Impact of Glass Ceiling Factors on Women Career Development in Banking Sector: evidence from Non-state Banks in Colombo District

Abstract

Despite banking industry being a female-dominated industry, women are still under-represented in management and senior management levels. This study is mainly focused on the effect of Glass Ceiling factors on Women’s Career Development in non-state banking industry in Colombo District. The study is tailored to answer two research questions; why are women under- represented in senior positions than men? and how does the Glass Ceiling Factors( GCF) effect, Career Development of women? The study was guided by three objectives focusing on executive female employees; (1) ‘Identify their current level of career development’, (2) ‘Assess the existing level of GCF and (3) ‘Identify the effect of GCF in Women Career Development ’. All the women executives who were currently employed in head offices of four non-state licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka were selected purposively for the sample of the study. The study has been completed with an empirical survey which was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire and the sample consisted of 231 women executives. According to major findings of the study, while Individual Factors have a significant positive effect on Women’s Career Development, Organizational Factors have a significant negative effect. In view of the findings, recommendations have been made towards promoting Career Development of women by mitigating the Glass Ceiling. Finally, valuable suggestions for further studies and limitations of the study have been outlined.