An Analysis on the Impact of Gender Roles on Female Managerial Level Employees: An Investigation of the Garment Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is no exception in relation to the impact of globalization on peripheral countries. The society itself had to get adjusted to changes required by globalization, such as letting go the females as unskilled labourers to foreign countries, to newly established garment factories, call centers etc. The need for females to work was all the more prominent in the background of thirty years of civil war where predominantly male armed forces were engaged in battle fields. The education system in Sri Lanka was such that more females entered tertiary level education and became qualified to get employed at managerial levels. With the end of the three decade long civil war in year 2009, Sri Lanka is entering into a new development Era. Hence present economic trends in Sri Lanka will demand more female employees for emerging opportunities. Sri Lankan garment sector consists of a large proportion of females, representing different levels of the organizational hierarchy. Entry of females into industry calls for new conditions of employment and addressing issues relating to diversity. Within this backdrop this paper is written with the major objective of analyzing the impact of gender roles on managerial level female employees in Sri Lankan garment industry. Gender roles’ as they are commonly known and which are the foundations of ascribed roles for gender, affect the lives of men and women around the globe. These impacts shape and reshape different facets of their lives such as personal, work and social. Qualitative approach was used as the main research method. The study covers two Sri Lankan large scale private sector garment organizations. Using theoretical sampling in-depth interviews will be held with female and male managers. Findings will enable to understand the gender role attitudes held by female and male managers and the impact of such attitudes on personal and work lives of female managers.