Kvinnliga ledare inom banksektorn

Sammanfattning: Title: Female leaders within the bank sector.   Level: D-level in Business   Author: Emma Roos & Fanny Wiklander   Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama   Date: 2011 – January   Aim: The aim of this study is to examine which factors are behind the low number of female leaders compared to male leaders within the bank sector.   Method: We have adapted a qualitative method. This means that the researcher works close to the object of research and tries to understand it. We believe that this is a suitable method for our study since it’s based on seven personal interviews. Moreover, we have studied existing theories about the subject and connected these theories with the empirical chapter in order to draw conclusions.      Result & Conclusions: Our study shows three main reasons that might explain why there are more male than female leaders within the bank sector. They are; women’s inability to show what they can do and to take risks, the heavy responsibility for home and family that is put on women and also that the traditional image of the male boss still exists. We think that a fundamental change in the way women’s role is regarded is necessary, both in society and in companies. To do this there need to be awareness about the problem and it needs to be up for discussion all the time as long as the inequalities remain. We believe that mentorship can be a useful tool for women who want to advance in their careers.          Suggestions for future research: This is an interesting subject and as long as there are inequalities in society there is still reason to continue to explore the subject. One could for example examine other sectors than the bank sector or compare the female/male-ratio in leading positions in private and government owned companies. It might also be interesting to include male leaders or women who have not advanced in their careers among those who are interviewed.          Contribution of the thesis: Our research has contributed to us understanding why there are more male leaders than female leaders in the bank sector. We also hope that the study will help young women to see and understand the most common obstacles in women’s careers in order to minimize them for themselves. We also believe that board of directors in general would benefit from reading this thesis since it would give them a greater understanding of the problem and hopefully speed up the process of obliterating the inequalities. The study has shed light on the problem and also tried to give suggestions on how to diminish it.