A woman’s place in hotel management: Upstairs or Downstairs?

Abstract

Purpose: This paper asks whether it is the notion of choice (a pro life work/life balance
decision) that influences woman’s desire to strive for promotion within a hotel organisation
or is the choice made for female managers by a system of organisational processes.
Design/methodology/approach: This research within an international hotel group in
Australia and New Zealand explored what barriers prevent women from reaching the top
echelons in hotel management. A qualitative approach used semi-structured interviews to
study the intersection of gender, age and time in life with career progression and their
combined impact on the glass ceiling phenomenon.

Findings: The interviews revealed that the perception of glass ceiling barriers faced by
women differed depending on where they were in their career cycle. They were revealed as
the ‘long hours’ culture, the Old Boy’s network, hiring practices and geographical mobility.
These significantly influenced women’s work-life balance, and personal life choices.

Originality/value: The hospitality industry faces a worldwide shortage of skilled staff. This
paper seeks to answer why the hotel sector is struggling to retain talented female employees
who wish to take advantage of the managerial career paths offered.
Research limitations/implications: Interviews were carried out in three locations across a
variety of job positions; therefore this study has a reasonable degree of validity. Findings
could be applied to other large hotel enterprises in Australia and New Zealand.

Practical implications: The findings from this study offer implications for management
practice.

Keywords: Hotels, Glass ceiling, Work-life balance, Intersectionality, Career barriers

Article type: Research paper

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Introduction

Is the 4-5 star hotel industry a place of opportunity for aspiring female managers or a further
example of what Acker (2006, p. 450) terms, an “inequality regime”? The hospitality industry
overall faces a worldwide shortage of trained hospitality staff (Barr, 2006; Chon, 2005;
Robinson & Barron, 2007). In the 21st century, hotels remain labour intensive, fragmented,
and multi-faceted service organisations. This operational structure reflects an entrenched
tradition of twenty-four hour, seven day week service to the customer. On the one hand,
functional, numerical and temporal flexibility are extolled by hotel management as necessary
for survival in the global marketplace while on the other, are promoted to attract service-
orientated individuals through, for example, structured career pathways and a flexible work
environment. Add to this the pervasiveness of gender-role stereotyping; it would appear that
employment in this sector is advantageous for talented, career orientated women. Why then is
the hotel industry overall struggling to retain staff and in particular, talented, female
employees who wish to take advantage of the managerial career paths offered?
It is this question that frames the rationale for this paper. The purpose of the paper is
twofold. Firstly it aims to add to the limited knowledge on the barriers for women in
international hotel structures in New Zealand and Australia. The glass ceiling metaphor, that
subtle, transparent and seemingly impenetrable barrier that prevents women and minorities
from moving up the management hierarchy (Altman, Simpson, Baruch, & Burke, 2005)
remains integral to any discussions on the career development of women. Evidence of its
continuing relevance is not hard to find in the Western context where patterns of gender
inequality persist in leadership positions even with women’s increasing visibility in the lower
echelons of management (Weyer, 2007). This is in spite of rhetoric around ‘choice’ for the
relatively affluent professional female worker, often couched in terms of work-life balance
and the ‘win-win’ scenario of the flexible workplace. ‘Choice’, it appears, is demonstrated by
enlightened human resource policies that foster opportunities (Lewis, 2006). Ideally then, in a
workplace that offers the flexibility associated with a 24/7, seven day week operation,
opportunities should exist for talented men and women with appropriate qualifications and
relevant work experience to advance in their managerial career at a comparable rate. It would
appear this is not the case. The article will draw attention to both the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’

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barriers to career advancement in hotel management and in doing so, highlight why female
managers in one international hotel chain based in New Zealand and Australia appear unable
or unwilling to ‘puncture’ the glass ceiling.

