Glass Ceiling and Women Career Advancement; With Special References to the Executive and Above Level Employees in Automobile Industry in Western Province

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of ‘glass ceiling’ on women career advancement the above executive level employees in Automobile Industry in Western Province. Although there is an uptrend in the number of women graduating from tertiary education and more have entered the workforce, they are still under-represented at the top management level in organizations. This present study consider several glass ceiling factor and combined them together as glass ceiling and study the impact of glass ceiling on women career advancement. This study was employed a quantitative approach with self-administered questionnaires distributed to 158 respondents. To test the hypotheses, this study used IBM SPSS analysis software. From the findings of this study the researcher could say that there is a significant impact of glass ceiling on women career advancement in private sectors at Colombo district. Results of this study can be used as a guidance for the human resource departments to create an inclusive working environment for female employees. The study is also important towards improving the understanding of organizations concerning the barriers that hinder women from accessing top management positions in the workplace. Results of this study might also help governments to identify the kinds of support which women need in the workplace.