Female Managers in Taiwan: Opportunities and Barriers in Changing Times

Abstract

Women workers' chances of becoming managers, and their experiences once promoted to that level, are increasingly important in Taiwan, a region that is in the throes of socio- economic and legal change. While it is clear that there are proportionally more male than female managers in Taiwan, little systematic research has been undertaken to investigate the reasons for this under-representation of women. The authors' exploratory study suggests that the work–family conflict and Taiwanese cultural values contribute to the barriers female employees encounter in their climb up the organizational hierarchy and may lead to the depression of their career ambitions; however, a proportion of the female managers interviewed felt that their promotional opportunities and their experiences as managers had improved significantly in their generation. The authors make suggestions to guide future research on women managers in Taiwan.

Keywords:

• Taiwan
• female managers
• cultural values
• work–family conflict
• career ambitions
• glass ceiling

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the British Academy/National Science Council of Taiwan initiative for funding our research and the Office of Survey Research at Academia Sinica for the use of the Survey Research Data Archive.