Secondly, that the glass ceiling exists implies a single, invisible, structural barrier is also
questioned. This aligns with the need to acknowledge the dynamic complexity of the glass
ceiling metaphor (Altman et al., 2005) by addressing the call from feminist scholars for
intersectional analyses (Acker, 2006; McCall, 2008). The term intersectionality is used to
describe the mutually constitutive relations among social identities (Shields, 2008). Groups
differentiated by diversity categories, for example chronological age, may perceive and
experience forms of institutional life, in this case, the glass ceiling, at different times in the
workplace. In contrast to the traditional power-based structural view of the glass ceiling,
Altman et al. (2005) suggest a life-career approach as an alternative interpretation. This
approach aims to recognise the diversity of experience between groups of women. Three
groups are identified in this study: younger women in the junior ranks of management in their
early to late 20’s, women established in their career who occupy roles at department head
level in their late 20’s to early 30’s, and some women established in their career at a more
senior level, older and sometimes with independent children. Thus, the paper argues that
when looking at the glass ceiling phenomenon, it is critical that attention be paid to
intersections between gender, other diversity characteristics and the glass ceiling. In this
research, the intersection of gender, age and time in life with career progression and their
combined impact on the glass ceiling phenomenon is investigated.

This article is organised as follows. Firstly some of the research literature on women in the
hotel industry is reviewed. The methodology of the study is briefly outlined and the findings
are revealed and discussed. Tentative conclusions are drawn to answer the questions posed in
the introduction as to what factors in 4-5star hotels may inhibit women who wish to take
advantage of the managerial career paths offered, in other words, from puncturing the glass
ceiling. Are career barriers imposed upon women organisational or societal, or is it their
decision to choose a life and / or family over a career? If it is a woman’s choice, is it one that
is made for them by the existing ‘inequality regimes’ (Acker, 2006)? Answers to these issues
are complex but these are questions that this paper aims to explore.

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 A woman’s place in the large hotel sector

The following review of selected literature raises a number of questions on the roles women
hold in large hotels which have provided the context for much of the research in the hospitality
sector. Although the hotel industry has embraced many aspects of modern technology, the
provision of services in hotels has not changed radically from the last century. They are
dependent on the critical human elements of service and what Korzensky (2002, p. 63) calls
“customer sovereignty” to ensure a successful and profitable operation.
Research suggests that overall a woman’s place in hotels is generally not an enviable one.
Women frequently carry out the most undesirable and lowest status work in hospitality (Adib
& Guerrier, 2003; Korczynski, 2002). They are horizontally segregated into particular jobs and
areas of operation (Ng & Pine, 2003) and, vertically segregated into jobs regarded as low in
skills and consequently low in status (Purcell, 1996, p. 18). Women in hotels in the U.S.A.
tend to be marginalised in “pink ghetto” jobs, the lowest paid jobs with limited or less obvious
career paths (Woods & Viehland, 2000). Essential to large hotels is the strong emotional
labour content and women may be hired for their ability to provide empathy in dealing with
people in a service capacity. Purcell’s (1997) framework of horizontal and vertical segregation
within the hospitality industry is clearly illustrated in the hierarchical structures of large hotels
and practice continues to stereotype the roles for which woman are deemed more suitable. An
additional negative aspect to women’s work in hotels is that they are subject to high levels of
sexual harassment from both guests and peers due to their low status and low educational
levels (Poulston, 2008).

Women managers in hotels

So how do women fare as managers within hotels? It would appear that at the higher levels of
hotel work there are two distinct ways in which women are disadvantaged. Firstly, there are
the formal or visible aspects of male exclusionary practice – the way that jobs and working
hours are constructed – found in many bureaucratic organisations. In hotels, the long working
day is seen as intrinsic to working practices (Brownell, 1993; Hicks, 1990; Knutson &
Schmidgall, 1999). In Australia both ‘visible’ and ‘being there’ styles of hotel general
management embedded in the ‘job’ have given rise to managerial practices which are
informal, paternalistic, and authoritarian in nature (Timo & Davidson, 2002, p. 192).
Visibility and the additional social activities expected from the hotel industry also affect work

