The perspective of women who broke the glass ceiling in Malta’s financial services sector

Abstract

The aim of this research was to get a deeper insight and a better understanding of how women, who are occupying or have occupied Executive Management positions in Malta’s financial services sector, managed to break the glass ceiling. The study uses the gender lens to look into the organisational demands within organisations, and family expectations that may encumber women from climbing the corporate career ladder. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight females who occupy or have occupied Executive Management positions in local organisations. The women came from different segments of the financial sector: banking, law firms specialising in financial services, audit firms and insurance. The data collected was analysed using the Thematic Analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This dissertation features four major connecting factors:  The association between gender and power and how it can impact the career progression of a woman;  Gender diversity on boards and Gender pay gap;  Work-life balance and family friendly measures;  The main hindrances and hurdles that women encounter during their career progression; Analysis of these features lead to identification of the key factors that women required in order to break this glass ceiling phenomenon.