scholarly journals Breaking the glass ceiling, but facing a glass cliff? The role of organizational decline in women's representation in leadership positions in Dutch civil service organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-464
Author(s):  
Sandra Groeneveld ◽  
Vincent Bakker ◽  
Eduard Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Glass Ceiling ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Organizational Decline ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
Glass Cliff

scholarly journals The paradox of being on the glass cliff: why do women accept risky leadership positions?

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maral Darouei ◽  
Helen Pluut
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
Shed Light

PurposeRecent evidence from glass cliff research suggests that women are more willing than men to accept risky leadership positions. The purpose of this paper (based on three studies) is to reveal and resolve the apparent paradox that women are more risk averse than men yet end up in risky leadership positions.Design/methodology/approachIn Study I, risk attitudes of 125 participants were surveyed to understand gender differences in risk taking. In two experimental vignette studies, 119 university students (Study II) and 109 working adults (Study III) were offered a leadership position in either a risky or successful company and asked to rate their willingness to accept the job.FindingsTogether, the results showed that although women are generally more risk averse than men, women who scored low on career self-efficacy were more likely to perceive a risky job as a promotional opportunity and were therefore more willing to accept such a job. These findings shed light on the role of women’s career decision making in the glass cliff phenomenon.Originality/valueGlass cliff research has focused almost exclusively on organizational decision makers. The authors aim to better understand the glass cliff phenomenon by incorporating the perspective of job seekers.

scholarly journals What Do Pennsylvania Voters Think about Gender and Women’s Representation?

Commonwealth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Niebler ◽  
A. Lanethea Mathews-Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
American Elections ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Using Data

Despite ongoing interest in the role of gender in American elections, highlighted most recently by Hillary Clinton’s historic bid for the presidency in 2016 and the 2018 “Year of the Woman” elections, recent studies have shown that gender alone is not enough to explain voter behavior. This is especially true in an increasingly ideologically polarized landscape in which party and ideology retain significant explanatory power regarding electoral outcomes. The saliency of gender identity and gender issues may also vary across time and context. Moreover, voters may not have full information about the underrepresentation of women or of the consequences of gender imbalances in elective institutions, raising uncertainty about whether women’s representation in politics matters to voters. In this article, using data from a unique exit poll, we examine the extent to which knowledge about women’s representation and perceptions about gender and women’s issues mattered to Pennsylvanians’ vote choice in the 2016 and 2018 elections. We find that neither gender nor party alone can explain men’s and women’s political behavior, but rather that gender and party interact in complex ways. Although party continues to be the best predictor of vote choice, gender matters to how voters understand and explain women’s underrepresentation in politics—a finding that has important implications for furthering gender equality in politics in the future.

The Glass Cliff

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Kulich ◽  
Michelle K. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Glass Ceiling ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Risk Of Failure ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
Do So

A wealth of research has previously shown that gender stereotypes and discrimination keep women from climbing the corporate ladder. However, women who do break through the “glass ceiling” are likely to face new barriers. Research on the glass cliff phenomenon shows that, when women reach positions of power, they tend to do so in circumstances of crisis and instability. A number of archival, experimental, and qualitative studies have demonstrated that women are more likely to rise in the professional hierarchy in difficult, and for these women, potentially harmful, situations. For example, compared to their male peers, women are seen as more desirable for managerial or political leadership positions in times of instability and crises, or following scandals. Such appointments expose women to a higher risk of failure, criticism, and psychological distress, thus a danger of falling off an “invisible” cliff.

Electoral Systems and Women’s Representation

2017 ◽  
pp. 174-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
Cross National

Comparative research highlights electoral systems as an important variable explaining cross-national variations in women’s political representation worldwide. This chapter summarizes key patterns in women’s representation globally. It maps existing research on gender and electoral systems, focusing on the role of electoral formulas, district and party magnitude, and ballot structure in shaping women’s opportunities to be elected. It then identifies three areas within the gender literature that have foregrounded elements of electoral systems to generate new insights into central dynamics of political life. The chapter concludes with a discussion of emerging areas of research related to gender, electoral systems, and political representation.

Women and the 2015 General Election: Shattering the Political Glass Ceiling?