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- life balance. Differences between work and social life can become blurred; a phenomenon
that Bauman (2007) refers to as ‘liquidity’. It becomes a negative factor for women with
young children, as in the majority of cases; women remain the primary caregiver with the
added responsibility of household organisation (Lopez - Claros & Zahidi, 2005). Domestic
duties have been shown to decrease both men and women’s advancement in management
(Tharenou, 2005). However, even in dual income households, where couples share the
responsibility for childcare, the ideal role sharing arrangement still leaves the woman with
more responsibility (Budworth, Enns, & Rowbotham, 2008). Social factors also impact on
women’s career progression (Burke, 2005) and may influence their decision to change jobs or
relocate. It can be a career advantage for a woman to stay with one particular organisation in
order not to dilute the social capital that she has accumulated. The concept of social capital
can be explained as a person’s standing or reputation in an organisation depending on the
social network that they have built up with mentors, peers and superiors, and its complex
interaction of favours owed and received (Sirven, 2008). Younger women are more likely to
gain advancement by moving outside their organisation, in contrast to younger men who have
a higher chance of promotion by remaining within their existing organisation (Altman et al.,
2005). However necessary relocations may also have a detrimental effect on a female hotel
manager’s personal life (Brownell, 1994).

The career ladder within hotels is predicated on the conventional employment models of
continuous employment and linear progression (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). The sector is prone
to vocational mobility, with employees actively seeking job change (Baum, 2007). Career
mobility is a key feature of a hotel management career, and of a self directed career (Ladkin,
2002). There is an onus on the employee to be more active in managing his or her career
(Hall & Moss, 1998). The responsibility for career development has shifted from employer
to employee with the ‘ideal’ hotel manager able to demonstrate competencies across a variety
of hotel departments and there is evidence that employee mobility is seen as a positive feature
in the sector, offering more career opportunities and higher salary levels (Carbery, Garavan,
O'Brien, & McDonnell, 2003).

Secondly, the informal, less tangible, invisible aspects that underlie expectations of hotel
management reflect organisational cultures that reproduce corporate patriarchy,
characteristically found in bureaucratic organisations (Green & Cassell, 1996). Homosocial
practices such as marginalisation and competitiveness are demonstrated in organisations
where male managers show a preference for “men and men’s company” (Broadbridge &

5
Hearn, 2008, p. 44). Clearly, in the hotel environment, men appear more culturally active and
adept at fostering solidarity while women, depending on where they are in the hierarchy,
have to “draw on different sources of power to modify their position within an organisations
structure and culture” (Halford & Leonard, 2001, p.100). Guerrier (1986) commented on the
need for female hotel General Managers to be seen to fulfil the necessary social element of
the job and the discomfort of being conspicuous in a working world where they are trying to
blend in with male norms.
In conclusion, a number of key issues emerged from the research on women employed in
hotels for example, organisational culture, work/family conflict, the necessity for long hours
and geographical mobility. The literature also highlights that recruitment and selection
processes may not be transparent. Both may be likened to an invisible web that works against
women (Green & Cassell, 1996; Lan & Wang Leung, 2001; Rees & Garnsey, 2003). Further,
the literature raises questions around whether women are in a position to gain broad
experience of hotel departments which allow them to be considered for future higher
positions (Woods & Viehland, 2000).

On the other hand, it could be argued that hotels do provide professional opportunities for
women. This argument is based on the notion of choice as discussed previously. Certainly a
percentage of women reach a certain point in their career and do not want to progress further
within the industry. This could be due to a lack of desirable role models, or that they perceive
there is no easy way to reconcile the dual realities of a career and a family. It is obliquely
communicated to women that they cannot be mothers and career women concurrently (Liff &
Ward, 2001). Having children does not decrease women managers’ career progress
(Tharenou, 2005) yet the potential for becoming pregnant or having children is viewed as a
liability for some women managers in hotels (Williamson, 2008). However it all comes down
to individual choice and opportunities do exist.

Methodology:
The research from which this article is drawn, sought to explain the persistence of a glass
ceiling for aspiring female managers in one international hotel chain with a significant
presence in New Zealand and Australia. It also sought to acknowledge the dynamic complexity
of the glass ceiling metaphor (Altman et al., 2005) by recognising the diversity of experience
between groups of women, while being mindful of the need not to reduce identities to
categories that may become fixed (Adib & Guerrier, 2003). Bierema (2002) reiterates that the

6
category ‘woman’ does not imply one homogenous group within which one individual’s
experiences can be easily replaced by another. The dual purpose of the research meant it was
important to bring to the fore the meanings women at different levels of their management
careers attributed to their work place experiences by providing an environment where they
felt comfortable to express their views without fear of repercussions.

