Running Head: Women in Business

Literature Review: Women in Business

Sarah Alvarez

University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Women have been part of the labor force for many years, but it wasnt

until the 1960s that women were able to gain a managerial position in various

businesses. It didnt stop there. A few women were able to push forward and were

able to grasp the position of board members and CEOs. However, the actual

number of women currently representing those positions is less than 15% for

members and less than 5% for CEOs. In the past decade that number has been

slowly rising before coming to a standstill. One of the firm beliefs in business is

that innovation is the key to success, and seeing more women in top leadership

positions can be seen as a success. Despite the mentality that innovation is key,

there has hardly been much progress shifting away from the stereotypical view

associated with women. The purpose of this literature review is to understand if

there are more factors creating a barrier to prevent women from advancing up

the corporate ladder and if there are effective strategies to bring that barrier

down.
Women in Business 3

Literature Review: Women in Business

Introduction

There has been an ongoing debate of why there are hardly any women in

high leadership positions such as CEO, board members, and executive officers.

Despite the fact that women constitute more than half of the graduating

university students, management positions still leans towards the men. Each

graduating business student understands that Accounting is the lingua franca of

business and can be used anywhere in the world (Helliar, 2013). From gathering

information through accounting, the conclusions lead to information on

resources, on human and material staff use, market [placement], the company

[placement] on the market compared to other companies on the competitive

system (Cristian, 2015).

Some studies have shown that having a woman in a high management

position can raise the overall performance level of a corporation (Kooskora and

Piigli, 2016). Because of such a low representation of female managers,

corporations have been prompted to review and revise their policies and practices

(Oakley, 2000). Since the debate to understand why there is a low number of

women in top positions has been ongoing for over two decades, the following

questions will help readers gain a better understanding of the debate.

1. What is Managerial Accounting?

2. Why are women being overlooked for higher management positions?

3. What are some ways to counter gender inequality in the corporate sector?

With the use of these questions, this literature review will help provide a better

understanding of one of the main courses in an undergraduate and graduate

degree plan, the reasons women are being overlooked for leadership positions,

and some ways to counter gender inequality in a workplace.

What is Managerial Accounting?

Before furthering understanding what managerial accounting is, one must

have a basic knowledge of what accounting is. In Financial and Managerial

Accounting accounting is an information system that provides reports to users

about the economic activities and condition of a business (Warren, Reeve, &

Duchac, 2014). Accounting is about recording and control systems that define

and monitor behavior, it holds people to account and it enables judgments to be

made (Helliar, 2013). Based on these two definitions, accounting is the gathering

and recording of information that will help in the decision-making of various

businesses and corporations and the term can be applied to a variety of fields.

Overall, accounting is used to create budgets, keep track of a business assets and

liabilities and provide an overall picture of the business financial health

(Cristian, 2015).

According to Warren, Reeve, and Duchac (2014), the objective of

managerial account is to provide relevant and timely information for managers

and employees decision-making needs. Managerial accounting should be

viewed as a system that includes specific elements of general accounting,

managerial accounting, managerial control and internal audit (Cristian, 2015).

The use of management accounting is very important for the management act

because the external environment contributes to increase the interest in

accounting information and data (Cristian, 2015). Management accounting is

based not on past performance, but on current and future trends, which does not

allow for exact numbers (Cristian, 2015).

Accounting is not about just having exceptional technological knowledge

such as mathematical and organizational skills, but also a knowledge that can

only be acquired through experience. In Helliars (2013) article, she lists three

different educational theories to gain a better understanding of accounting, and

those theories are constructivist, experiential, and situated learning.

Constructivist learning would allow learners to gain knowledge in a classroom

setting such as learn through dialogue with themselves and with the faculty that

teach them (Helliar, 2013). Experiential learning has four stages of learning

that allows the learner to gain experience during each phase that would

eventually blend into something useful in helping to deal with the complexities

of professional life (Helliar, 2013). Situated learning is normally associated with

knowledge that is gained in a workplace or apprenticeship, which would allow the

learner to understand the values, attributes, and cognitive practices of that

profession, before the world of work (Helliar, 2013). Whichever path to

becoming an accountant the student chooses to pursue, having an understanding

of managerial accounting is essential since it is used to determine sales prices,

employee bonuses, raises for employees and other general operation decisions

(Cristian, 2015).

Why are women being overlooked for higher management positions?

Managerial Accounting is one of the basic classes in a business school

students are required to take to acquire their degrees, so that leaves the question

of why there are of low number of women in management positions. While there
Women in Business 6

has been an increase of women achieving higher management positions since the

turn of the century, the number of women as board members, executives and

CEOs is dismal. Women make up 57.2% of the labor force in the United States

and mostly remain confined to the lower levels of the organization (Kooskora and

Piigli, 2016). In Oakleys (2000) article, she has described that ascending to

higher positions in a corporation is difficult due to a glass ceiling preventing

women from moving up the corporate ladder at a certain point.

