Factors that Facilitate Women's Access to Management Positions: The Case of Peruvian Companies

Abstract

Over the past few years, the presence of women as managers is important for corporate performance, several international organizations have raised their voices to seek the commitment of states around the world; women have begun to have greater recognition of their social and intellectual abilities to manage companies, but full gender equity within the corporate world is yet to be seen. Following goal number 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 established by the UN, it’s important to improve the situation in countries such as Peru, where the presence of women in managerial positions is still very low so it’s necessary to have more women breaking the glass ceiling and climbing to top management positions (Salas et al., 2020). This research study aimed to describe the factors that facilitate women's access to managerial positions. About the methodology, it was a descriptive type of research, with a quantitative, non-experimental, and cross-sectional approach; the population is all the women who held managerial positions in companies in Lima and Callao during 2021, and the sample was 30 women, with a non-probabilistic sampling for convenience; the technique used was the survey and the instrument was the questionnaire. The results obtained showed that among the factors with the greatest impact were myths and stereotypes, the most required factor to facilitate the access of women in managerial positions was the change in social paradigms, the required impact was the reduction of gender inequality and according to the perspective of women managers the participation of women in managerial positions was proportional to a greater economic return and it’s expected that women managers can make way for other women in various areas of the organization. It was concluded that the factors that are most involved in the access of women to management positions are those linked to the culture and thinking of the population, so it requires a long-term plan and the commitment of women, organizations, the environment, the culture, and government entities to facilitate the access of women in management positions in Lima and Callao.