There has to-date been little discussion of how methodologically to study intersectionality
(McCall, 2008) despite the acceptance of and need for intersectional analyses (Acker, 2006;
Perry & Parlamis, 2006). As discussed in the introduction, groups identified by diversity
categories such as gender and chronological age, may perceive and experience the glass
ceiling, in different forms and at varying times in the workplace. Altman et al.’s (2005) life-
career approach was chosen to recognise this diversity of experience between different
groups of women. Young women identified as being between 21 and 29 years of age have a
focus on career and reputation establishment in their organisation. They are also occupied
with issues such as whether to establish a family and childcare issues, whereas women
between the ages of 30-45 years of age have attained recognition and career advancement.
Women in a later life stage will no longer be concerned with childcare and their focus on
career may also change (Gordon & Whelan-Berry, 2005). While simplistic and subjective, it
was clear from a pilot study (Mooney, 2007) that both their gender and the career life stage
that the women were positioned in at the time of the research coloured their experiences and
subsequent reflections. Semi-structured, conversational style interviews appeared the best
method to understand how each of the participants gave meaning to their work experiences.
From a pool of women in management and supervisory positions employed by the company
who voluntarily agreed to be interviewed, 18 women across three cities in two countries and
occupying a variety of positions were selected by the researcher. By using a series of open
ended questions, the interviews sought to capture women’s perception of the promotional
process and what factors may have contributed to or slowed down their progress towards
attaining their career goals in the large hotel environment.

Interview Results

The importance of position in the respondent’s career cycle

As the interview findings were assembled, thematic similarities of the data began to emerge,
lending them to analysis according to life/career stages. The interviews revealed that the

7
perception of glass ceiling barriers faced by women in their hotel career differed depending
on where they were in their career cycle. The three groupings identified were: younger
women at the start of their career, women established in their career, and older women at a
more senior level.

Younger women at the start of their career

The women on average were in their early to late 20s. At this junior level there
are almost equal numbers of men and women working in hotels. It is only at the
more senior levels that there are markedly more men than women managers.
They are focussed on their career and on gaining as wide a variety of
development positions as possible. They are geographically mobile and are not
thinking of having a family in the near future.

Women established in their career

Women who are established in their career are generally at department head level
and executive level, for example Front Office or Food and Beverage Manager. The
age group is generally late 20s, early 30s, and the managers are becoming
recognised in their careers. They have a reputation in the company, and they have
worked hard to gain the skills and cross departmental knowledge that will enable
them to progress. They may be single, are thinking about having children, or may
already have children. In practice there were very few women with young children
who either responded to the questionnaire or were interviewed.

Older Women at a more senior level

Many have regional responsibilities in addition to senior roles. Various
respondents commented that most of the women who made it to the top were
single and some were lesbian. This signalled to the younger women that they
may have to be without a partner and children to ‘get on’. Some women in
higher level positions were women who had taken time out to rear their family,
then returned at a later stage when their children were more independent.

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The women managers in this study encountered both visible and invisible barriers: these
affected the groups in different ways at different stages in their career life cycle.

‘Long hours’ culture

There is an expectation of long hours in the hotel industry and this in some hotels is
influenced by the General Manager. What was expressed clearly in the interviews was the
sense of disapproval that respondents experienced when they attempted to reduce their
working hours:

I don’t like the fact that indirectly you’re made to feel like you are doing something
wrong, you shouldn’t be leaving and although you put in five 12-hour days and then
one day you leave early and I still feel like I shouldn’t be leaving but I’m trying for
myself to not feel guilty about that.

