Local and Global Ecosystems: Women Leadership Caveats in UAE

Under-representation of women in positions of authority at workplace is a worldwide phenomenon to distinct degrees. The aim of the present study was to review the local and global ecosystems underscored by the relationship between cultural barriers in the representation of women in positions of authority at workplace. Influenced by the theories of intersectionality, performativity and gender hegemony a mixed methodology was adopted culminating correlational analysis that studied the relationship between two variables examined in the study namely culture and under-representation of women along with systematic literature review studying the same. A self-reported questionnaire was formulated and administered using snowball sampling technique to 140 respondents residing in the United Arab Emirates. The results analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a strong positive correlation between culture and under-representation of women. Traditional restrictions for different genders and lack of access to relevant educational opportunities were the two major cultural barriers promoting gender disparity. Further, difference in the responses of the participants was observed when there was a generation gap. Respondents from the age group of 18-35 perceived low levels of women under-representation when compared to respondents above the age of 36 years or above who perceived the opposite. The future implications of the present research paper include replication of similar concepts by future researchers and the application of the findings on school and university students to recognize the cultural barriers that hinder equal representation of women leaders.