Why bosses don't promote women employee?

To get the projects done on time and without getting any hassle!!

This was one of the reason with my prev companies, the woman once promoted gets attention of higher management where more and more ppl gets engaged in her rather than the actual work they are supposed to do..!!

We can't say women are ineffective, they are more effective but only with certain kind of jobs! Men understands easily which kind of women is ambitious and which is only beauty without brains! If few recognizes both in a woman - she definately gets a promotion..

Now-a-days, the competency level is much higher.. Women on the other hand gains higher priority becoz of the X- factor.. But again.. if they are easily selected for job, they will get hard on promotions!

Secret: In most cases, women who lost interest in their bosses, tends to get no/little promotion!

I feel..

I read all the comments and found them baseless because there is no way a women employee is less valuable for an organization than a male employee and also except for constraints of traveling or working late, i think there is no such work which a women employee cannot do.  On the other hand, i would like to believe that they do it in a better way and consider them more responsible in many ways compared to men.

I am not trying to be a feminist here but really did not like to read comments about women especially "sleeping with boss", gaining ground because of X-factor etc...  This somehow showed that today also we have not learnt to respect women and still consider the male race to be more dominant...

Lastly I would like to disagree strongly that being a woman would cause any hindrance for a female employee to get promoted.

I feel women don't get promoted more often because they don't ask for promotion to their bosses. Most  of them said that they felt if they worked hard and showed they were valuable to the company, they would get promoted. They also said they feared they could be fired if they appeared too pushy. If the question arises why more men are generally given higher salaries, actually, it is mostly women's fault. They simply don't ask for raises or promotions as often as men do. An employee, no matter he is male or female, he/she has to not only earn that promotion but also make his/her bosses know they need to give it to him/her. Bosses tend to promote not just valuable people but people who push to move up the ladder. After all, good leaders know that they do best if they're flanked by good lieutenants. They want to give opportunities to people who want to grow with the organization and not flee to the competition.

Some categories of employees rarely reach the top of the social ladder based on gender (women), origins (ethnics, foreigners, religion), sexual orientation (homosexuals) etc. even-though that these employees are as skilled as the others. This is a well known phenomenon called the glass ceiling. This kind of attitude can lead to learned helplessness and burn out.

Hi Darshana,

Point 1:

We all of us have ego problem, so sense of insecurity, inside as in this case if boss is a guy & if the boss feels if he promotes  lady she might surpass him & his performance might get overlooked & hence maybe male bosses do not promote lady colleagues.

Point 2:

Male boss might be having grudge against female colleagues because that guy must have been dominated by female boss at some point of his career which you never know.

There could be n number of views for this I am sure it is difficult to come on conclusion why does this happens. If we are talking pretty general maybe we might have some good logical reasons. It is quite possible female bosses also might be doing the same thing the only thing is the percentage of this is pretty so less so yes female bosses are good to work with in that case ofcourse I never had female boss so I don't know but Darshana you yourself are a head of a team if I am not wrong how do you handle this? Are you cool promoting a male colleague if you feel he deserves it?

Promotions will be not depending upon the men and women, mainly the  mentality of the superior and colleages.

one major  thing is that womens are not handle some tasks at some situations for that reason also

-------------------------Divakar.

Dear Darshana,

It is not 100% true that bosses don't promote women employee.  Today women have top positions in various functional areas across industries.  But  yes, women may not be preferred over a male employee because they may not be emotionally and mentally strong or stronger like their male counterparts.  At times they may not be hardcore and ruthless decision takers like men and may be required for a particular position.  It may not be possible for a female superior to command the respect from all her male subordinates and colleagues. Last but not the least men are also better in 'corporate politics' and can play the game as per the requirement of the boss.

ashwani bhatnagar

I am surprised to see this discussion has been extremely active, with variety of comments/ideas from many different view.

I remember this topic was the title of an article by Forbes.com (which I tweeted), but as a member states, it might not be 100% true that bosses do not promote women; in some cases, with Diversity initiatives going on in many global companies, they are proactive to find a female candidate to promote to say they have so many female managers.

