Seifu Mamo (PhD)Meley Atakilt2023-12-072023-12-072023-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/353Women constitute nearly half of Ethiopia’s population. However, they are relegated to lower-level professions across the board rather than held in any kind of leadership capacity. The yearly report of Dashen Bank, for the period 2015 to 2022 reveals that the number of women participating in executive position is minimal to none. The purpose of this study was to assess the participation of women in leadership positions in Dashen Bank. The target population of the study were women in executive positions, senior level positions, middle level positions, line management and clerical/support staff. The research is a descriptive type of study as it tried to investigate the reasons or factors hindering women from reaching top leadership positions. This research used a mixed research approach. Both primary and secondary data have been used in the study. From primary data source, the tools used were structured interviews and questionnaires containing closed-ended questions. Based on information gathered from the Dashen Bank’s human resource department, a total of 141 female respondents were selected using a purposive sampling technique to fill out the questionnaire. A well-structured interview was conducted with a selected few women who held the positions of senior and executive level leadership positions. The research showed that Dashen Bank has a small number of women in positions of leadership and that this may be due to a variety of different factors. Scio-cultural factors, gender stereotypes, organizational factors and personal/individual factors all played a role in explaining why fewer women held senior positions in the bank. From all the factors, personal/individual factors such as fear of failure and work-life balance were shown to have major influence on the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. It’s crucial to provide trainings and developmental programs to women to prepare them for leadership positions. Efforts should be intensified to increase the percentage of young women enrolling in school since this influences the percentage of women joining the labor force. The research recommends that providing female employees with greater access to childcare and flexible work arrangements are some of the ways that may help them deal with the stress of work-life balanceen-USThesis