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.