Gender stereotypes: A barrier for career development of women in construction

Abstract

Although women representation in managerial positions is gradually increasing, the \nphenomenon of women being restricted to lower levels, under the glass ceiling effect is still \nvalid in many countries. Different studies in several countries show that the increase of \nwomen in managerial positions is unbalanced compared to the total number of the workforce. \nAccording to the recent statistics, women managerial representation is less than 1% of the \ntotal construction work force in the UK. \nSeveral barriers for women’s career advancement have been identified, most notably gender \nstereotypes. The stereotypical belief is that if women in managerial positions possess \ntraditional male characteristic it is a better predictor for success, which reinforces the belief of \n“think manager-think male” and this discriminates women from reaching the higher positions \nwith characteristics commonly associated with females. Since construction is one of the \nhighest male dominated industries, the effect of stereotypes as a barrier for women’s career \nprogression in construction is salient. \nThis paper reviews academic literature on gender stereotypes and its consequent effects on \nwomen managers. It attempts to discover the pertinent issues for women in the construction \nindustry in order to reduce the stereotypical image.

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