Metaphors Describing the Gendered Organization in the Career Advancement of Women: An Integrative Review

Sara Rocio Huaman-Morillo, Kara Lynette Vander Linden and Patrick Albert Palmieri ()
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Sara Rocio Huaman-Morillo: CENTRUM Católica Graduate Business School, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima 15088, Peru
Kara Lynette Vander Linden: EBHC South America: A JBI Affiliated Group, Lima 15023, Peru
Patrick Albert Palmieri: EBHC South America: A JBI Affiliated Group, Lima 15023, Peru

Administrative Sciences, 2024, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Worldwide, gender equality remains a barrier for women seeking career advancement in corporations. Despite the globalization of corporate social responsibility programs, women have not achieved positional parity with men within the managerial hierarchy. The purpose of this integrative review was to investigate the breadth of the gendered organization literature, summarize the evidence, and inform future research about the career advancement of women in privately owned and publicly traded corporations. Twelve databases were searched between January 1990 and December 2023 for published evidence. Of the 1914 documents screened, 55 articles were included in this review. The gendered organization literature is slowly evolving as a critical area for management research even though fully developed substantive and formal theories are lacking. However, gendered organizations can be conceptualized for theoretical development as a constellation of metaphors embedded in the corporate culture. These metaphors include firewalls, glass ceilings, glass cliffs, glass escalators, labyrinths, queen bees and beehives, and sticky floors. Notably, few intervention studies were reported in the literature. Corporate social responsibility programs had a surprisingly limited impact on eliminating deep-seated structural attributes contributing to gendered organizations. Therefore, management scholars need to engage in theoretical development and research to advance a comprehensive theory of the gendered organization, and studies should investigate why the identified metaphors continue to adversely impact the career advancement of women despite the presence of corporate social responsibility programs. Finally, existing evidence needs to be translated into intervention recommendations for policymakers and corporate leaders.

Keywords: women; leaders; gender; gendered organization; firewall; glass ceiling; glass cliff; glass escalator; labyrinth; queen bee; sticky floor; corporate social responsibility; integrative review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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