Career barriers for women’s leadership development in the public sector : case study of Benin Republic (West Africa).

Abstract

The Participation of women in the management of public sector is one of the most significant challenges worldwide in general, and Africa in particular. Globally, Women tend to be concentrated in lower-grade and lower-pay occupations despite their good representation in the public sector (OECD 2014). The Barriers to women’s empowerment in public life persist and range from sex discrimination, biased mechanisms of promotion, limited women’s choice of career path,. However, the extant research is based on western cases, and this does not reflect the issues and everyday experiences of women in the African public sector. This study analyses the Career barriers women face in the Public Sector: Case Study of Benin Republic (West Africa). Literature was sourced from the following areas to support the study: gender equity in leadership positions, gender and leadership in Africa, gender inequality in management, gender stereotype, challenges to women in leadership, inequity in education, recruitment, employment and advancement, and government policies supporting and promoting women status and welfare. Women leaders in the Republic of Benin and other parts of the world form the unit of analysis for this research. Qualitative research methods was used to collect and analyze data. To successfully conducted this research, two techniques were adopted, the use of the secondary data and semi-structured interviews (SSI). The use of secondary data included analysis of relevant data from World Bank, WEF, IMF, ILO; data from women’s NGOs in West Africa. This provided insight into the current position of women in leadership roles, current global and state level policies for tacking capacity development. To support extant secondary literature, semi-structured interviews was also conducted with ten (10) women, NGO’s leader and managers working in the Public sector. The semi-structured interviews helped to obtain reliable, comparable qualitative data through relevant and meaningful questions in order to gain