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Retailing as a sector employs many women and serves a female‐dominated customer base. It also employs proportionately more women in management positions than in other occupational sectors. However, at senior levels, the proportion of women to men diminishes. This paper aims to examine the perceived facilitators and problems of senior retail managers' career development in order to see if it offers any insights for others to achieve senior managerial positions.

The main research instrument was a quantitative questionnaire with 124 UK senior retail managers.

The findings revealed that apparently more similarities than differences were reported by the men and women senior retail managers. These findings need to be treated with some caution however given that retailing operates in a strong masculine culture. Therefore, to assume that men and women encounter similar facilitators and problems ignores that they are being compared against a norm of male characteristics and values.

The senior women may have achieved their positions by ignoring their feminine characteristics and putting their career before their personal lives; they may have adopted the male cultural norms and developed a style top management are more comfortable with, else they may have more characteristics that are closer to the male norms than the average woman. Men further down the hierarchy may also suffer and may not achieve senior positions because they too are not prepared to conform to idealised and outdated male cultural norms.

The contribution of this paper is its concentration on the views and experiences of retail managers in senior positions, as these are the ones who have seemingly broken through the glass ceiling.

The purpose of this paper is to present reasons for the mobility of women in senior management positions in South African higher education. Against the backdrop of women underrepresentation and retention challenges in institution of higher learning in this country, it is pertinent to share the experiences of senior women, with the aim of understanding institutional structures and cultures that make it difficult for women to survive in senior positions.

The paper used a qualitative approach. The focus of this paper was on the women who had held or were still holding senior management positions in higher education in South Africa. The requirement for this paper was that these women should have moved out or across institutions while at a senior management position. This paper drew from five women from different institutions and involved them in in-depth interviews. The women who fitted the category of senior management in this paper included deputy vice chancellor, deans and heads of departments.

The findings indicated that the decisions to opt out of senior management positions for the women ranged from personal to institutional. The personal reasons that emerged from this paper pointed mainly to issues of salaries. The women opted to move out of their positions for better salaries which they believed they would get in the private sectors or in other institutions. Professional development also led women to move to more promising spaces that could afford them an opportunity to grow. Apart from these personal reasons, hostile institutional cultures were cited by all women as the most serious contributory factor to their turnover. Of these, they cited patriarchal practices that led to oppression and dominance, which made it difficult for them to cope in the senior positions they held.

This paper aimed to respond to a gap in research on senior management women’s mobility in higher education, specifically in South Africa. According to Samuel and Chipunza (2013), there is a serious concern that pertains to retention of senior management within African higher education. However, most studies do not provide a focused attention on women but offer a general interpretation of senior management turnover. There seems to be lack of research that aims at understanding the contextual reasons that lead to turnover of women senior management in South African higher education. Against the backdrop of low representation of women in senior positions in specifically South African higher education and calls for equity, the study looked at the reasons why higher education institutions at times fail to retain this most sought after group (women) in these positions of power. Understanding issues around this matter has the potential to contribute towards improved practices while adding a voice to discourses around gender equity and equality.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand women’s working relationships and career support behaviors, by investigating expectations women have of other women regarding senior women’s roles in (and motivations for) helping junior women succeed, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors.

The authors surveyed self- and other-reports of senior women’s engagement in career assistance behaviors on behalf of junior women colleagues, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors. One sample of respondents indicated to what extent they believed senior women did engage in career assistance toward junior women, and to what extent they believed junior women did engage in career advancement. Another sample indicated to what extent they believed senior women should engage in career assistance, and to what extent they believed junior women should engage in their own career advancement.

Results suggest a disconnect between the expectations and perceptions junior and senior women have of each other. Junior women expect senior women to engage in career assistance behaviors to a greater degree than they believe senior women are engaging in such behaviors, and junior women think they are doing more to advance their careers than senior women are expecting them to do. The authors examine individual and organizational implications of these unmet expectations and perception mismatches.

Women-to-women working relationships are under-studied, and typically viewed in either/or terms – good or bad. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of women’s perceptions and expectations and offer suggestions for how women can influence female career advancement.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse if the existence of equal opportunity legislative frameworks and affirmative action programs make any difference to the way senior managers perceive the role of top university managers in influencing women's position in their institutions. A comparative study was therefore undertaken between a country with traditions in implementing AA in universities – Australia – and another which has no tradition in this domain – Portugal.

