Invisible Barriers Hold Women Back In Organizations

Barriers and difficulties women face in a male dominated Electronic retail industry

There are several visible and invisible obstacles that are hindering the advancement of women in electronic retail industry due to gender discrimination. The major issue generally a women cite is gender bias which is evident in most of the organization. Some core themed issues which are advertently a barrier in women progressing in retail industry are related to structure of work place, business practices, interaction pattern which somehow favors men over women. The preferential treatment given to men is the major setback for a women looking for a career excel (Grover, 2015). Some of the main factors which are critically deemed are balancing with family life and child affection, networking and interaction, characteristics traits and behavior.     

Women who are mothers or who have a family to take care of are specifically considered to be more inclined to family and are seen less devoted to work as compared to men. People generally Stereotypes (male gender) consider themselves more dedicated to work. In an electronic retail industry, there is strenuous amount of work life and balancing the personal and professional life becomes a major disadvantage for the women who want to move towards a top management position. If women want to manage the work life and the family life both at the same time, then she has to miss out on some of the opportunities of success (Silbermann, 2015).

Every retail industry looks for some networking skill set which is often required specifically in electronics sector where it is the primary need to make contacts and acquaintances to get more clients to the industry. Women are considered to be a weak link when it comes to making new connections. Also, retail industry requires you to travel to different places so that a humble relationship can be maintained with the company’s client. The key to crack a deal is making interaction and a taking a bold move which is often seen as a setback in women. Moreover, women are generally considered as a soft spoken character that lacks such skills and are considered as a gender that generally doesn’t likes to push themselves (Dubbelt, Rispens, & Demerouti, 2016).

It is often said that men and women both differ in their point of view regarding a particular subject. Often the behavior pattern is considered to be a deciding factor in electronic retail industry where there is a need of a person having the caliber to be bold and take a prompt decision. Women are often stereotyped as a soft spoken and gentle character which lacks such autocratic leadership quality. To be in the top management especially in electronic retail industry, it is a must have quality that a person should know how to be a leader and manage people under them. Being bold and cautious at the same time while communication with a person is something the males are believed to possess (Wilson, 2017). 

All these factors push the women gender on the narrower lane on the road to success, out of which a male always comes out as a winner.

References

Dubbelt, L., Rispens, S., & Demerouti, E. (2016). Gender discrimination and job characteristics. Career Development International, 21(3), 230-245.

Grover, V. K. (2015). Second generation gender bias: Invisible barriers holding women back in organizations. IJAR, 1(4), 1-4.

Silbermann, R. (2015). Gender roles, work-life balance, and running for office. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 10(2), 123-153.

Wilson, F. M. (2017). Organizational behaviour and gender. Routledge.