DOES GENDER DIFFERENCES MATTER! INVESTIGATING THE PREJUDICED PRACTICES AND GENDER-ROLE CONFLICT AMONG FEMALE PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN MALE-DOMINATED PROFESSIONS

Abstract

This study investigates the perceptions of gender role conflict, prejudice practices, office stress, and their impact on female professionals working in male-dominated professions. The paper's concepts and contexts are grounded on the role of congruity theory and transactional theories of stress. A survey was conducted in different institutions of Pakistan and Malaysia. A conceptual model was then developed on five crucial hypotheses on broad-ranging literature analyses using statistical analyses and structural equation modeling with Smart-Partial Least Square (PLS). The findings reveal that females find it difficult to seek the top executive positions as assertive and decisive behaviors in them are seen as obligatory traits. Moreover, the personal experiences of females working in different male-dominant professions in both countries related to discriminatory practices, office stress, role, work-family conflicts are somewhat similar. However, the ways, approaches, and intensity of those experiences are different. Therefore, it is recommended that radical changes be required in terms of stereotypical behavior, psychological and social belief systems for genders to mitigate and replace the old thumb rule concepts.