Using Psychographic Dimensions To Discriminate Between Men And Women Executives: An Empirical Analysis | H.S. Sandhu & Ritu Mehta

Around the globe, there seems to be a male dominated managerial model in organisations. In spite of tremendous improvement in the status of women in society in the last several decades, most middle and top management positions are still held by men, even though qualified women exist to occupy them. Managing gender differences and expectations is an important issue in India. The present research has been designed to assess the strength of psychographic dimensions in discriminating between men and women executives in the banking organisations. Discriminant analysis is used for the purpose. Data has been collected from a sample of 187 executives (consisting of 100 men and 87 women). Results reveal that among the psychographic variables, equality of opportunities is the most important discriminating factor followed by other factors, viz., supportive organisational environment, managerial abilities, and gender stereotypes. Women perceive that male executives are getting promotions more rapidly than equally qualified female executives in their organisations. The results further reveal lack of appreciation for women?s capabilities and sensitivity to gender issues. It is thus proposed that organisations could significantly benefit by harnessing the under utilised talent of their female employee pool and fostering an environment of respect, dignity and equity based on merit rather than on gender.