Rethinking a Glass Ceiling in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Despite well-publicized exceptions, women are the minority in the highest levels of executive leadership—a phenomenon traditionally attributed to workplace barriers collectively termed the glass ceiling. Newer research, however, increasingly implicates self-imposed barriers to women’s advancement. This suggests that barriers to women might be undergoing a “shift” whereby personal priorities hold greater influence over advancement opportunities than do traditional workplace barriers. We tested this notion via an online survey of fifty-four male and forty-five female global industry leaders. Two main findings emerged. First, contrary to traditional stereotypes, men and women held essentially the same views on career and home life. Second, data revealed that men and women emphasized self-imposed barriers over workplace barriers as the major obstacles to women’s advancement. The most common self-imposed barriers involved family and household responsibilities holding a higher priority, as well as work–life balance, whereas the most prominent workplace barriers were lack of mentoring, lack of careful career planning, stereotyping, and perception of feminine traits. We argue that the “glass ceiling” is now predominantly a misnomer and that the current challenges to advancement are best characterized as an “invisible obstacle course” whereby organizations inadvertently fail in helping women to successfully manage their self-imposed barriers via a lack of active leadership development.

“Against all odds”: Head chefs profiled

“…These figures highlight that despite equal gender employment in the culinary workplace it is more likely for men to progress to the top. This trend follows many other industries as Boone et al (2013) highlight that research consistently shows women in the minority at top leadership positions.…”

“…The research by Boone et al (2013) points away from a glass ceiling for women but suggests that women are more likely to prioritise their families rather than work and often self-select roles that are more family friendly. A recent interview with in Hélène Darroze, named the 2015 world's best female chef, highlights how many extremely talented, senior female chefs she has known in their late 20s and early 30s ended up choosing to become wives and mothers at the expense of their careers (Day, 2015).…”

Barriers to Career Advancement of Women Managers in Indian Five Star Hotels: A Gender Perspective

“…Support systems such as medical facilities and transport facilities are quite satisfactory where as flexible hours and crèches for children are offered by only 3.5% of the hotel companies. Several researchers have proposed suggestions towards implementation of policy measures to take care of these special needs of women (Doherty, 2004;Mooney, 2007;Boone, 2013;Baum, 2013;Baum, 2015) Interestingly, the ILO (2015) report regarding implementation of 20 company policy measures shows more or less similar results, where maternity leave topped the list followed by access to skills training and elder care was the least among the 20 policy measures. Catalyst (2013) asks an important question -"Whether we work to live??…”

“…This perception of lack of commitment by women compounds with gender discrimination (Burke, 2006) results in more women concentration towards "non-strategic jobs" rather than line and management jobs (Ng & Pine, 2003). Along with organizational barriers such as perception of feminine traits, in-hospitable culture and lack of networking, self-imposed barriers have also been noticed by researchers (Boone, 2013).…”

“…The argument here is alternatively, women may prioritize work life balance and job satisfaction over the "male" notions of career success. Boone (2013) advocates that barriers to women career advancement might be undergoing a shift from traditional work force barriers to self-imposed barriers, the most common being family and household responsibilities holding a higher priority as well as work-life balance. Although these findings were tested within American and European contexts, they do give a broader picture of the status of women in management in India when compared with various reports (Catalyst, 2014, HVS, 2014: NDTV, 2015.…”