The Effect of Culture on Female Leadership: Towards Equality Everywhere?

Abstract

In the last decades, female leadership and female representation in top management positions received increasing attention and got more visible. There is a trend towards gender diversity in upper management, voluntarily or forced by regulations, as the society moves towards gender equality, also at leadership positions. Thus, traditional barriers tend to decrease slightly. Nevertheless, this trend is only developing slowly and has been noticed primarily by enterprises in the developed western world. Due to this discrepancy between different countries, culture can be understood as a key influencing factor in supporting women as leaders. This thesis aims to contribute to a deeper knowledge about female leadership and women’s opportunities in management. The relationship between women in leadership and culture will be highlighted. Additionally, key influencing factors of culture impacting women’s opportunities in ascending the career ladder will be researched within a content analysis.