Women’s Career Advancement: A Case Study of Female Staff in Government Sectors

Although women's labor-force involvement has increased dramatically in recent years,
but women are still lagging behind than men’s due to their role they should shoulder as a
mother and employee. The purpose of the current study was to explore the factors influence
on women career advancement and the barriers faced by working women in Malaysian
government sectors. The study was conducted in a qualitative approach. The respondent
constituted of working women from different professions, had a children and also have
work experience for more than five years. Primary data was collected through semistructured
in-depth interviews to collect information from the respondents with extending
time from 35-45 minutes. Thematic analysis was done to analyze the data manually and it
emerged from the transcripts. The interviews revealed that societal, organizational and
individual factors remarkably influence women's career advancement. This research
reveals the fact that women's career advancement is highly dependent on family roles and
organizational roles. Husbands, employers, colleagues and even children greatly influence
a woman's career both positively and negatively. The study revealed that women who
receive positive support from their families, employers and colleagues will be more
motivated and achieve greater success in their career life. Moreover, this research also
highlighted the fact of barriers faced by working women include discrimination in the
division of the duties, work-life conflict, finding childcare centre, and excessive in work
exhaustion. For many reasons, this issues somehow was the main caused why women have
less interest to pursue career advancement. At the end of the study, some recommendations
for improving work-life balance and professional progression are made, as well as
recommendations for further research.