Questions of gender equality pervade our culture, particularly in the world of work, where about three quarters of leaders are men. This paper draws on 60 interviews with women in the UK, in senior leadership roles, in a variety of fields. The research questions address the interviewees’ perceptions of three areas: career challenges (or barriers) for women who wish to access leadership roles; the main facilitators of career progress for women and changes they have seen and anticipate seeing for women leaders at work. The main challenges or barriers were perceived as a masculine work culture; discrimination and the glass ceiling; gendered stereotyping; and the difficulties of combining work and family life. Facilitators were their own determination and agency, mentoring and networking, with little mention of support through places of work. With regard to change for women at work, they saw the glass ceiling as moving gradually upwards, although some more ‘masculine’ industries were more difficult for women to navigate. With the exception of the women in higher education, they did not support feminism or an affirmative stance towards women’s progress and in the private sector were accepting of the prioritisation of business motives over equity issues.

中文翻译：

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职场女性领导者：对职业障碍、促进因素和变革的看法

性别平等问题充斥着我们的文化，尤其是在劳动世界中，大约四分之三的领导者是男性。本文借鉴了对英国女性的 60 次访谈，这些女性在各个领域担任高级领导职务。研究问题涉及受访者对三个领域的看法：希望担任领导职务的女性面临的职业挑战（或障碍）；女性职业发展的主要推动者，以及她们已经看到和期待女性领导者在工作中看到的变化。主要挑战或障碍被认为是男性化的工作文化；歧视和玻璃天花板；性别刻板印象；以及将工作和家庭生活结合起来的困难。促进者是他们自己的决心和代理、指导和网络，很少提到通过工作场所提供的支持。关于工作中女性的变化，他们认为玻璃天花板正在逐渐向上移动，尽管一些更“男性化”的行业对女性来说更难驾驭。除了接受高等教育的女性外，她们不支持女权主义或对女性进步的肯定立场，并且在私营部门接受商业动机优先于公平问题。