• Login
    View Item 
    •   DSpace Home
    • Faculty/Staff Scholarship
    • College of Business & Economics
    • View Item
    •   DSpace Home
    • Faculty/Staff Scholarship
    • College of Business & Economics
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Women in leadership in Kuwait: a research agenda

    Thumbnail
    Date
    2017
    Author
    Al-Salem, Athmar
    Speece, Mark
    Type
    Journal Article
    Peer-Reviewed
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Purpose This study aims to examine perceptions in Kuwait about women’s leadership in management. Design/methodology/approach This study includes a review of data on the gender gap across Middle East/North Africa (MENA) countries, comparison with selected Asian and Western countries and summaries of multiple small surveys in Kuwait on women in management. The surveys were all convenience samples ranging from 100-500, targeting middle-class respondents. Findings The MENA is behind most of the world in closing the gender gap, but progress among Gulf Cooperation Council countries has been fairly rapid. Many Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) indicators are comparable to other non-Western cultural areas. Multiple surveys in Kuwait show fairly widespread acceptance of women in leadership positions. Respondents feel that characteristics of women vs men managers are different, but strengths and weaknesses by gender balance out, so that men and women perform about the same. Traditional Kuwaiti culture seems conducive to women in management, but some specific cultural barriers remain. In particular, the diwaniyya, social gatherings to network and discuss current affairs, and wasta, connections, are dominated by men in modern Kuwaiti society. These are essentially social capital issues. Practical implications Fostering continued progress for women in management requires recognition of the actual social and cultural situation; simply arguing that Kuwait should be more Western in how it does things does not seem very useful. Originality/value Research on women in management in MENA is not very extensive, but is important for understanding how to facilitate opportunities for women. In Kuwait, there seems to be general acceptance that women can be leaders in managerial positions, and little overt discrimination. However, lack of access to traditional social capital networks puts women at a disadvantage. Research needs to focus on this issue to help develop ways to overcome this subtle obstacle to further progress.
    URI
    https://dspace.auk.edu.kw/handle/11675/7640
    External link
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-02-2016-0025
    Collections
    • College of Business & Economics [192]

    Browse

    All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2022  DuraSpace
    DSpace Express is a service operated by Atmire