Gender-Based Leadership Barriers Experienced by Kazakhstani Female Executives

• In Event: Research Studies on Female Executive Leadership

Short Description

Using semi-structured interviews, this study explores gender-based leadership barriers experienced by ten Kazakhstani female executives. The presenter will share findings specifically in the Kazakhstani and broader Central Asia contexts to help female leaders understand how societal and cultural roadblocks and pathways influence their ability to achieve senior leadership positions.

Detailed Abstract

PROBLEM, NEED, AND SIGNIFICANCE
It is no secret that women still today face barriers to workplace advancement worldwide. One only has to look at the numbers to recognize that women are underrepresented at the highest levels of leadership in of government, business, higher education, and a multiplicity of other sectors (WEF, 2016). Although most developed countries have implemented laws that protect women from workplace discrimination, these laws have not been enough to reverse the gender imbalance in leadership.

The ILA Women’s Leadership Affinity Group (WLAG), in its Asilomar declaration (2015), declares “that more research is needed to understand women’s leadership trajectories in multiple contexts, cultures, and societies.” This research is vital for supporting women who aim for leadership positions in contexts and cultures around the world. In contexts, such as Kazakhstan, where women in leadership positions is not commonplace, it is important to study those women who have advanced to better understand their pathways and the barriers they faced along the way.

Additionally, in the Asilomar declaration (WLAG, 2015), several critical areas for future research were identified including “Discrimination and Second-Generation Gender Bias.” This type of bias is generally not visible and operates at levels that business and organizations often ignore or are unaware of. The invisible biases hurt women, men, and organizations. Research by McKinsey & Company “consistently show[s] a correlation between the proportion of women on executive committees and corporate performance” (McKinsey & Company, 2016). Research should examine these hidden biases in efforts to identify them, and generate paths toward leadership that include all people.

Toward that end, this project is designed to examine the gender-based barriers that female executives in Kazakhstan have faced as they have climbed the ladder of leadership in the business sector. The Kazakhstani context is unique because it is a secular muslim culture and a post-soviet society that is coming of age after having declared independence only 25 years ago. The culture is rapidly changing and the legal structures are working to keep pace with the developments in business. Recently, new laws on combating corruption have been introduced and the government, keen on showing its dedication to gender equality, has established a commission aimed at understanding gender issues and implementing sweeping reforms to support gender equality. The authors of this project are connected with several NGOs and the main government commission that examines gender equality in Kazakhstan.

FRAMEWORK
Diehl & Dzubinski’s (2016) recently published article “Making the invisible visible: A cross-sector analysis of gender-based leadership barriers” articulates a theoretical framework of gender-based leadership barriers. This framework explains that women face barriers at the macro, meso, and micro societal levels as they advance in leadership roles. The framework, while only recently developed, provides a theoretical underpinning for additional research in this area.

As discussed by Diehl & Dzubinski (2016), it is important for the framework to be utilized in additional contexts so as to assess the generalizability of the theory in various contexts. This project aims to examine barriers in an international business context to explore how the framework applies in this context.

QUESTION
Specifically, this study seeks to explore the following research question: What are the gender-based leadership barriers experienced by Kazakhstani female executives?

DESIGN
To explore this question, qualitative interviews with 10 Kazakhstani female business executives were conducted. To qualify as an “executive” for the purposes of this study, the participant might occupy a c-suite position, be a member of executive/senior management, legal/general counsel, and/or a person with no more than one higher direct reporting level in their organizational hierarchy. Businesses of interest were those with a headquarters or operating location within the country of Kazakhstan, whether national, multinational, or international in origin.

Replicating the approach of Dzubinski (2013) and Deihl (2013), this study utilized semi-structured interviews guiding participants to share their experiences and stories of how they arrived to their current executive position. Semi-structured interviews allow the researchers to loosely define the boundary conditions for the discussion, and then allow the participants to share their stories with limited input from the researchers. Following the interviews, the authors categorized the findings based on the Diehl and Dzubinski framework (2016). This approach is suggested by Diehl and Dzubinski for those who are replicating their study in efforts to expand the framework to other organizational and cultural contexts.

RESULTS, FINDINGS, AND OUTCOMES
Preliminary findings suggest that Diehl and Dzubinski’s framework is applicable and useful in identifying the barriers faced by female executives in Kazakhstan. In particular, results show that gender-based barriers are active at all three organizational levels: macro, meso, and micro. As the project is still in progress we have yet to identify the strength at which these barriers are present and at which levels they are most prominent.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the analysis of the preliminary findings, we conclude that female executives in Kazakhstan indeed face gender-based barriers as outlined by Diehl and Duzbinski. Such barriers have contributed to the small number of females at top levels in Kazakhstan. While the government has made efforts toward gender equality in the past decade, those efforts have not penetrated the highest levels of organizational life and much work is still left to be done. The first step is to identify the barriers to women’s advancement into high level leadership roles, so that appropriate and effective measures can be implemented to directly counter these barriers.

IMPLICATIONS
The findings of this project will further the understanding of gender barriers faced by women as they climb the corporate ladder. Specifically in the Kazakhstani context, and broader Central Asia, the findings help female leaders to understand how societal and cultural-level barriers influence their ability to achieve senior leadership positions. Understanding these barriers allow women to counter these barriers as they lead. Additionally, organizations can use the information to further implement strategies for supporting and encouraging the advancement of women into senior leadership positions.

Participants

• Jenifer L. Lewis, Nazarbayev University

• Gwen McEvoy, Nazarbayev University

• Anna CohenMiller, Nazarbayev University