Women Managers in Different Types of Organisations: A Representative Research Review

This review paper, based on survey of literature in the field of women in management, presents a panoramic view of the organisational themes that recur in research during the past about four decades. The field of women in management spans a variety of disciplines ranging from feminism to gender studies and the role of women in society, family and organisations. Coupled with the fact that women increasingly play an important role in all these areas, research in the field has traversed a number of themes, issues, sectors, industries, and organisations.

This review article identifies several broad organisational themes in the literature on women in management. Several themes such as work-life balance, gender inequality and glass ceiling syndrome constitute a common thread across different organisations. There are but few research studies that might address questions related to the nature or type of organisation as a differentiator. Issues such as feminine values causing women managers to gravitate towards certain professions, careers, and organisation are yet to be addressed adequately in literature. This paper suggests several questions that could form the basis for propositions that could be investigated in future researches.