Women, management, and globalization: leadership, barriers, and opportunities

Opara, V ORCID: 0000-0002-5148-3204 (2025) 'Women, management, and globalization: leadership, barriers, and opportunities.' In: Akande, A, ed. Organizational behavior: current science, models, and applications. Springer, Cham, pp. 385-413. ISBN 9783031858024

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Abstract

This chapter examines the complex relationship between women, management, and globalization, offering a fresh perspective on how leadership opportunities and barriers differ across regions. While globalization has created new pathways for professional advancement, it has also reinforced systemic gender inequalities, particularly in managerial roles. Women face distinct challenges depending on their geographic location, with those in the Global North often confronting the glass ceiling and work–family conflicts, while those in the Global South contend with economic marginalization, limited institutional support, and cultural constraints. By exploring gendered experiences in management across different global contexts, this chapter highlights how historical, social, and economic factors shape women’s ability to access leadership positions. A postcolonial feminist approach is employed to assess how certain groups of women experience deeper disadvantages due to intersecting factors such as class and geopolitical status. Using a qualitative multilevel framework, this chapter examines the advantages and disadvantages women face at both the individual and organizational levels. Rather than testing hypotheses or developing new theories, the discussion makes a conceptual contribution by identifying structural forces that influence women’s career progression in globalized workplaces. The chapter concludes by outlining the challenges and opportunities women encounter in management and the broader implications for leadership practices in an increasingly interconnected world.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
Note:	Associated funding for this chapter was from The British Academy and their Talent Development Award, number TDA24\240117.
UN SDGs:	Goal 5: Gender Equality Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Keywords:	gender, globalization, Global South, Global North, leadership, management, postcolonial feminism, women, work
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Q Science > Q Science (General)
Divisions:	Bath Business School
Date Deposited:	12 Feb 2024 09:18
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2025 17:46
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/16086

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