Frauen in Führungspositionen

Häufig endet die berufliche Karriere von Frauen an einer sogenannten "gläsernen Decke". Bei Männern scheint dies eher nicht der Fall zu sein. Dies ist erstaunlich, da sich heutzutage die Qualität der Berufsausbildung von Frauen und Männern stark ähnelt. Es stellt sich daher die Frage nach Gründen für Existenz und Persistenz der "gläsernen Decke" - und zwar gerade auch für Frauen in Führungspositionen. Ein wesentlicher Grund scheint darin zu liegen, dass Arbeitnehmer aufgrund von Erwartungen über ihre künftige Arbeitsproduktivität eingestellt und in unterschiedliche Positionen gebracht werden. Erwartungen über die Produktivität von Managerinnen sind maßgeblich von Stereotypen über den Durchschnitt der Frauen geprägt und können in den meisten Fällen empirisch nicht untermauert werden. Ein wichtiges derartiges Stereotyp ist etwa die Auffassung, Frauen würden häufiger als Männer und vor allem familienbedingt ihre Arbeitsstelle verlassen. Ein weiteres Stereotyp ist das einer höheren Risikoaversion von Frauen. Beide Stereotype sind insbesondere für Managerinnen nicht haltbar. Eine "gläserne Decke" ist daher als diskriminierend anzusehen.Women s professional careers are often limited due to the so-called "glass ceiling". For men s careers such ceiling does not seem to exist. This is an interesting phenomenon since men s and women s (professional) education seems to become more and more similar. Therefore, it seems worthwhile to investigate reasons for existence and persistence of the glass ceiling, especially for women in leading positions. A principal reason is given by the fact that employees are hired and promoted according to their expected future productivity. Expectations on the productivity of female managers are heavily influenced by stereotypes concerning women s average productivity. In most cases there is no sufficient empirical evidence to support such stereotypes. One important stereotype is that women are leaving their firms more often than men and mainly due to family reasons. A further stereotype indicates that women are more averse torisk than men. Both stereotypes are without empirical support, especially if female managers are considered. Therefore, a "glass ceiling" has to be classified as discriminating phenomenon

A Critique and Reframing of Personality in Labour Market Theory: Locus of Control and Labour Market Outcomes

This article critically examines the theoretical arguments that underlie the literature linking personality traits to economic outcomes and provides empirical evidence indicating that labour market outcomes influence personality outcomes. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigated the extent to which gender differences occur in the processes by which highly positive and negative labour market outcomes are determined and in the processes underlying the development of one particular aspect of personality, locus of control. Gender differences were more pronounced in the results for years in managerial/ leadership positions than for locus of control. Negative labour market states were also marked by gender differences. We conclude by arguing that an explicitly value-laden analysis of the rewards associated with personality within the labour market could expose areas where the gendered nature of rewards by personality serves to perpetuate power relationships within the labour market