have not been judged by the same standards as men when trying to enter a trade or profession reserved traditionally for men or even after becoming part of it, while progressing. This paper explores the concept of career progression of female staff in an academic institute. It seeks to answer the following research questions: What barriers are faced by women in career progression? What are the differences in perceptions among female sub‐groups regarding these barriers? What policies and improvement programs can be provided to promote women's career progression? What is the relationship between women's career progression and justice?

According to the research objectives, the best way to collect the required data was a questionnaire. In this research, three different questionnaires were used. Also, to rank women's career progression barriers, the TOPSIS technique was used.

The authors found that there is a significant relationship between career progression barriers with interactional and distributive justice. Our ranking results showed that lack of organisational support and job restrictions are the main barriers to women's career progression. Also, flexible working time options is the main support program for eliminating of these barriers.

The major research limitations of this study were the failure to collect and analyse data that would yield a quantitative assessment of organisational justice, and the distribution of questionnaires among women at work.

This is the first study of its nature conducted among female Iranian university staff to focus on barriers to women's career progression. The paper also offers practical guidance that can be used by management and women employees to facilitate career progression.

This paper aims to investigate the career experiences of female academics in a Western and in an Indian cultural setting in order to gain an in‐depth understanding of the factors contributing to their career progression. The paper also examines the factors such as national culture, gender stereotypes and leadership, work and family conflict, mentoring and informal networks that impact on the career progression of women academics in two different cultural settings, namely Mauritius and Australia.

Thirty in‐depth interviews from two universities were used.

The findings illustrate that the barriers to progression are remarkably similar to women from both universities despite their different cultural background. Women in the Mauritian context face a considerably more conservative cultural climate that may negatively impact on their career progression. Women from both cultural settings face significant barriers to career progression in their academic roles.

This paper compares Australian and Mauritian women academics experience in academia. The paper also offers practical guidance that can be used by management and women academics to facilitate career progression of women in academia.

This study aims to identify and explore experiences, perspectives, barriers and enablers to women’s career progression to management positions in the health-care sector and to assess women’s and men’s perceptions of the policies and practices of the health-care system concerning gender equality and nondiscrimination between women and men.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among health-care professionals in ten selected hospitals, including physicians, registered nurses/midwives and pharmacists with or without managerial positions.

This study included a total of 2,082 female and 1,100 male health-care professionals. Overall, 70% of women and men reported that opportunities for advancement are based on knowledge and skills in their institution. However, 58.9% of women (p < 0.001) reported that women are more likely to face barriers to career advancement than men do in their workplace. Lack of women in general/line management and discrimination against women by supervisors at the point of promotion were the main barriers to women's career progression, as they were reported by two-thirds of women. The main barrier, as perceived by men (62.3%) was that women have family and domestic responsibilities.

To overcome barriers in women's career progression, there is a need to establish a career planning and capacity-building program for women in the health sector.

Jordanian female health-care professionals face different barriers that affect their career progression, including inequity and discrimination in the workplace, negative views about women’s abilities, lack of qualifications and training, hostile cultural beliefs and family responsibilities.

This paper examines the career progression of women auditors working in auditing firms in Tanzania and the strategies employed by women auditors to cope with the masculine nature of audit firms.

Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with current and former female and male auditors in two auditing firms. A thematic approach to the analysis is adopted.

The study reveals that career progression of women auditors studied is constrained by gender-related barriers such as motherhood, pregnancy, maternity leave and limited coaching and networking, as well as household and caring responsibilities. These barriers are facilitated by the patriarchal system, which regards women as wives and mothers rather than professional workers. As a result, women auditors balanced work and family responsibilities by employing various coping strategies including establishing informal network organization, hiring nannies, living with family members, enrolling children to boarding schools and lobbying in the allocation of audit assignments. Despite employing these strategies, very few women reach top positions in audit firms in Tanzania.

The findings reveal a need for wider engagement on the role of women and men in society, particularly to address the gender-related barriers faced by women in the accountancy profession.

Most previous studies of gender in the accountancy profession have focused on Western contexts. This is one of few to examine the phenomenon in an African context.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of the utilization of organizational practices on the career progression of women to executive positions in state‐level government organizations in the USA.

The design included an online survey instrument sent to a purposive sample of 600 female administrative agency executives in 50 states. A standard multilinear regression model tests the predictive power of three composite explanatory utilization variables on the dependent variable, career progression of women to upper level management. The composite predictor variables are: utilization of work/family practices; utilization of diversity practices; and utilization of promotional practices.

Contrary to expectations, the relationship between career progression of women and family‐friendly utilization does not appear to be statistically significant. However, the time it takes respondents who utilized family‐friendly practices in their organizations to reach upper‐level management decreased by 0.037 years. And contrary to expectations, women who utilize promotion practices are more likely to achieve executive‐level status, even though it does not necessarily take them less time to do so.

This research is distinct from previous studies in that it considers the relationship between the utilization of practices and women's attainment of executive‐level positions.

Literature around the careers of female academics is targeted mainly toward identifying and examining career progression inhibitors, while the drivers appear largely unexplored. This paper aims to contribute to contemporary knowledge by identifying drivers to the career progression of female academics in Australia. With COVID-19 currently impacting the careers of female academics this knowledge can assist universities and human resource (HR) professionals in developing policies and practices to better facilitate female academic career progression.

Empirically this paper draws on a qualitative study of 18 male and 29 female academics, as well as nine senior university stakeholders. The authors employed semi-structured interviews and a novel methodology, Draw, Write, Reflect.

In line with attribution theory, senior stakeholders mainly identified organisational efforts, including leadership, gender equity endeavours, recruitment and promotion approaches, as well as a construct known as “relative to opportunity considerations”, as drivers of female academics’ career progression. Female academics, however, largely attributed their career progression to personal factors, such as family support, informal mentoring, and determination and persistence.

The findings have implications for universities and HR practices seeking to facilitate female academic career progression. Implementation of the drivers identified may enhance female academics’ abilities to progress their careers.

By focussing on the drivers of, rather than the barriers to, female academic careers, the research is novel in its identification of a previously unexplored mismatch between organisational attribution and individual attribution of career progression drivers thereby advancing knowledge of gender differences in academic careers.

This chapter investigates the role of gender, mentoring and social capital and contributes to literature about the career development of women in senior management roles in the National Health Service of the UK. It draws on a doctoral study of senior-level managers in a Scottish NHS Board. The data collected are: (i) documentary; (ii) quantitative; and (iii) qualitative. The quantitative data are collected through questionnaires, while the source of qualitative data is in-depth semi-structured interviews. The doctoral study is embedded within an interpretivist and feminist paradigm. Although access to mentoring and social capital was seen as likely to enhance the career progression of females to senior managerial roles, gendered work and family expectations, gendered organisational culture, and normative performances of gendered senior management were identified as obstacles in taking advantages of mentoring and social capital. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only piece of work that explicitly investigates the role of mentoring and social capital in managing gender diversity at the senior managerial positions of the NHS.