According to the Catalysts Fortune 500 Women CEOs chart, there were

no women holding CEO positions in 1995 but that number slowly rose until

women held only 4.8% of CEO positions by 2014. Even in 1997, there were only

two female CEOs in the Fortune 500 (Oakley, 2000). In Kooskora and Piiplis
Women in Business 7

(2016) article, a mere 14.3 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500

companies are held by women.

In Oakleys (2000) article, she explains that there are two categories that

are preventing women from climbing up the corporate ladder. The first category

includes barriers created from corporate practices that create a gender imbalance

that favor the recruitment, retention, and promotion of males over females

(Oakley, 2000). In 1995, a survey showed that 60% of women were in staff

support positions such as human resources and public relations (Oakley, 2000).

That puts women in a disadvantage since in order to be considered for the

pipeline of the CEO position, senior managers need to have line experience in

marketing, operations, and be offered the experience by mid-career (Oakley,

2000).

The other category revolves around behavioral and cultural causes that

have explanations towards issues of stereotyping, tokenism, power, preferred

leadership styles, and psychodynamics of female/male relations (Oakley, 2000).

Oakleys (2000) article explains that during childhood girls are expected to act a

certain way, and female managers would appear to be soft in their leadership

style. The article continues on that women dont fit the stereotypical expectations

found in corporations, such as the voice, physical appearance, and attire

necessary for a male stereotype of leadership (Oakley, 2000). Another factor is

that men fear that a competing female executive could break the traditional sex

roles that were established, thus be considered a threat to the male executives

ambitions to win the competition (Oakley, 2000).

What are some ways to counter gender inequality in the corporate

sector?

In the corporate sector, are blocked from climbing up the executive ladder

by the glass ceiling barriers that are a result from corporate policies, behavioral,

and cultural causes (Oakley, 2000). However, as pointed out in American

Association of University Womens (AAUW, 2016) study there is no magic bullet

to solve the leadership gap. The attempt to fix the imbalance of male/female

leadership is nothing new and has been met with mixed results (AAUW, 2016).

Since every corporation is different, some strategies have to be mixed and

matched in order to procure some sort of results. AAUW (2016) lists various

strategies that can be used to counter gender inequality, however in this literature

review only three will be listed.

One of the strategies that can be used is revising the training programs of

various corporations. The study talks about how sometimes the programs have

accidently reinforced the gender stereotypes and have done some form of harm in

the workplace (AAUW, 2016). However, a different experiment showed that

participants exposed to a counter-stereotypical gender role can shift how social

information is perceived (AAUW, 2016). This shift forces an individual to use a

more individualistic mindset, which increases flexibility to problem solving and

enhancing creativity (AAUW, 2016).

Another strategy that could be used is the Implicit Association Test.

Implicit Association Tests (IATs) measure the time it takes your mind to connect

two words, such as woman and scientist (AAUW, 2016). This test is to show

the participant if they have any hidden biases that could cloud the judgment of
Women in Business 9

various individuals. The test should be taken as advisement for the individual so

that he/she can have a better understanding of how their mind works when

linking together certain ideas and concepts (AAUW, 2016).

Another strategy to closing the gender leadership gap is providing the

younger generation of future businesswomen with role models. Introducing

children early in life to all kinds of leaders, men and women, in various

leadership positions (e.g., business, community, and political leaders) helps

debunk the monolithic image of masculine leaders (AAUW, 2016). It has also

been shown that frequent interactions with female role models help improve a

female students concept of leadership and career ambitions (AAUW, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this literature review has analyzed using various forms of

information from various sources in order to gain a better understanding of

gender inequality in the workplace. The slow rise of women in top management

positions is to be taken positively as that is a sign of progress. Just having a basic

understanding of business concepts such as managerial accounting is not enough

to push past the barrier to success in the workplace. Research shows that it would

probably still be many years for barriers such as gender specific stereotypical

views to fade away, but it is not impossible. Plus, various strategies are currently

being used to chip away at the barriers and allow women to climb up the

corporate ladder. With time there is hope that there will be equal representation

of male and female leaders in the workplace.

Reference:

American Association of University Women (2016) Barriers and Bias: The

Status of Women in Leadership. Washington DC: AAUW

Catalyst. (June 23, 2014). [Graph illustration the Bar Chart]. Fortune 500

CEOPositions held by Women. Retrieved from

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/fortune-500-ceo-positions-held-

women

Cristian, D. (2015). The Importance of Managerial Accounting in Managerial

Accounting System. Constanta Maritime University Annals, 21, 173-176.

Helliar, C. (2013). The Global Challenge of Accounting Education. Accounting

Education, 22(6), 510-521.

DOI: 10.1080/09639284.2013.847319

Kooskora, M., Piigli, M. (2016) Discussion of the Leadership Profile of Female

Top Executives. Journal of Management & Change, 35(2), 107-122.

Oakley, J. G. (2000) Gender-Based Barriers to Senior Management Positions:

Understanding the Scarcity of Female CEOs. Journal of Business Ethics,

27(4), 321-334.

Warren, C. S., Reeve, J. M., Duchac, J. E. (2014) Introduction to Accounting and

Business (Ch. 1) Financial and Managerial Accounting (12th ed.) Mason,

OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.