Glass ceiling and career development of women in Nepalese financial institutions

Even though women entered the corporate world in the twenty-first century, there are still relatively few in leadership roles across all industries. Women’s advancement may be hampered by a few unseen circumstances. Thus, the study sought to determine the glass ceiling elements (organizational culture, organizational climate, organizational practice, and women’s career aspirations) that could impede women’s career development in Nepalese financial institutions. Descriptive and analytical research designs were used. Women working as supervisors and above made up the population. Nepalese financial institutions were separated into three groups (commercial bank, development bank, and finance company) using multi-stage sampling. Statistical tools like frequency, mean, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression were used for the 396 sample. The result showed that organizational culture (11 items, β = –0.335, p < 0.05) seemed more influencing to affect the career development of women negatively followed by organizational climate (18 items, β = –0.209, p < 0.05), organizational practice (10 items, β = –0.176, p < 0.05) and women’s career aspirations (18 items, β = –0.169, p < 0.05) accounting for approximately 52.3% of the variation. Post hoc analysis showed that women working in commercial banks have fewer career development opportunities compared to development banks. However, there is no difference between commercial banks and finance companies, as well as between development banks and finance companies. Finally, the study findings will help policymakers understand invisible barriers that hamper women’s careers and help women become aware of corporate and personal factors leading to improved careers. AcknowledgmentThis study was funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), Nepal, under UGC Award Number PhD-77/78-Mgmt-03. The author wants to express gratitude to UGC Nepal for its generous funding.