Younger women at the start of their career

The women who were just starting their careers did expect to work long hours with
interviewees revealing that this was a norm for advancement. The respondents had also been
considering how to reconcile the realities of the length of their working day with having
children, they wondered how it would be possible to look after a child and combine this with
their working day. Some respondents felt that even as a single person it was hard to achieve a
work life balance

If I was to have a child, how would I make childcare work around, you know, the hours
that I work?
Some women respondents who were at this stage of their careers reported there was no
compatibility between the hours that they worked and the reality of having children. There
was also the realisation that it was actually easier to achieve workplace flexibility at more
senior levels of management.

Women established in their career and women at a more senior level

There were concerns about long hours and how that might affect parents of young children.
The company expected its managers to be flexible to the needs of the business but with
irregular hours it can be difficult to reserve childcare. It is apparent from the many comments
relating to this issue that they this group felt unease about work practices. Long hours are the
norm and the age group that was considering having children expressed worries about how
the two could be compatible. They also expressed concern about role models in this respect.
Interviewees thought that many executives were away from home for up to sixteen hours a

9
day. The interviewees indicated that there was a perception that the industry can attract
workaholics or maybe one needed to be a workaholic to succeed.

Productivity

Productivity concerned respondents as hours worked make a crucial difference to family

time. In theory there should have been more flexibility for the women in more executive roles
to get the job done in the most efficient manner. Many thought, however, that there would
need to be changes in the culture to adopt more lifestyle friendly work practices. Working
from home and job sharing were two practices that were mentioned. The younger women in
more operational roles felt there could be shorter hours while at the more senior executive
levels the women felt that a lack of flexibility impaired productivity. Various reasons were
put forward for this, standard operating manuals led to a culture of micro management and
this had been the way in which executives had been trained. Respondents felt that the
organisation was not supportive of working from home practices even in departments where
this was feasible.

Mobility and travel

Three aspects of mobility emerged from the interviews. The first was travel as an integral
component of a more senior role, as a ‘regional’ or ‘cluster’ head; the second was
geographical mobility – the need to move for promotion and the third aspect was that it was a
career advantage for women who wished to have a family to stay with the company where
they have built up social capital.

Younger women at the start of their career

Some of these younger women had partners, others were single – none had children. This
group expressed concerns about moving with regards to gaining experience. The women in
this study strongly associated moving to gain experience or a promotion as necessary to their
career path. Not being able to move was a barrier to advancing not just for women but men
too. Remarks made by the younger interviewees show that they were the least disadvantaged
by mobility factors, as they are unencumbered enough to be able to move easily. It is more
difficult being mobile while factoring in a husband or children’s needs. If these
developmental opportunities are not possible to achieve, the respondents indicated they
thought of moving company or having a family. One could argue that a man moving also has
to factor in his children’s needs but generally, this appeared to be the responsibility of his
wife rather than his primary responsibility:

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 When I look at the men a lot of them have children, they continue on their daily lives,
doing the long hours and they are still in the office, still doing what they need to do.
Yeah, its funny, none of the women I work with have children at our level or above.

Women more established in their career

Some of this more established group reported being relatively independent and willing to
avail themselves of the chance to ‘try out’ a position for a short time. These interviewees
reported needing to move to where the best developmental position was for them to progress.
Often a short-term posting enabled them to ‘try out’ a more senior role. If children were
involved, this became prohibitively difficult; for example, organising short-term
arrangements for childcare and schools.

Older women at a more senior level

Travel and mobility was also an issue for the senior women. Regional positions carried travel
responsibilities particularly if the hotels in one geographical region were spread out. There
was an expectation that managers would have to move hotels in order to progress, every two
years at more junior levels. The perception was that one could stay at a hotel for a longer
period as a General Manager.

One further point to be considered in respect of a manager’s need to move in order to

progress, is that it can be a career advantage for women to remain with one organisation,
instead of moving frequently. This need for ‘a history’ could hold women back from moving
for promotion outside of their company. To be recognised for skills or excellence prior to the
arrival of children may counter the perceived negativity:

Probably because of the length of time that I’ve been with the organisation prior to
having children, and I think that that is really key, I know for example if someone had
applied for my role, if that was a female that had children, no way, they would have to
be absolutely shining on paper.

