A Study Of Barriers To Career Advancment For Professional Women In Investment Banking

Abstract

A qualitative study was conducted to explore the barriers to career advancement for professional women in the investment banking industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female participants to explore their beliefs and perceptions of these barriers. The story of Cinderella is used as an interpretative framework in which the findings are discussed. The key themes that emerged were structure of society, embodiment, male domination, support structures and networking. An additional theme, entitled ‘If the shoe fits’ is the underlying thread that links the other key themes together and forms the conclusion of the study.

Opsomming
’n Kwalitatiewe studie was onlangs uitgevoer met die oog op hindernisse vir professionele vroue in die beleggings bank-sektor. Semi-gestruktueerde onderhoude was uitgevoer met beide manlike en vroulike deelnemers ten einde die persepsies en oortuigings van hierdie hindernisse te ondersoek. Die verhaal van Aspoestertjie was gebruik as ’n raamwerk waarin die bevindings bespreek is. Die sleutel temas wat geidentifiseer was sluit in gemeenskapstruktuur, beliggaming, manlike-dominasie, ondersteuningsraamwerk en die bou van netwerke. ’n Addisionele tema, getitel ‘As die skoen pas’ is die onderliggende draad wat die ander temas saambind en die samevatting van die studie vorm.