Women's Ambitions to Work in Nigerian Banking Sector - Case Study Example

Introduction The results chapter deals with the presentation of results of the interview held in accordance with the methodology described in the previous chapter. To make it easier to comprehend the whole chapter is divided into subsections relating to each of the questions of interview. It would be easier for understanding of this chapter to check the tabular data presentation (Appendix 1) while reading sections. The first subsection exposes a general background on the participants of research to reader, regarding their age, education, marital status and a number of children, thus creating a portrait of Nigerian female bankers. The second section introduces the initial career goals set by female specialists in Nigeria. Next, the motivation for women joining banks is observed. An important qualitative measure - a level of job satisfaction with its connection to performance - is given after that. General issues regarding the career development of women in Nigeria follows then. After that a particular inequality issues are analysed in the order of the descending significance. At first issues regarding work-life balance are given. The next section speculates on theoretical assumptions of wage gap, glass ceiling, and occupational segregation connecting them to answers from the interview. After that the influence of the supervisor is drawn with special attention to mentoring. Then follows the analysis of the effect of cultural influence with assumptions on its adjustment. Finally, the conclusion briefly names all the results acquired in this research. General background As it was stated in the methodology chapter, eight female middle/senior managers from Nigerian banking sector were interviewed. This section gives an overview to background of the research population. Age of the respondents fluctuates from 25 to 45. It is important to notice that the research sample reflects the situation on the whole banking industry; that is most of the female employees working in Nigerian banks are married, well-educated women in their 30-40s. Note that there was no visible connection found between the age of the employee and the generation of bank (first/second). Most of the Nigerian women are occupied in the agricultural industry or small trading enterprises - both of these occupations are considered to be low-paid and have no prestige. The banking sector of Nigeria is interested only in skillful educated specialists, and it is hard for the average person to get into the ranks of the banks. Therefore we can suppose that each of the respondents has rather high social status. There is one Ph.D. degree, one candidate Ph.D. degree and six Master degrees. As can be seen from the Appendix 1 older female bankers have higher academic degrees. Additionally it should be noted that most of the respondents (six) have education in economics and only two of them have degrees in social sciences. The third important piece of the background portrait is the family status of the population. Social study of Nigeria shows that about 81% of women in the age from 15 to 49 were ever married (Isiugo-Abanihe 1998). Six respondents of our sample are married, one respondent is single, and one is divorced. The average fertility rate for Nigerian population is 5,4. Nevertheless, there are 3 female bankers with three children, 2 with two children, 1 having one child, 1 having four children, and one woman without children. As can be seen, the average amount of children in the research population is lower than that of the whole Nigerian population. This corresponds with findings in previous researches, which indicate that working women following their career paths usually have less stable families. Initial career goals Determining initial career goals is perceived as an important part of the career planning throughout the lifetime of a person, regardless of race and gender. Most of the researchers admit that employees usually achieve only those career objectives, which were planned. There's very little mystery about what career success requires. You must know what you want and set a course for achieving it. But knowing what you want involves more than a vague desire to advance. You must be able to translate your wish into specific, attainable career goals and develop a realistic plan for implementing them. (Raudsepp 2005) Basing on these assumptions it was expected before interviewing that initial career goals will appear to be close to current positions taken. Indeed, most of the respondents have achieved or are close to achieve the initial career goal. The most interesting fact however is that one woman has moved on the career ladder higher than she expected: "When I joined the bank as a customer service manager in 2001, I hadn't expected to be on the post of the Chief Credit Officer just four years later." However this data acquired was treated carefully, and it was decided after the analysis to obtain higher statistical credibility with future studies on this fact before making any preliminary conclusions. Six of the eight respondents had the position of middle manager as their initial career goals. Other two participants aimed themselves at the senior management positions. From the latter two only one woman has managed to achieve her goal so far. What can be inferred from the displayed data Well, first of all, it is obvious that there are no major differences in the initial career planning of men and women. In other words, both genders are ambitious enough to achieve the desired goals, passing through various obstacles. However those obstacles differ significantly for men and women entailing occupational segregation, glass ceiling and wage gap for Nigerian women; we will turn to these issues later. For now, it can be concluded that there is no impassable barriers for women in Nigerian banking sector. Reasons for Joining the Bank Obviously, there are three main reasons of joining the bank stated by respondents: achieving social and financial independence, social protection, and self-actualization in career. Let us look more explicitly on each of these reasons and try to understand their nature. Due to occupational segregation and wage gaps, most of the Nigerian women are put in the condition when they are not able to earn on agricultural or petty trading jobs enough money for living. The only way to survive for most of them is marriage. In this case however, Nigerian women become totally dependent of their