IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v32y2025i2p2037-2050.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women and leadership in non‐listed private companies in an emerging country: An analysis of barriers and facilitators

Author

Listed:
  • Md Asadul Islam
  • Dieu Hack‐Polay
  • Mahfuzur Rahman
  • Justyna Fijałkowska
  • Francesca Dal Mas

Abstract

This study explores women's barriers to accessing leadership positions within non‐listed private companies in Bangladesh, drawing on the Gendered Organization Theory (GOT) as a conceptual framework. This research seeks some possible solutions to overcome these barriers. The study adopts a two‐wave qualitative methodology: semi‐structured interviews with 16 women professionals and subsequent focus‐group discussions to explore solutions. Results reveal that women face significant barriers, such as long working hours, gender pay gaps, unclear responsibilities, biased promotion processes, lack of training, and sexual harassment. These barriers are conceptualized in terms of implicit and explicit gender biases. Research participants emphasized individual efforts like self‐determination, upskilling, job switching, technology leveraging, and family support as key factors in overcoming these obstacles. The study underscores the need for organizational and governmental interventions to promote female leadership and gender equity in non‐listed companies in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Md Asadul Islam & Dieu Hack‐Polay & Mahfuzur Rahman & Justyna Fijałkowska & Francesca Dal Mas, 2025. "Women and leadership in non‐listed private companies in an emerging country: An analysis of barriers and facilitators," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 2037-2050, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:32:y:2025:i:2:p:2037-2050
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.3050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.3050
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.3050?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:32:y:2025:i:2:p:2037-2050. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.