A qualitative methodology was chosen to collect and analyse data. A total of 44 interviews with male and female university senior managers – 21 in Australia and 23 in Portugal – were conducted by the principal researcher in each country.

When describing the role of top managers, gender equality was not often mentioned, suggesting that it may not be a topic on the current institutional political agenda either in Australia or in Portugal. When specifically asked about gender, respondents considered that Rectors and VCs in the two countries took opposite positions with Australian VCs being more aware of their role in improving gender equality. The study therefore concluded that the existence of equal opportunities frameworks and AA policies may have an influence in increasing top managers’ awareness of their roles in improving women's representation in management teams.

The research was restricted to public universities. In Portugal the system is more diverse and comparing HE with private and polytechnic institutions could provide important insights about senior managers’ roles in relation to improving women's position in HE. More in‐depth qualitative studies are needed, to obtain top managers’ perceptions of the variables that impact on their views and attitudes to women in senior management.

This study provides new and innovative contributions to knowledge about the perceptions of senior managers of their top managers and their roles in eliminating gender discrimination and the influence of affirmative action in HE in these perceptions.

This paper contributes to the discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of using affirmative action programmes by analyzing a dimension which has not been explored – its impact on senior managers’ perceptions of their role in promoting gender equality in HEIs.

This chapter explores whether issues and policies for senior academic women scientists are similar or different from those of their junior counterparts.

Both statistical comparisons and qualitative analyses of responses of 175 respondents, who were National Science Foundation (NSF) Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE) awardees in 1997–2000, to a 2012 e-mail questionnaire provide the basis for the comparison.

Most respondents agree that the issues faced by junior and senior women differ significantly. Although considerable consensus appears to exist about issues that junior women face and institutional policies to help alleviate those issues, few respondents have ideas about how to improve the situation for senior STEM academic women scientists.

Just as a loss in the percentage of women in the STEM workforce occurs at each higher level on the career ladder, women in the academic STEM professoriate also decrease at higher ranks. Many educational institutions have adopted policies and practices such as parental leave and stop the tenure clock, heralded as significant for attracting and retaining women in academic science, particularly at the junior level. Recognizing the issues facing senior women scientists and addressing them with appropriate policies and practices decreases the risks of undercutting the productivity and professional contributions of these women at the peak of their career.

This paper seeks to examine the experience of, and attitudes towards, work/life balance (WLB) by female and male senior managers in a major Irish organisation for which WLB is now a strategic corporate objective.

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using an electronic questionnaire survey designed to obtain the views of female and male managers on strategies that would contribute to a better gender balance, promote diversity and raise leadership capacity in the organisation. Work/life balance emerged as a major issue in impeding the career progression of female managers. All female managers and a sample of male managers were surveyed. This paper concentrates on the responses of the two senior management grades below Executive Director on the issue and strategies to promote work/life balance. Additional qualitative data were drawn from interviews (with eight women and five men) and three focus group sessions with all male, all female and mixed gender groups.

The greatest obstacle to achieving WLB is seen as the “long hours” culture in which availing oneself of flexible options (e.g. working from home/reduced hours/flexitime) is incompatible with holding a senior management post. Many of the senior men have followed the “breadwinner” model by being able to delegate family and caring activities to their wives. This option has not been possible for the majority of women in senior posts. Hence, men seek WLB to resolve commuting/working time issues. Women want to avail themselves of more flexible arrangements for family/quality of life reasons. Both men and women in senior management recognise that their own careers would be seriously jeopardised by taking up WLB arrangements.

In the absence of role models willing to display any contrary behaviour there is a pragmatic need to align corporate policy and practice with prevailing and future family structures and demonstrate, by senior management example, how WLB can work and provide assistance for managers/staff who seek to avail themselves of it. WLB policies are not enough in themselves to ensure take‐up and acceptance. It will require trust, courage and a range of interventions to champion WLB, not just at management level.

This paper explores the experiences of women in Saudi Arabia who have been managed by other women, and examines how junior women perceive senior women's role in advancing their career.

The paper is based on qualitative data gathered using in-depth semi-structured interviews undertaken with 30 women working in Saudi public organisations.

