Assessment of Factors Affecting the Participation of Women in Leadership: The Case of Zemen Bank S.C.
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Date
2020-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
As one of the youngest Banks in Ethiopia, Zemen Bank has been part of the financial industry for one decade with unique strategic objectives: superior service, superior efficiency and superior knowledge. Though the number of its employees is quite enough to run its operations efficiently, the gender mix in the organizational ladder has been unbalanced with no female executive member, only one female Senior management and very limited number of women in the middle level management. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the participation of women in leadership position in Zemen Bank S.C. The target population of the study was female employees with three years and above work experience within Zemen. The work experience requirement was set according to the Bank’s minimum requirement to assume leadership position, at least at as a member of middle level management. Census survey was applied and a total number of 131 respondents who at least meet the minimum work experience requirement to assume leadership positions were identified as per the data found from Human Resource Department of the Bank. Descriptive survey was adopted for the study. Primary data was gathered using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data. The study identified societal, organizational and personal factors that contribute to the limited number of women in the leadership positions in Zemen Bank S.C. In general, the study endorsed that organizational factors such as top management commitment and support, human resource policies and practices take the lion share hindering women’s upward growth, followed by personal/individual factors such as women’s attitude towards assuming a leadership position and lack of supervisors’ recommendation to compete for higher positions. Societal factors also play the role to limit the career advancement of women. Based on the findings, the study further acknowledged the need for revision of the Bank’s Human resource polices and practices, the national programs with regard to bringing gender equality nationwide and creating opportunities for women to develop themselves
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Keywords
Women leadership, Women participation, Gender in Leadership