Proceedings of 10th Annual London Business Research Conference
10 - 11 August 2015, Imperial College, London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-922069-81-8
Women and the Executive Suit: ‘When Lips Speak Together:
Oppression and Resistance’: Is There A Glass Ceiling (AlSakaf Al- Zujaji) in the Sudan
Samia A. Kargwell
Women mangers confront a glass ceiling to executive jobs in the developed and developing
countries alike. The formation of this glass ceiling is attributed to the interplay of sex -role
stereotypes, leadership traits, and organizational processes. In addition, in some countries it has
been more complicated by Islamic concepts. Therefore, the question that poses itself is whether
the phenomena of the women underrepresentation at executive jobs is attributed to sex-role
stereotypes associated with women as created by culture, or it is a reality that women are
dropped out of their career. To collect the appropriate data, In-depth interview as qualitative
method was used. Interviews were carried out with 48 male and female managers at senior
management positions in public organizations; 26 male managers and 22 female managers in
higher positions in the public service organizations in Khartoum (the capital city of Sudan). Also,
data was collected from reliable government documents. The implication of this study will be
useful for policy and decision makers to take the appropriate decisions to facilitate for women
their two roles; family and work commitments so that a substantial increase on their number at
executive level can be achieved, and, therefore, they can maintain their career development
along the management ladder
Keywords: Women, Executive, Glass Ceiling, culture, stereotypes, Sudan
____________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Samia A. Kargwell, Assistant professor of Management, College of Business Administration, Ajman
University of Science and Technology Network, P. O. Box 346, Ajman, UAE,
E-mail:
kargwell65@yahoo.co.uk