husbands. That is why some of the respondents perceive their job in a bank as the only way to maintain independence. Moreover, families with low income are left socially unprotected from poverty. Women without husbands or with husbands working on low-paid jobs have to find themselves a well-paid career to become bread-winners for their families. Thus, gaining social protection is the second main reason for career development of female bankers. Finally, a career at banking industry can be a source of psychological support for those women who do need to worry about paying bills. Self-actualization is as important as daily bread for every man or woman. Joining a bank a woman gets not only a well-paid job but a rather high social status and a confidence for making the national economy stronger. What is the distribution of those goals in our sample Three of the participants expressed achieving social and financial independence from their husbands as the main reason for joining the banking sector of Nigeria. Another three stated their desire for self-actualization, and other two respondents try to increase their confidence in tomorrow through working at bank. Also the poverty is a very vital problem in Nigeria, families able to pay for the education of their daughters usually help them in their lives; that is why the social protection issue is the least present in our sample. It is interesting to note that the motivation for self-actualization is expressed by the youngest participants (which can be explained as the desire to apply knowledge acquired from education) of research and by senior managers (serving as an indicator of high dedication to their companies). Level of Job Satisfaction The results of interviews clearly show a two-way connection between the job satisfaction and the performance of every particular employee. Two of three interviewees who stated their main motivation as self-actualization show a high level of job satifaction which is reflected on their quick career promotion and successful performance in their companies. The third respondent has explained her medium level of satisfaction with serious work-life balance issues: "It is exhausting to be a Chief Financial Officer and a mother of four children at the same time". Issues of work-life balance have proven to be an important obstacle during the analysis of the interview and they deserve their own section to be discussed later. Overall four respondents evaluated their satisfaction with a high degree, two indicated the medium level of job satisfaction, and the other two admitted they do not like their job. The latter group explained their dissatisfaction with the serious obstacles on a career path hindering their promotion. Indeed, their supervisors were not satisfied with their performance. But a question is did the low satisfaction caused low performance, or vice versa, low performance hindered their promotion, and eventually brought to low level of job satisfaction As always the truth lies somewhere in between, i.e. both of these factors influenced each other. Therefore it can be advised to remove as much of the obstacles hindering career development of an employee as possible to keep her interested in working hard. Further analysis of this issue indicates that apparently second generation banks are better at keeping their employees satisfied than the first generation ones. Welcoming new ideas and being more of innovative by nature, second generation banks offer faster promotion and better conditions of work than older institutions. All the interviewees with high job satisfaction level joined their banks in 2001 or later, and managed to achieve their initial career goals in less than four years. Career advancement All of the participants of the research entered their current place of work in 1992-2004. Surprisingly, the respondents who joined their banks in 2001-2004 are performing better than those who have been working for longer time periods. At first glance it contradicts to the assumption of gradual career development. However, if analysed with more detail the connection is not simple as it is. Most of interviewees who entered their posts in 2001-2004 work in the second generation banks (younger respondents work for the first banking companies in their lives and the older ones have changed their workplace from the first-gen to the second-gen banks). Therefore, we can conclude that in spite of the occupational segregation in Nigeria, still talented specialists are able to choose their workplace in the banking industry. Almost every participant of the research has entered banks at a rather low position in the banking hierarchy. Two older respondents serve as exclusion to this rule, being appointed into managerial positions from the day one in their new banks. As everywhere in the world Nigerian banking sector values professional experience above all; that is why skillful employees are welcomed regardless of sex. Currently, a flow of women talents can be seen from first generation banks to the second generation ones. The reason once again lies in the progressiveness of the latter and offerings of the jobs with less discrimination and better conditions for female specialists. Every of the participants of research has significantly improved her position in a bank since the initial entry position, though sometimes still reaching for the initial career goal. Although 3 female bankers are still below the middle manager position, other 5 have successfully reached their initial career goals and continue their career growth. In order to enable more women to enter managerial positions, support structures need to be established where there are none and strengthened where they are weak in Nigerian banking sector. Efforts of second generation banks to bring supportive role environments and role models, crucial for women to enter, remain and advance into managerial positions should be recognized. Work-Life Balance There are no part-time workers among the respondents of interviews. The reason is that there is practically no ability for career development fro part-time workers, which are excluded from training and promotion considerations. Moreover, the situation in Nigerian banking sector also shows very limited choice of Flexible worktime agreements. There is no need to stress the fact of women still bearing most of the household and childcare responsibilities once more. Lack of FWA solution also reflects on men, but women employees simply cannot mix full family life with career development. They