This study's findings shows that the hierarchical relationships between women and their woman manager are complex due to a multifaceted web of contextual factors including sociocultural values, family values, religious beliefs and organisational cultures and structures. These factors shape the quality of relationships between senior women and their women subordinates. Also, this study reveals that there is solidarity and ‘sisterly’ relationship between women in the workplace that plays a role in facilitating women's career development and advancement. In addition, this study shows that despite senior women's having supported other women's career advancement, this support tended to be conditional and limited. This can have an influence on women-to-women work relationships, where such relationships can be described as being disconnected and fragile. Furthermore, the study depict that there is evidence of the existence of ‘Queen Bee’-like senior women who distance themselves from other women and block their career advancement. The Queen Bee phenomena can actually become a form of hierarchy that mimics the patriarchal structure and excludes women from serving at top management levels.

This paper provides an in-depth understanding of the hierarchical relationships between women in the workplace and how these relationships have an influence on women's career advancement. Therefore, the paper makes a valuable contribution to the scarce knowledge that currently exists within the field of management research in relation to women's career development – and the advancement of such research within the Arab Middle Eastern context. Also, the findings of this study could potentially inform practitioners and HR department personnel within organisations about the connections between women's hierarchical workplace relationships and women's career development and advancement.

Gender inequity is constructed and reproduced differently in response to varying organisational contexts. In order to challenge gender inequity, EEO policies must be monitored and managers need to enact appropriate strategies that enable change. This article compares the views and strategies of 251 senior management women in public, and 338 in private, sector organisations towards issues of gender equity. The aim is to contrast and compare the views and reported behaviour of senior management women in each sector towards gender equity, and examine the strength and nature of any differences arising from the different organisational contexts. The results highlight the importance of an identification with feminism, personal experience with sexual discrimination, and the assistance of amentor as enabling forces that predispose senior women managers in both sectors to enact change strategies that address gender inequity. However, women in the public sector are significantly more predisposed, than private sector women, to enact strategies that challenge gender inequity. The results are discussed with regard to their implications for gender equity goals in each type of organisational context.

Using an alternative lens to challenge assumptions of solidarity behaviour and the queen bee label, the paper aims to analyse empirical data to explore negative relations between women in management and surface processes of female misogyny.

Feminist standpoint epistemology; qualitative semi‐structured interviews; subjective narrative data from senior women and women academics of management in two UK organisations.

Assumptions of solidarity behaviour are largely absent in the research and the queen bee label impacts pejoratively on women in management, perpetuating a “blame the woman” perspective. Senior women do recognise barriers facing women in management but they do not want to lead on the “women in management mantle.” This does not make them queen bees; the women recognise becoming “male” in order to “fit” senior management and acknowledge the impact of their gendered context. From this context, processes of female misogyny between women in management fragment notions of solidarity; highlight contradictory places women take in relation to other women and challenge women as “natural allies.”

Future research should engage women at all levels in management in consciousness‐raising to the impact women have on other women. Organizational interventions are required to explicitly surface how the gender order exacerbates differences between them to maintain the gendered status quo.

Empirical paper using an alternative lens to problematize solidarity behaviour and queen bee, surfaces female misogyny between women in management and highlights how the gendered social order encourages and exacerbate differences between women.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings of a research project involving five Australian universities with over 30 per cent of their senior management positions filled by women. It explores the factors that enabled this to happen and also discusses the responses of the universities to the report.

The research was essentially qualitative, based on 81 interviews, 50 with senior women and 31 with senior men. All those interviewed were in senior positions, from Vice‐Chancellor down to Dean, Director or equivalent. 46 (24 men and 22 women) were academics; 35 (28 women and seven men) were in administrative, support or general staff positions.

Interviewees identified as crucial for the appointment of women having a critical mass of other women in senior positions, opportunities to network, encouragement and support from organisational leaders, friendly and collegial environments and strong organisational commitment to values.

The paper describes the actions currently being taken by the five universities to build on the research findings and to ensure that their relative success in promoting women is maintained and improved. It considers whether it is possible to transform hierarchical and traditional cultures in order to establish networks of support and to raise questions about gendered assumptions about capacity and ambition.

The paper presents information which draws on the findings of a large scale empirical research project on how women reach senior positions in universities. It also discusses how these findings have been turned into organisational action to improve the position of women.