Purpose: The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explain how advancement factors affect men and woman to advance in their careers in the accounting profession.                                  Methodology: A positivist approaches and a deductive approach, with a quantitative method was used to obtain the results of the analysis.   Theoretical perspective: The theory describes the career stages, audit assistant, approved auditor, registered auditor, manager and partner. Their responsibilities and what it takes to get there is explained. Theory section also describes the different advancement factors from a gender perspective.   Empirical: The empirical material is based on a survey conducted in respondents who represent the five career stages. The collected data is then analyzed using statistical tests.   Conclusion: The analysis shows that the identified career advancement factors that limit and stimulates the male and female auditors’ career ladder. Some advancement factors limited female auditors’ career ladder more than a generation. / Syfte: Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att förklara hur avancemangsfaktorerna påverkar män och kvinnor att avancera på karriärstegen inom revisionsbranschen. Metod: Ett positivistiskt angreppsätt och en deduktiv ansats, med en kvantitativ metod har använts för att få fram resultatet till analysen. Teori: Teorin beskriver de olika karriärstegen, revisorsassistent, godkänd revisor, auktoriserad revisor, chef och partner. Deras arbetsuppgifter samt vad som krävs för att ta sig dit förklaras. Teoridelen beskriver också de olika avancemangsfaktorerna utifrån ett könsperspektiv. Empiri: Det empiriska materialet är baserat på en enkätundersökning utförd på respondenter som representerar de fem karriärstegen. Datainsamlingen har sedan analyserats med hjälp av statistiska tester. Resultat: Analysen visar att de identifierade avancemangsfaktorerna både begränsar och stimulerar manliga och kvinnliga revisors karriärstege. Somliga avancemangsfaktorer begränsade en kvinnlig revisors karriärstege mer än en mans.

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This qualitative study explores the interrelationship between perceived gender discrimination and its antecedents and consequences while examining the concept of the glass ceiling that presents some barriers to the career advancement of Bahraini female workers in the banking sector. The study examines female bankers’ perception of the existence of both gender discrimination and the glass ceiling concept in this sector. It first examines the factors that cause such phenomena at three different levels namely societal, institutional and individual. The study then verifies the effects of some identified antecedents i.e. whether they foster or lower the perceived gender discrimination and how such effects happen. Furthermore, the study examines the same factors to ascertain if they are barriers that hinder women’s career advancement or enablers that support their advancement as there is a lack of empirical studies on the effect of the factors of the three mentioned levels to women’s career advancement especially in non-western context (Tlaiss, 2010; Hejase et al., 2013; Yokkongdi & Benson, 2005). The study also examines the consequences of perceived gender discrimination that occurs at the individual level. Some previous studies related to this research topic adopted the quantitative approach, hence; this is a qualitative based research that examines the perception of the respondents whose experiences and opinions expound the context. This led to understanding subjective areas such as respondents’ emotions and experiences that address the nature of perceived gender discrimination and the concept of glass ceiling in the Bahraini banking sector, focusing on “How” and “Why” type of questions instead of stressing on the quantities. The existing literature of gender discrimination especially about the area of underrepresentation of female workers in higher positions especially in financial services sector including banking is minimal. (Bruckmuller & Branscombe, 2010; Elumti et al., 2009; Durbin & Conley, 2010). This approach unveils the research questions by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 Bahraini females as most of the previous studies examined both male and female perceptions while this research focusing at female only to make it more gender specific. The respondents hold managerial and non-managerial positions in both Islamic and conventional banks in the kingdom of Bahrain. The aim of the interview was to extract their perceptions on the factors and the consequences of gender discrimination as well as the barriers and challenges that hinder their advancement to higher managerial levels. The study captures the factors and the consequences of gender discrimination as well as the most common barriers that impede the Bahraini females’ career advancement within an Islamic and Arabic cultural context. The themes that emerged from the analysis are used to discuss the research issues in the light of previous research findings from different empirical studies. This study identifies different ways of finding factors of perceived gender discrimination and their effects as well as the challenges that may hinder the women’s career advancement in this sector. This study discovers that perceived gender discrimination exists in the Bahraini banking sector especially in areas such as hiring preference and receiving of benefits and compensations. This study also unearths the existence of glass ceiling, which is related to the gender inequality in the advancement opportunities to higher positions especially in the areas such as obtaining a promotion and holding managerial positions in the banks. The study finds out various factors that cause the perceived gender discrimination and the glass ceiling in the Bahraini banking sector which are classified at three levels as explained above.