Hierarchical Ladder In Women

Another aspect that causes women to experience some difficulties climbing the hierarchical ladder is the lack of mentors. This issue is closely related to the informal networks described in the previous section. Given that old-boy networks play an active role in mentoring men and supporting them throughout their career, women have had less mentoring opportunities than their male colleagues (Jakobsh, 2004).

Wirth (2001) provides us with a precise definition of mentoring: “Mentoring involves the pairing of younger potential managers (sometimes referred to as “high flyers” or “fast trackers”) with older, experienced and more senior managers who provide coaching, support, advice and visibility.” (pg. 128). By reading this definition, it seems that

Nieva and Gutek (1981) bring up two explanations for the fact that women miss out on the opportunity of having a mentor. First of all women are perceived as people who lack perseverance and are presumed to have an unreliable career commitment. Many male sponsors assume that women miss the drive to engage in a long-term professional involvement. As sponsors expect that their grooming and support will encourage the protégés to build on the foundation they created (Nieva & Gutek, 1981). Also, women are less aware of the fact that a mentor can open a lot of doors and can be very beneficial to their future career and progress in an organization. They assume that their technical ability and competencies will be enough to get promoted and that their effort and performance will get them the right kind if reward. They pay less attention to building ties with influential executives (Nieva & Gutek,

First of all the lack of women at high ranged jobs leaves the women who are situated in middle management to turn to male mentors. Cross-gender mentor relationships are more challenging than same-gender mentor relationships. This can be explained by the perceptions men, and women have to each other (Ragins & Cotton, 1991). Women are more reluctant to start a mentor relationship with a higher positioned male because choosing an opposite sex for mentoring can be perceived as a sexual advance and can cause a lot of gossip and harm the public image of both partners (Ragins & Cotton, 1991). It is known that women and men are more at ease building a professional relationship with the same sex as they experience the same prejudices and can relate with one