<p>The under-representation of women in higher hierarchical positions and company boards today is a fact that affects not only the women striving for these positions but also the companies that face a loss of competent personnel in their companies. We found it interesting to find out whether or not women are striving for leading positions, in the first place and what factors motivate and discourage them to strive for a career and what incentives companies could offer to increase their motivation.</p><p>We adopt a company perspective in this thesis since we want to study this matter for the benefit of companies. If they knew more about what women want, they would be able to emphasize these conditions and motivate more women to strive for a career. Motivation theories as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor theory are used to give us a basic understanding of motivation and they also function as a foundation for our survey. Consequently, we follow a deductive approach.</p><p>This study is focusing on Swedish female business students and a survey among the female students of the USBE has been carried out to generate emprical data. We defined career in this thesis as: “striving for high hierarchical positions with high responsibility and decisive power”. The majority of respondents stated to be striving for a career but not everyone was striving according to our definition. We found almost half of the respondents to be to some extent striving for a career according to our definition and 42 percent agreed to completely strive for a career.</p><p>The most important motivating factors were found to be “to have a stimulating job” and “to be financially independent”. The strongest factors that have a negative influence on the respondents’ career motivation were “to have little time for family” and “to have a low salary in relation to work effort”. Furthermore, “equal salary for both men and woman”, “professional training” and “good promotion possibilities” were ranked the highest of the alternatives for incentives that companies could offer.</p><p>As the data suggested that the vast majority of our respondents can be encouraged in their career striving, companies should consider offering incentives and improving the general job conditions. The most promising strategies are adjusting the women’s salaries to those of their male colleagues, providing full-time day care near the workplace and offering professional training. The Swedish government could contribute in this field by enforcing the law that requires equal salries for both sexes, by stronger controlls and more severe punishments.</p><p>Suggestions for further research are, for instance, to study what companies actually do today to motivate women in their career striving.</p>

The under-representation of women in higher hierarchical positions and company boards today is a fact that affects not only the women striving for these positions but also the companies that face a loss of competent personnel in their companies. We found it interesting to find out whether or not women are striving for leading positions, in the first place and what factors motivate and discourage them to strive for a career and what incentives companies could offer to increase their motivation. We adopt a company perspective in this thesis since we want to study this matter for the benefit of companies. If they knew more about what women want, they would be able to emphasize these conditions and motivate more women to strive for a career. Motivation theories as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor theory are used to give us a basic understanding of motivation and they also function as a foundation for our survey. Consequently, we follow a deductive approach. This study is focusing on Swedish female business students and a survey among the female students of the USBE has been carried out to generate emprical data. We defined career in this thesis as: “striving for high hierarchical positions with high responsibility and decisive power”. The majority of respondents stated to be striving for a career but not everyone was striving according to our definition. We found almost half of the respondents to be to some extent striving for a career according to our definition and 42 percent agreed to completely strive for a career. The most important motivating factors were found to be “to have a stimulating job” and “to be financially independent”. The strongest factors that have a negative influence on the respondents’ career motivation were “to have little time for family” and “to have a low salary in relation to work effort”. Furthermore, “equal salary for both men and woman”, “professional training” and “good promotion possibilities” were ranked the highest of the alternatives for incentives that companies could offer. As the data suggested that the vast majority of our respondents can be encouraged in their career striving, companies should consider offering incentives and improving the general job conditions. The most promising strategies are adjusting the women’s salaries to those of their male colleagues, providing full-time day care near the workplace and offering professional training. The Swedish government could contribute in this field by enforcing the law that requires equal salries for both sexes, by stronger controlls and more severe punishments. Suggestions for further research are, for instance, to study what companies actually do today to motivate women in their career striving.

Submitted by Liliane Ferreira (ljuvencia30@gmail.com) on 2018-10-22T12:54:06Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Gabriela Peixoto Vieira Silva - 2014.pdf: 1666300 bytes, checksum: e696737b500c4db63727f87491433167 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-10-22T14:17:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Gabriela Peixoto Vieira Silva - 2014.pdf: 1666300 bytes, checksum: e696737b500c4db63727f87491433167 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-22T14:17:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Gabriela Peixoto Vieira Silva - 2014.pdf: 1666300 bytes, checksum: e696737b500c4db63727f87491433167 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work purpose to investigate the female participation in leading positions on political parties. The hypothesis that guides the research is that this participation is low, corroborating the existence of a under representation of women in leading positions on the analyzed political parties. This under representation is analyzed on two directions: the function/position in the party which identify or not the inclusion of women in the elite party and the identification of elements that shape this participation. The research is divided in two different parts one is documental, which it will be approached positions occupied by women, and finally the analysis of the interviews with male and female leadership from the parties analysed: PMDB, PSDB, DEM, PT and PCdoB. / O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a participação e a representação feminina nos cargos de direção de partidos políticos em Goiás. A hipótese que norteia a pesquisa é que a intensidade desta representação é baixa, corroborando a existência de uma sub-representação feminina política nos cargos de direção dos partidos políticos analisados. Essa sub-representação é analisada em duas dimensões: funções/cargos dentro do partido que identifiquem ou não a inclusão de mulheres na elite partidária e a identificação de elementos que moldam essa participação. A pesquisa está dividida em duas etapas – documental, em que se abordará cargos e funções ocupados pelas mulheres; e por fim, análise das entrevistas em profundidade com lideranças masculinas e femininas dos partidos analisados: PMDB, PSDB, DEM, PT e PCdoB.

