Challenges being faced by women in ascending to decision making positions in the hotel sector in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In order for women to ascend to decision making positions first and foremost women must acknowledge that power is a contested resource and men cannot give it up on a platter. This paper explored the challenges being faced by women in ascending to decision making positions in the hotel sector in Zimbabwe. Despite an increase in the number of highly educated and professional women, the majority of them do not seem to occupy top posts in the corporate world especially in the hotel sector. An interview guide was used to gather data from a sample of 40 middle and lower level female managers. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 10 respondents from top management. Both purposive and convenience sampling were used to select the participants. Research findings indicated that both male and female subordinates harboured a condescending attitude towards females in decision making positions. This primarily stemmed from the patriarchal nature of Zimbabwean society in which culture destined women to play subservient roles to men thereby`ringthereby`ring-fencing' decision making as primarily a male domain. Besides the scourge of patriarchy, other critical challenges faced by women in ascending to decision making positions were power-phobia and fear of social backlash of the decision making function. Seemingly, the issue of addressing challenges to women's ascension to decision making positions in the hotel sector needs to be tackled structurally and holistically by observing Zimbabwe's constitutional provisions which places men and women at par (50-50) in all spheres of human endeavour.