The Old Boy Network

Women referred constantly to the ‘Old Boy Network’ or the ‘Old Boy Club’. It had varying
meanings and a varying impact on women’s careers. Participants in all life stage groups
identified aspects of the Old Boy Network as problematic for women.

For example:
I wouldn’t know how to describe it … I’d say it is the culture of the industry, it’s not
anyone specific, the culture is what’s expected … a male run industry ... as much as we
like to deny it … if you take a look at management ... I’d say 99.5 % of it is male, it’s
extremely hard.

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The strength of the Old Boys’ Network was commented on frequently and by most of the
interviewees. They described it as a common attitude among many of the male managers,
particularly at senior levels of management. It was referred to as a shared background, a
shared history – a mindset with informal networks that were not easily entered by women.
Women reported that they had been given the impression that women should hold certain
jobs. The respondents discussed the existence of male informal networks built around sports,
such as tickets for events passed out by Concierge and rarely given to female staff; the Friday
night drinking sessions where after a certain time women felt vulnerable, yet that was
possibly when the most information was shared about opportunities within the organisation.

Younger women at the start of their career

Development opportunities were important for most of the interviewees; areas where they felt
the Old Boys’ Network disadvantaged them were networking, the interview and selection
process, double standards of behaviour for men and women and potential discrimination
against women with young families. They also raised concerns about how they would be
regarded if they decided to have children. Some spoke about women who had been
employed by the company being made redundant when they became pregnant. To them it
flagged a mindset in the organisation that indicated it was not a career advantage to get
pregnant.

Women more established in their career

The concerns of the first group were shared by these managers.

You know what the worst, worst, worst, worst thing is? Sometimes I even think it in
my own head when I’m interviewing and I look at the guy and I look at the girl and I
think he looks great, she looks great, but we are going to get more bang for our buck
out of him and the reason is simply because that if she is a family woman, she’s going
to leave and whether she’s going to leave because of the company, because we’re going
to make it so difficult for her that she’s going to have no other alternative. It’s because
if I was sitting there talking to the General Manager and they were equally skilled, the
guy would get the job.

Older Women at a more senior level

In addition to the previously expressed opinions this group expressed how they felt the Old
Boys’ Network marginalised them as women managers in a male workplace. The attitudes
may also be a reflection that they believe that society values youth and freshness – especially
physical beauty – over age and experience.

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All three groups spoke of the fact that although promotions were based on a knowledge of
competencies required for the position (and therefore selection was theoretically unbiased),
unless one was aware of job opportunities or indeed put forward by managers for promotion,
then one might not be eligible for a job opportunity. Interviewees saw the Old Boys’ Network
as preserving the status quo. One interviewee stated that hotel owners, generally male,
expected General Managers to be male, and this was put forward as another reason why there
were few female General Managers.

Discussion
When discussing the data from this research, it is critical to note the intersection of gender,
age and time in life with career progression and their combined impact on the progression of
women managers in hotels. Some barriers affected all groups of women whereas others
applied only to certain groups. A barrier such as long hours though impacting on all groups
would not be as critical to the senior women as it would be to women with young children.

The most significant visible barrier to the women in this research was the long working
hours’ culture. All groups spoke of this embedded norm, and the necessity of conforming in
order to progress. The hotel management working day was modelled on the presumption of
12 hour days, with organisational goals as the only commitment. There was a strong
perception from the respondents that these long hours were unconnected with productivity.
Instead they were perceived as a requirement of the organisation, underpinned by
competency requirements such as flexibility to business needs and contracts stating that hours
were as the business required.