Syfte - Studiens syfte är att undersöka vad som påverkar kvinnors förutsättningar för att anta ledande positioner inom tillverkningsindustrin och genom det förstå hur hållbar utveckling kan uppnås. För att besvara syftet har tre frågeställningar formulerats: - Vilka möjliggörare finns för att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier? - Vilka barriärer finns för att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier? - På vilket sätt kan organisationskontexten kopplas till påverkansfaktorerna? Metod – Som metod genomfördes en intervjustudie med fem kvinnor på fem olika tillverkningsindustrier i Jönköpings län. Ytterligare genomfördes en litteraturstudie och relevant teori har tagits fram. Resultatet från intervjustudien analyserades mot teori, som tillsammans formade studiens utfall. Resultat – För att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier finns det både möjliggörare och barriärer, uppdelat internt och externt. De interna möjliggörarna som identifierades var kompetens, mångfald, organisationskultur och jämställdhet och fanns inom organisationerna. Den externa möjliggöraren som identifierades var representation, en möjliggörare som identifierades utanför organisationerna kopplat till individer. De interna barriärerna som identifierades var rekrytering, hierarki, organisationskultur, investeringar och motstånd vilket likt de interna möjliggörarna fanns inom organisationerna. Den externa barriären som identifierades var individens påverkan och kunde likt den externa möjliggöraren kopplas till individer utanför organisationerna. Organisationskontexten och påverkansfaktorerna var delvis kopplade då de identifierade barriärerna kunde kopplas till att organisationer inte prioriterade områden som barriärerna berörde. Det fanns en svagare koppling mellan möjliggörarna och organisationskontexten, vilket kunde förklaras med att möjliggörarna snarare tillhörde organisationernas sociala system än organisationernas struktur. Implikationer - Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv bidrog de identifierade påverkansfaktorerna till att öka kunskapen kring kvinnors förutsättningar för att anta ledande positioner. Ur ett praktiskt perspektiv bidrog resultatet till att både individer och organisationer kunde ta lärdom av påverkansfaktorerna och förbättra förutsättningarna för kvinnor att anta ledande positioner inom tillverkningsindustrin. Begränsningar – Studien har begränsats av att endast fem respondenter på fem olika organisationer intervjuats. Hade fler intervjuer genomförts kunde studiens generaliserbarhet blivit högre då det förmodligen bidragit till att ett mönster mellan både respondenter och organisationer framkommit. / Purpose – This study aimed to examine what affects women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions within the manufacturing industry and through that understand how sustainable development can be achieved. To fulfil the purpose of this study, three questions have been formulated: - Which enablers exist for women to attain leading positions in manufacturing industries? - Which barriers exist for women to attain leading positions in manufacturing industries? - In which ways can the organizational context be connected to the impacting factors? Method – As a method, an interview study has been conducted with five women at five different manufacturing industries within Jönköping county. Furthermore, a literature study was executed, and relevant theory was brought out. The collected data from the interview study was analysed against the theory, which together formed the result of the study. Findings – For women being able to attain leading positions at manufacturing industries, there are both enablers and barriers, divided into internal and external fractions. The internal enablers that were identified were competency, diversity, organisational culture, and equality which appeared within the organisations. The external enabler that was identified was representation, an enabler that was identified out of the organisations connected to individuals. The internal barriers that were identified were recruitment, hierarchy, organisational culture, investments and resistance, just as the internal enablers that appeared within the organisations. The external barrier that was identified was the individual’s impact and could as the external enabler be connected to the individual herself outside of the organisations’ context. The organisational context and the impacting factors were partly connected since the identified barriers could be connected to organisations not prioritizing the areas of the barriers. There was a weaker connection between the enablers and the organisational context, which could be explained by the enablers belonging to the social system of the organisations rather than the structure of the organisations. Implications - The identified impacting factors could from a theoretical perspective contribute to increasing the knowledge regarding women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions. The result could from an practical perspective contribute to both individuals and organisations taking lessons from the impacting factors and improve women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions within the manufacturing industry Limitations – The study was limited by interviewing only five respondents at five different organisations. If further interviews had been conducted, the generalisability of the study would have been higher since it presumably would had contributed to a pattern between the respondents and the organisations.