Glaserne Decke oder goldener Kafig: Scheitert der Aufstieg von Frauen in erste Managementpositionen an betrieblicher Diskriminierung oder an familiaren Pflichten?

Abstract

Using data from the HIS-Graduate Panel 1997, this analysis scrutinizes competing explanations for the gender gap in attainment of first management positions. Homophily, allocative and statistical discrimination as causal mechanisms which studies with a focus on organizations emphasize, in this analysis exert no explanatory power for gender inequality. Two non-organizational factors here fully account for the gender gap. Besides women's and men's self-selection into different fields of study, the gender-specific consequences of family formation explain the major part of the gap. Our findings show that motherhood nearly reduces the probability by half for a woman to hold a management position ten years after graduation from university. We argue that family policy and the availability of child care services moderate the size of the mother gap. In line with this reasoning, our results show that the mother gap in early management positions is smaller in East-German states than in West-German states.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]