The women established in their career and the older women at a more senior level were
concerned with choices related to how they were supposed to work and how restrictive this
was in terms of a flexible working life. Women with children were greatly affected by long
hours as they had to juggle childcare and working hours. Many childcare centres operate
according to office hours and need fixed attendance. Lack of adequate childcare has been
reported by women managers as a barrier and ultimately damaging to their career (Tharenou,
2005). The expensive option of a nanny remains financially unviable option for women
among the junior ranks of hotel management with minimal wages. Long working hours also
meant a greater reliance on convenience meals with associated higher costs. Some of this
group felt that they would need to be at a higher position in order to be allowed to plan their

13
time flexibly. Interviewees did not feel that they had a choice to work less hours; they
experienced a strong expectation for all managers to conform, those that did not encountered
a strongly negative reaction whether sternly expressed or couched in jocular remarks. They
felt that if they had been allowed to adopt more flexible work systems such as working from
home, their lives with its attendant work related functions would have been less stressful. For
those with children, any concessions negotiated such as the ability to work from home one
day a week had to be agreed to by the functional head as well as the area head. One
interviewee spoke of feeling vulnerable should her senior manager relocate. So although the
option theoretically was there to “choose” to work more family friendly hours, in reality this
was difficult and dependent on senior managers’ goodwill, a finding which correlates to those
of previous studies (Timo & Davidson, 2002).
The most significant invisible barrier to the women in this research was identified as the Old
Boys’ Network. Women are confronted with choices when starting a family and this tends to
happen when women reach their mid thirties (Altman et al., 2005). One of the key issues in
this debate was how this choice would be viewed by the masculine culture around them. This
was evident in the many discussions that the women had about their “choice” to have a
family and what the implications of that decision might be. The findings showed the
possibility of bias against hiring women who may not be capable of conforming to the image
of a manager who will put the needs of the organisation before his/her family, a similar bias
revealed in Acker’s (2006) research. Female managers expressed concern as to whether they
could possibly combine a management role with motherhood and if they were to have
children, the organisation might view them differently. Some also perceived discriminatory
practices against women who had become pregnant, such as not being considered for
promotion or redundancy. What was prominent in the attitudes of some of this group was
how they felt it would be necessary to sacrifice personal relationships and children to gain
promotion. The women established in their career and older women in more senior positions
were also disadvantaged by the factors affecting the junior group. They spoke of being made
to feel marginalised by homosocial practices (Broadbridge & Hearn, 2008) that were
manifested through comments during meetings, exclusion from social activities and
inappropriate entertainment at the predominantly masculine company conferences. Female
managers reported that they were given the impression that women should only hold specific
jobs appropriate for them. Oakley (2000) reflects that women in senior positions may also be
viewed as a threat by their male counterparts due to their propensity to challenge the status

14
quo. The women in more senior positions felt that there was an emphasis on looks and
youthful appearance by the managers, both male and female surrounding them. This youth
focussed attitude extended to advice on how to have corrective treatment. However at this
stage given that few women in this group had younger dependent children, the presence of a
family was no longer viewed as a liability. Some of this group had teenage children and it
was not a reported as a problem in terms of career. These women were also unlikely to be
taking maternity leave.

The Old Boys’ Network strongly affected hiring practices within this organisation.
Affirmative action programmes can have an affect on hiring practices in some organisations,
requiring selection from gender neutral criteria of competence rather than “selection based on
an old boy (white) network” (Acker, 2006, p. 450). However within this organisation,
competency based selection policies were not always impartial. Although a competency
such as flexibility to the needs of the business may appear gender neutral, when interpreted
through the lens of a male manager’s viewpoint, a woman manager with childcare
responsibilities would be regarded as less ‘flexible” than her male counterpart with few such
responsibilities. The women established in their career clearly felt that although competency
selection systems existed, there were barriers for woman managers that could prevent
candidates from being selected for an initial interview. Interviewees spoke of the fact that
although promotions are based on a knowledge of competencies required for the position
(and therefore selection is theoretically unbiased), unless one is aware of job opportunities or
indeed put forward by managers for promotion, then one would not be likely to know about
or to be considered for a job opportunity. Once again this group was disadvantaged by lack of
access to the male networks. The possibility of bias against hiring women who may be likely
to have a family is also strong. Respondents spoke of a mindset that deliberately chose male
over female candidates so as not to lose the employee later because of family concerns. The
older women at a more senior level felt less disadvantaged than their younger colleagues.
They spoke of decisions made behind closed doors but ultimately these decisions and biased
attitudes did not affect them to the same degree. At this stage they had enough social capital
invested with the company to be able to use their networks to their advantage.