have to choose. It was already stated above that participants of the research have less children than average Nigerian women. Still, most of them point out work-life balance issue as the main difficulty hindering their career development. The only banker that is still not acquainted to work-life balance issues is the youngest woman of all the participants, which does not have children or family of her own. The problem deserves utter attention. Recommendations for resolving work-life balance issues are as follows: Given the tension between the demands of family/private life and work at certain periods over the life cycle, ways need to be devised to enable not only women, but men too, to build a career and raise a family. This can include more flexible working hours, reduced hours of work and adequate child- and elder-care facilities and arrangements. A good balance between managerial and family/private life responsibilities not only benefits the health of the individual, the family and therefore society, but may well contribute to more creative and efficient management styles and better business decisions and results. (ILO 1998) Lack of flexible worktime programmes is the major problem of Nigerian banking sector, pointed out by 7 of 8 respondents. Without FWA women specialists are unable to devote much to their family on the one hand and to their job on the other one. This decreases the level of job satisfaction, the effiency of the employee and eventually leads to lower levels of overall performance. Other Difficulties Encountered According to the results of the research, the Nigerian banking sector is not an exclusion to various forms of gender inequalities and discrimination. Respondents recognized the limited opportunities for advancement, sex discrimination, lack of counseling and training, low recognition of their professional competence and internal conflict over their dual role as the main obstacles of the career development. Recent improvements in education, along with a trend for decreasing fertility rates and postponing marriage can be viewed as positive factors increasing the amount of women in the total workforce. The most troubling issue next to a work-life balance according to interviewees (5 of 8 women) is the significant wage gap that does not allow women to earn the same salaries as their male colleagues. Interviews have showed that female specialists earn about 60 cents for every dollar made by male professionals. Despite their progressiveness, second-generation banks also imply this form of discrimination, instead of other two encountered generally in first-generation banks. The next problem is the glass ceiling met with 3 women bankers of 8. Though not as thick and impenetrable as it was twenty years ago, the glass ceiling still presents a major barrier for many female specialists working in ideologically old institutions. Women should be given opportunities for strategic assignments and job rotation to improve their promotion prospects to high echelons of management and breaking the glass ceiling. Upward mobility and career progression should be more flexible to allow women more opportunities based on their ability and competence. Finally, the occupational segregation was encountered with only one respondent of all 8, which shows that measures are taken to improve this situation. Still, one can not state that the banking sector of Nigeria is free from occupational segregation by sex. In view of the vitality of occupational segregation and the difficulty for qualified women to move to the top levels of management in banking organizations, institutions should work together in removing the barriers, both visible and invisible, to women's career advancement. Supervisor's Support It is a common fact that mentoring has been adopted with many companies of the world to improve the performance of new employees, to retain and promote valuable workers, and to plan successors for the future. Supervisors should not only control but also create favorable conditions for honing personnel's talents and to influence positively on their professional growth. mentoring is one of the crucial and important factors in business success. Having a mentor or going through some type of mentoring program dramatically increases one's chances for success. Although it is not fatal to lack a mentor, it certainly helps one a great deal to have one, both in technical and conceptual knowledge, learning from a broad base of experience and rapidly gaining a wealth of contacts. Being mentored by the right person is an important and viable bridge to success. (Advancing Women 2005) During interviews various practices of supervising were encountered having a wide diapason from purely discriminative techniques to friendly relationships with a cheer atmosphere. Due to the fact that constant negative feedbacks from supervisors were reported from the same respondents who previously stated the glass ceiling as an important problem in their collective, we can assume that supervisors constantly propagate inequality to hinder the upward career motion of the respondents. Two of the participants of research have acquired extremely positive feedbacks from their supervisors indicating great potential and a remarkable professionalism. One of them says: "I've never thought about learning from someone on my level the people who have the best solutions to the problems I face are often the people facing those problems themselves." It is interesting to notice that these participants are moving up on the career ladder faster than any other participant. Other three participants also have received positive feedback from their managers, supporting them to become an important part of the company. Therefore a connection between the supervisor's support and the level of job satisfaction entailing the increase in productivity and better performance can be easily seen. Resuming what was said in this section it is important to understand that although 5 respondents gain the needed support fro their supervisors, other 3 cases indicate that there are still some banks, senior management of which does not want to realize the obvious thing: discrimination decreases efficiency. Social and Cultural Pressures Nigerian culture is very discriminative by its nature implying gender inequalities to be the 'natural' way. Also none of the respondents agreed to perform expected traditional roles of a woman, all of them admit that public opinion dictated by culture and religion often makes it very hard