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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Egyptian women have consistently faced challenges in the workplace. Although there are legislations that tend to give them the ability to work on an equal basis with men, yet the reality is another issue. It has been found that women especially in public organizations tend to be marginalized, despite having the same qualifications or even being more qualified than the other gender. This study aimed to examine whether gender equality is actually being practiced in public organizations in Egypt and the impact of female leadership styles in middle and upper management positions on employee empowerment and organizational culture in Egyptian public organizations. A single cross-sectional descriptive design was used; a convenient sample of 32 female employees in three public organizations was drawn, ranging in seniority from directors to secretaries. Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of 16 questions, 7 being open ended, and 9 closed. Results showed that the majority of women believed that there was bias towards men regarding their chances of having a top management position and women leaders were actually gender oriented when it comes to who they collaborate with at work. In analyzing behavioral attitudes for women at work, family relationships were considered to be an essential backbone and a crucial support system to them. Results have shown that the greater majority of respondents believed that women were prejudiced against, and that they felt a lack of empowerment to even attempt to tread into historically labeled male positions, which helped in analyzing the corresponding organizational cultures that were mostly driven by male oriented values. The study was able to identify a list of characteristics that described female management styles, including its weaknesses.
Keywords: Gender, Leadership, Empowerment, Organizational culture, Egyptian public sector
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study is to examine whether gender equality, as displayed in the Egyptian labor law in the articles serving women, is actually being practiced in public organizations, and the impact of female oriented leadership styles on organizational culture and employee empowerment in the Egyptian public sector in middle and upper management levels.
It has been recently found that the problems of the Egyptian public sector were more compounded than before. The problem of gender misrepresentation is not just similar to the frequently...