Abstract
Achieving gender equality and women's empowerment is integral to each of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Notwithstanding that, goal five is fully applied to gender equality. In this chapter, the authors attempt to collate and understand the disjointed research on female management around the world, reviewing the literature at the macro, meso, and microanalysis levels. Simultaneously, the authors address the obstacles, challenges, motivations, and characteristics of women in management and the global labor market. The analysis is based on a gender-aware and a bibliometric analysis, appropriate methods when aggregating studies of different methodological approaches, and different empirical version analyses which have emerged from 2010 up to the present, thus covering broad and fragmented topics in different settings. Therefore, the present chapter analyzes the areas that have received sufficient research attention and those which are still under-developed, contributing with suggestions to decrease the gap in this area of research.
TopIntroduction
Persistent differences considering “typical” women’s and men’s jobs, underrepresentation in higher management, a high women’s part-time rate, persistent non-implementation of gender quotas, and considerable gender pay gap for the same activity or education level, remain nowadays (Clark et al., 2021; Halliday et al., 2021). Despite the already conducted efforts worldwide, it remains to be solved individually at the country level the substantial remaining differences in employment patterns (Ahrens & Scheele, 2022).
This chapter intends to analyse the women’s status in management around the world and to study the influence of women in management in the global labor market. For that, we propose a bibliometric analysis considering the most recent empirical works which emerged in the field. The Scopus bibliographic source will be used, and the articles included go from 2010 to 2021. Some insights from the recent literature which emerged in the first half of 2022 will also be analyzed. The goal is to register the most recent literature on the topic and to provide a summary of findings with important policy implications. Therefore, a review of knowledge areas and research gaps are to be provided. Based on the findings, we provide an analysis of the status quo, a summary of the existing gaps, and suggestions for future research directions.
This chapter's bibliometric analysis will be divided, into methodological terms, regarding the main key terms to be searched within the bibliometric databases. First, we explore the current literature on women in management and the global labor market. Second, the empirical and theoretical literature which emerged on gender diversity on boards and management teams. Third, considering the recent literature on women in management and diversity within the board, including issues such as the gender pay gap and management roles. Fourth, by linking individual country analysis to regional analysis of women in management and the global labor market. Fifth, by searching the emergent literature on women in management, the global labor market, and individual characteristics.
By showing the complementarity of these factors, and how the literature has explored them, we intend to contribute to the institutional, organizational, public, and private policy regulation, and corporate governance pieces of literature. Similar to previous recent studies (Clark et al., 2021; Datta et al., 2021; Fleischer, 2022; Kirsch, 2021; Loyning, 2021; Sidhu et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2021), we note the need for policymakers to go beyond mere codification of rules via quotas and simultaneously work towards raising national and organizational social consciousness levels on issues of gender equality.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Corporate Governance: Corporate Governance refers to how companies are governed and for what purpose. Identifies who has power and accountability, and who makes decisions. A toolkit that enables management and the board to deal more effectively with the challenges of running a company. Corporate governance ensures that businesses have appropriate decision-making processes and controls in place so that the interests of all stakeholders (shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and the community) are balanced.
Board of Directors: The board of directors of a public company is elected by shareholders. The board makes key decisions on issues such as mergers and dividends, hires senior managers, and sets their pay. Responsible for helping a corporation set broad goals, supporting senior management in pursuit of those goals, and ensuring the company has adequate, well-managed resources at its disposal.
Corporate Diversity and Inclusion: Corporate diversity is when organizations intentionally employ a workforce of employees of varying characteristics (sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, physical abilities, political ideologies, or socioeconomic status). Inclusion is defined as “the achievement of a work environment in which all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and can contribute fully to the organization's success.”
Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. Corporate social responsibility is also called corporate citizenship, through which companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): ESG is based on a framework that helps stakeholders understanding how an organization is managing risks and new opportunities related to ESG. The Environmental pillar is related with the environmental impacts and risk management practices on the organizations, such as gas emissions, stewardship over natural resources, and the climate risks. The Social concerns are associated with human rights, consumer protection, animal welfare, and adherence to health and safety standards. Finally, the Governance component refers to the way a firm is managed and controlled, in order to make organizations more transparent to investors.
Gender: Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls, and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviors, and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl, or boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time.
Global Market: Represents activities of trading and providing various types of services in all countries of the world. In the context of management and gender, represents all types of activities pursued all over the world.
Management: Management is a process of planning, decision making, organizing, leading, motivating, and controlling the human resources, financial, physical, and information resources of an organization to reach its goals efficiently and effectively.