Research Topic

The lack of females in leadership positions has been an issue for many women in the workplace for decades, but recently has become an even bigger concern and more public (Lindbald, 2019). Women’s educational attainment and workforce ranks have continually increased, however their advancement into the upper echelons of management has stalled in recent years (Sokolowska, 2018). To address this issue of lack of female executives, there are initiatives around the world aimed at closing the women’s leadership gap. In a large number of professional organizations women still encounter subtle barriers in their upward career progression especially when it comes to attain the highest echelons of management while equivalent men just careen along with a comparative ease (Gatrell & Swan, 2008).This phenomenon of invisible barrier in the career advancement of female managers is commonly termed as ‘glass ceiling’.Eagly and Carli (2008), in their article, ‘Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership’ presented a new angle to the research concerning the glass ceiling for women in professional organizations by rejecting the phenomenon of glass ceiling as the sole hurdle in the career path of professional women. While women are certainly underrepresented within leadership positions, the presence of female in mid-level and some senior leadership positions suggests that a once impenetrable barrier (e.g., glass ceiling) is now more porous. Thus, perhaps a shift in management research from a focus on glass ceilings to an examination of the perception of a leadership labyrinth is necessary (Eagly & Carli, 2007).The scholars of tourism studies have long argued that tourism is a highly gendered industry (Figueroa-Domecq, 2019).Despite the significant contribution tourism workers make to the global hospitality, tourism, and travel industry, substantial levels of sexual discrimination remain (Stephen et al., 2014). Pakistani culture has a strong collectivist orientation which binds every individual to their communities and collectivises very closely and inspires strong conformity pressures (Thakur, 2019). Female workers continue to struggle with discrepancies in job status and pay, as well as to overcome stereotypes and other barriers to workplace equality (Burrell, Manfredi, & Rollin, 1997; Nepur, Deepa & Khimya, 2013; Wan, 2014).This study aims to study the process of career progression of women, what barriers they face and how they navigate through them in the specific cultural context of Pakistan using the lens of leadership labyrinth in the Tourism Sector.