Of course, in many other cases, until today, women have not been promoted with equal opportunites with men, and the reasons really would depend on the culture (of the country and the organization), work enviroment, the boss, the women themselves, etc.  And I strongly believe that you cannot generalize the reason.  It is case by case.

I saw many women had got promoted.But many of them was oracled.They were supported by some lobbies.Or they were in sexual relation with bosses. And this is shame for managers and many companies.

Though there could be many reason.I think this could be one of them.There is always a gap between thoughts,ideas,mentality of men and women.When somebody has boss power,then he/she wants everybody in the organisation to comply with his/her decision.But when subordinates disagrees to comply with their words,then conflict arises.One more point,always decision,opinion of women employees are not entertained.This makes women employees to be aggressive and compelled them not to comply with their boss.

It is a fact that a woman has to put in double the efforts put in by a male colleague, to be accepted as good.

This is not a universal rule, but some male bosses are comfortable with guys who can share a drink, and bawdy jokes in the evening. Allocation of plum assignments, and other decisions are taken in these evening sessions, which may affect a female colleague adversely. They do not enjoy being polite and politically correct in the presence of a woman. In case a woman attempts to be a part of these evening sessions, and is comfortable with some colleagues, she is painted by other colleagues in a different light. It thus, becomes a Catch 22 situation.

Women who get over these hurdles eventually make it to the top.

in my opinion i believe the kind of upbringing installed in a child determines the course of his life.

a male boss who was brought up in a male dominated environment, with the mentality of what roles befit a woman and which roles befit a man will definitely find it hard to promote a female worker while a male boss brought up in a more open environment will not find promoting a female worker a difficult task.

so to me thats the basis for a female worker getting a promotion or not

because they wudn like some1 who d working under them being smarter than them... as simple as that

I think there is not a valid reason to justify why bosses don't promote women employee. All explanations can be summirized in the influence of ancient culture that consider women as inferior, and this influence is stronger in countries like China, India, Mexico with societies still based in old traditions.

I basically hate to mention here that working women have to balance between home and office,but irrespective of what and how much broad minded men are,the responsibility at home will always be women's major share as compared to men,women will have to avail maternity leave,women will have to follow her husband in case of transfers,job changes,etc,.If an organisation deceides to promote a lady or a man every aspect in the interest of organisation is considered. There are very few women who have gone upto very senior posts, because these ladies have managed themselves. One more point I would like to mention here men cannot manage home like women,hence men opt for managing office like wise women opt for home.Finally majority of women don't persue job as career till the end of their service.  

I feel the women employees are equally responsible for the organization's growth and success as to men. They are equally capable as the men however, i feel its the ego or the mental block most of the higher authorities have for men. They feel men are more superior then the women but i feel the women are much more capable and versatile when it comes to professional career. ..... Thank you, Manish N.

Cheers!! 

To be very frank, women have problem in providing serious consistency to long term committment, moreover, this process is evolutionary. It may be a while before things would brighten up in her favour, till then its Regrets - Regrets only.

Boss might be having grudge against female colleagues because that guy must have been dominated by female boss at some point of his career which you never know.

There could be n number of views for this I am sure it is difficult to come on conclusion why does this happens. If we are talking pretty general maybe we might have some good logical reasons. It is quite possible female bosses also might be doing the same thing the only thing is the percentage of this is pretty so less so yes female bosses are good to work with in that case ofcourse I never had female boss so I don't know but Darshana you yourself are a head of a team if I am not wrong how do you handle this? Are you cool promoting a male colleague if you feel he deserves it?

It Depends. According to our Indian culture Women have many restrictions on many things, from family, from society..To be frank our Cultural view had stubborn them a lot. To promote for a women employee one employer had to think of many things like, type of job, Hardness of job, etc etc. Women are much more committed to family than men does. For Jobs requiring physical and mental strength one will not promote or prefer a women. Am not blindly against this. There might be some who are able and eligible. They can and will surely be preferred. By considering the few we cant prefer every women for every jobs.

What I felt in my service experience, women employees are getting more promotions in Banking Industry as compared to men.