Abstract
Women make up approximately 61% of the workforce in the banking sector, yet they hold less than 25% of the leadership positions (senior management, top management, and executive roles). The banking industry’s leadership is known as a male-dominated space despite women being the majority of employees in that sector. In this research study, the aim was to formulate strategies to enhance mid-women leaders’ trajectory to top leadership positions in the commercial banking sector. The aim will be achieved through understanding how women who have managed to move up in their careers did it.
The chosen research design for this explorative research was a qualitative research design. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview method, which involved interviewing five (5) women who occupy senior management positions in the bank. Their interviews were transcribed and then analysed in order to abstract the different themes from their responses.
Seven (7) main themes were extracted: i) role of academic achievements, ii) ambition, career aspiration and action, iii) coaching, mentoring and sponsorship, iv) diversity and expectations, v) organisational support, vi) professional networking and vii) work-life balance.
The main findings include that there are still challenges that mid-women leaders in banks face and must overcome before they reach top leadership positions. Both organisational and personal challenges, such as bias against women and societal expectations of the roles that women can fulfil professionally, play a strong role in influencing women’s career progression in organisations.
The x-model of career progression was proposed with the intention of helping women mid-leaders’ trajectory into top leadership positions. Strategies on how to best apply the model were recommended.
This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the leadership topic for women in banking and specifically focuses on the journey of mid-level women leaders in commercial banking. This research sheds light on the experiences of women who have obtained senior leadership positions and their reflections on how they obtained those positions. The main contribution made by this study has to be the proposal of a career progression model for women, which was suggested by women through their experiences.