The last visible barrier to be discussed is geographical mobility. There is evidence in the
literature that suggests that mobility is a positive feature in the hotel sector, a factor

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associated with more career opportunities and higher salary levels (Carbery et al., 2003;
Hicks, 1990). The interviewees frequently referred to mobility as a necessity – to obtain the
next developmental position, one needed to move location when the right promotional role
came up. The younger group at the start of their career were less likely to be hampered by
this. However in the group that was more established career wise, women with young or
school age children were unable to take up development positions on short secondments as
they could not fit in their family commitments with placements of two to three months away
from their home environment. As the women in this group attained more senior positions
there were fewer developmental and senior positions available. Moving geographically was
even more crucial. This problem is also found in other male-dominated careers such as
engineering when women need to relocate for career advancement (Mattis, 2005). Younger
women are more likely to be promoted by moving to another company (Altman, Simpson,
Baruch and Burke, 2005). Women are therefore in a double bind, they need to move for
promotion, yet they must remain in their present company to be in a position to realise the
social capital that they have built up in terms of reputation and professional networks. There
was also the further difficulty for those in a relationship, if the other partner was unable to
find a suitable job. One divorced manager with a child said she was unable to relocate
geographically as the child’s father refused to have the child living too far away.

Conclusion: the question of choice

This research sought to explore the visible and invisible barriers to career advancement
within hotel management in large hotels in New Zealand and Australia. A further aim of the
paper was to highlight the way that when looking at the glass ceiling phenomenon it is
essential to observe the intersections between gender, other diversity characteristics and the
glass ceiling. Within the context of this study the concept of intersectionality takes on a real
relevance as clearly not all women experienced the barriers to career progression within the
organisation to the same degree. A key contribution of the paper has been to make visible
collective social identity groupings and the influence these have on how individuals see
themselves and, importantly, how others perceive them through association with a group
(Kirton & Greene, 2000). In order of importance the barriers were revealed as the ‘long
hours’ culture, the Old Boys’ network, hiring practices and geographical mobility. While the
barriers related to women managers’ career progression, they were also a significant
influence on women’s work-life balance, and their personal life choices.

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Integral, to any discussion on ‘choice’, a concept that is at the heart of the discourse on work-
life balance is a hegemonic belief that given gender equity, choice will follow. So, even when
there is clear evidence to the contrary, much of the prevailing organizational rhetoric still
typically emphasizes equality, equal opportunity and the virtues of work-life policies (Lewis,
2006; Tienari, Quack, & Theobald, 2002). Commentators do highlight the problematic nature
of the work-life balance discourse and its complexity (Caproni, 2004; Lewis, 2006; Waring &
Fouche, 2007). However work life balance policies’ intuitive appeal as a panacea capable of
overcoming barriers for individual women in organisations has led to heightened expectations
and in doing so, has promoted a belief that gender no longer has explanatory relevance for
workplace inequities (Lewis, 2006). Companies such as the hotel company which took part in
this research had no work- life balance policy in place although it was stated that work life
balance was a priority for the company (not just an issue for women). Yet the reality was that
many of their organisational practices made it impossible for women with family
responsibilities to survive easily within the company. Notions such as the restricted roles
women were deemed fit for and the changed expectations of women with children made
women decide at an early stage in their careers that the life of a hotel manager would not be
compatible with the lifestyle that they sought to attain.

So, the findings of this research show that ‘genuine choice’ in this contemporary workplace is
still, for women, as much an ideal to strive for now as it was two decades ago. Or, as Dupuis
(2007) aptly reminds us, the phrase work-life balance may have simply become a further
convenient, overworked, misrepresented term to divert attention away from the demands of a
24 / 7 economy and a society where ‘choice’ and individual autonomy are juxtaposed with
employers’ demands for flexibility and the needs of family. In other words, is the ‘hype’
simply masking an obsolete belief about the ‘ideal worker’ and the way paid work should be
done (Simpson & Lewis, 2007)? Choice, for aspiring female managers in the Australasian
hotel sector remains an illusion, constrained by the visible and invisible barriers of an
“inequality regime” (Acker, 2006).

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