The glass ceiling at Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and females’ response to it.

Abstract

Today’s women have a completely different mind-set to that of women of the past. Women want to work in managerial positions, but they are restricted by several challenges. Various authors have described the main challenge as the Glass Ceiling, a figurative, transparent barrier that prevents female workers from climbing the managerial ladder. The Glass Ceiling can be viewed as the pervasive and various form of gender inequities that occur at workplaces. The term was coined by Marilyn Loden at a 1978 women’s exposition to describe the invisible and artificial barriers that have kept female employees from being promoted to high level positions in organisations, a challenge which is not faced by their male counterparts. The purpose of this study was to determine female employees’ views on the Glass Ceiling at the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), in Pietermaritzburg. A descriptive design and qualitative research approach were adopted. An indepth semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Semi-structured interviews were used to examine nine female employees’ experiences and perceptions of Glass Ceiling at COGTA. Furthermore, this study opted for Interpretivism research paradigm. The study revealed that the respondents were of opinion that their careers were not progressing as fast as they wished; there was a perceived lack of fairness regarding promotions within the department, and the department did not have proper strategies to mitigate the effects of the Glass Ceiling. The study recommends that the department should introduce a well-articulated program for talent management that will take into account the aspirations of female employees.