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Kenny
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Glass Ceiling ◽  
General Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Women’S Representation

While the 2015 General Election produced mixed electoral fortunes for the major parties, the results for women have been historic – 191 women were elected to the House of Commons on 7 May, including a record number of Scottish women MPs. This article reports on the 2015 GE from the perspective of women's representation, providing a gendered analysis of the election campaign and assessing the parties’ efforts to increase the number of women elected in Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. It argues that while the 2015 elections may have made some cracks in the political ‘glass ceiling’, further increases in women's representation are unlikely without greater commitment by all of the parties and without the use of strong equality measures, including legislative gender quotas.

scholarly journals The Business Case for Women Leaders: Meta-Analysis, Research Critique, and Path Forward

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 2473-2499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny M. Hoobler ◽  
Courtney R. Masterson ◽  
Stella M. Nkomo ◽  
Eric J. Michel
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Women Leaders ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Top Management Teams ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Women’S Representation

Since the 1990s, a growing body of research has sought to quantify the relationship between women’s representation in leadership positions and organizational financial performance. Commonly known as the “business case” for women’s leadership, the idea is that having more women leaders is good for business. Through meta-analysis ( k = 78, n = 117,639 organizations) of the direct effects of women’s representation in leadership (as CEOs, on top management teams, and on boards of directors) on financial performance, and tests that proxy theoretical arguments for moderated relationships, we call attention to equivocal findings. Our results suggest women’s leadership may affect firm performance in general and sales performance in particular. And women’s leadership—overall and, specifically, the presence of a female CEO—is more likely to positively relate to firms’ financial performance in more gender egalitarian cultures. Yet taking our findings as a whole, we argue that commonly used methods of testing the business case for women leaders may limit our ability as scholars to understand the value that women bring to leadership positions. We do not advocate that the business case be abandoned altogether but, rather, improved and refined. We name exemplary research studies to show how different perspectives on gender, alternative conceptualizations of value, and the specification of underlying mechanisms linking leadership to performance can generate changes in both the dominant ontology and the epistemology underlying this body of research.

scholarly journals Political Ideology Modifies the Effect of Glass Cliff Candidacies on Election Outcomes for Women in American State Legislative Races (2011–2016)

2021 ◽  
pp. 036168432199204
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Robinson ◽  
Clara Kulich ◽  
Cristina Aelenei ◽  
Vincenzo Iacoviello
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
State Variation ◽  
Glass Cliff ◽  
State Legislative

Research on glass cliff political candidacies shows that compared to men, women are more likely to run for office in districts where they are likely to lose. We examined if party differences in whether female candidates face these worse conditions in the United States could account for persistent and growing party and state variation in women’s representation. Using election data from 2011 to 2016, we compared Republican versus Democratic candidacies at the state legislative level. We found that women in both parties faced glass cliffs in House races, but not in the Senate. For Republican women, glass cliff conditions accounted for worse election outcomes, but Democratic women were more likely to win when these conditions were considered. Variation in party by state measures of glass cliff effects were also found to explain state variation in women’s office holding. We found that for Democrats, more women win when more women run, but for Republicans, more women win only when the seats they face are more winnable. These results point to the role of polarized traditional versus progressive political ideologies in structuring the motives which underlie glass cliff conditions for women in politics, suggesting that practical solutions be tailored to party. To overcome the growing gap in women’s representation, current efforts to increase the quantity of women running would be complemented by a focus on improving the quality of contests they face, with Republican women most likely to benefit. Further research attending to the multiple sources of variation which impact gendered election outcomes can inform more targeted solutions for advancing equality. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684321992046

scholarly journals The Role of Caucus Feto Iha Politika in Increasing Women’s Representation in Timor-Leste’s Parliament

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ammar Hidayahtulloh
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Male Veterans ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
The Government

Woman had been neglected from the political affairs in the early of post-independent era. It raised the concerns of women activists on political participation. They realized Timorese women had played a significant role in fighting for independence along with male veterans. Caucus Feto Iha Politika appears as the prominent NGO in Timor-Leste that promoting gender equality in politics. It resulted the rising of women’s representation in Timor-Leste Parliament significantly. Moreover, its woman participation in parliament achieves the highest percentage in the Asia Pacific. This research lies on the question of how does the role of Caucus Feto Iha Politika in increasing women’s representation in parliament of Timor-Leste. The data obtained from primary and secondary sources by conducting the in-depth interview and library research. In order to answer the research question, the authors reiterated the three main components of NGOs roles –implementer, catalyst, and partner by Lewis as the analytical framework. The authors humbly concluded that for increasing the number of women MPs, Caucus Feto Iha Politika played two prominent roles, as follows: 1) catalyst, by advocating the policy change of women-friendly legislative quota policy to the Government of Timor-Leste, and 2) partner, by working closely with the related stakeholders to increase the capacity of potential female candidates and elected women MPs through capacity building.

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