to continue this 'independent' way. During the interview each of the participants has remembered a story from her life when she had to listen a doubt about her career path basing on the fact she was a woman. As a consequence of the common preconceptions of women's and men's roles, men are often perceived to be the main earners and so are available both for working the long hours and for engaging in after-work socializing, which are often expected of managers. Because women are traditionally assigned the major share of family responsibilities, it is often assumed that they are less committed or less willing to take on managerial roles involving long hours and travel. Traditional views of men's and women's roles, usually taking roots from the assumption that women have primary responsibility for family care, result in their being steered from an early age into sex stereotyped occupations and roles. This contributes to limiting women's access to higher managerial positions. Cultural biases, gender stereotypes and attitudes against women coupled with their not being viewed as primary income-earners are major obstacles for women's advancement. When a woman chooses not to accept a high-level post, it is often assumed that all women would choose the same. In addition, higher performance standards are often expected of women. Furthermore, the absence of clear job descriptions for higher echelon banking jobs and the lack of formal systems for recruitment, in some instances, also tend to create obstacles. Traditional cultural viewpoint of Nigeria looking on a woman as on the house extension is a serious obstacle, which can be removed only through continuous improvement. A concerted effort at all levels is required to bring about new approaches in the educational system of Nigeria from an early age, and thus to develop a more positive view of women's economic role, their capacity at decision-making levels and their effectiveness in achieving business objectives. Conclusions This final section provides the brief summary information on the results of this study. 1. There will be no talented female bankers in Nigeria without education. Education is one of the critical factors when hiring a specialist. The example of eight Nigerian female managers shows that only well-educated women are able resist inequalities. Therefore improving education in Nigeria is extremely important for providing both genders with equal rights. 2. Cultural beliefs are wrong when they think of Nigerian women as of households. The results of the interview show that women have the ambitions to work in Nigerian banking sector at the same level as men. Female specialists in Nigeria dream of career development the same as men. 3. The reasons Nigerian women want to work in the banking sector are as follows: banking career allows women to be independent, socially protected and to be a valuable part of the society, achieving a high social status and bringing their share into the common cause. 4. Level of women's job satisfaction in Nigerian banking affects performance. Therefore to improve performance banks should keep the satisfaction of their women employees high. Second generation banks are more progressive than the first generation ones and are keen on offering their female workers better conditions of work eventually retaining all the talented specialists. 5. Career development of women and promoting them into managerial positions will bring benefit to banking industry. For that purpose establishing support structures is essential. Improving promotion of women into managerial positions will lead to the increased efficiency, and by the highest standards is able to significantly increase Nigerian banking industry. 6. The first step to encourage women specialists into banking sector is to develop and introduce effective flexible worktime solutions. Currently the work-life balance is an extremely urgent and important issue that requires being resolved. More involvement into family life and a healthier lifestyle is desired by both men and women. 7. The next priority tasks include decreasing of wage gap, shattering glass ceiling, and eliminating occupational segregation. The research has showed that all these theories have found practical acknowledgement in the Nigerian banking sector, although some of hem are less visible than others. Nevertheless all these issues are to be vaporized if we want to achieve gender equality, which will bring us to better efficiency. 8. Mentoring is an important part of promotion, recruitment, and retaining talented women specialists. A healthy relationship leading to friendly working environment between the supervisor and his/her subordinates is required to decrease the discrimination by sex. Supervisor is more of a tutor, but not just a controller and punisher. 9. Cultural pressure inspiring gender inequalities seem to be weaker than before but still strong in Nigeria. Resisting cultural pressures can be successful only through a continuous effort. These changes in the culture of the country would benefit not only women, but also men and families. References Advancing Women. (2005). Mentoring for Women in the Workplace. Retrieved October 16, 2005 from http://www.advancingwomen.com/wk_mentor.html ILO. (1998). Conclusions on Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management. The Tripartite in Geneva. Isiugo-Abanihe, U.C. (1998). Stability of Marital Unions and Fertility in Nigeria. Journal of Biosocial Sciences, published on January 30, pp. 33-41. Raudsepp, E. (2005). Chart a Course for Success. College Journal. Retrieved October 16, 2005 from http://www.collegejournal.com/careerpaths/findcareerpath/20020813-raudsepp.html Appendix 2: Structure of the interview 1. How old are you 2. What is your level of education 3. What academic degrees in what areas do you have 4. Are you married or single 5. Do you have children How many 6. When did you join the bank you currently work for 7. What was your initial career goal 8. What reasons induced you to join the bank 9. What position did you take when joined the bank 10. What is your current position 11. Are you satisfied with your job 12. In your opinion, what difficulties and factors relating to job experience hinder or hindered before your career development 13. Do you get support from your supervisor 14. In your opinion, what does your supervisor think of your professional performance 15. Do you think the culture of the society helps or hinders overcoming barriers related to gender inequalities Read More