Turning point: What drives female leaders to opt out of top executive positions during middle age

• Main Authors: Guðmundsdóttir, Árelía Eydís, Guðjónsdóttir, Íris Hrönn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Research in applied business and economics 2021
• Subjects: Leadership; female leaders; opt-out; career path; self-evaluation; M14; M12; Forysta; kvenleiðtogar; að velja út; starfsferill; sjálfsskoðun; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/efnahagsmal/article/view/a.2021.18.2.4

Women represent the minority of leaders within Icelandic organizations and there are indications of them being more likely than males to opt out of leadership. The progress towards an increased number of women executives is relatively slow in businesses, especially in companies listed at the stock market. However, women lead in many fields, and they lead public organizations more frequently than private organizations. Iceland ranks, for the 12th consecutive year, as the most gender-equal country in the world and the regulatory framework for equality is rarely nearly as good in other countries compared to Iceland. The aim of this paper is to shed a light on what motivates Icelandic women in top management or influential positions to “opt out” of their career paths after reaching middle age. The study is based on a qualitative methodology and 14 women were interviewed who were in leading positions within their field of expertise. The main findings were that radical changes to career paths often involved financial and identity consequences. The women went through a self-evaluation motivated by an inner drive, sometimes related to external conditions such as unease within their work environment or internal conditions such as compromised health or a high workload. Looking at leaders’ careers, the results indicate that it’s important to assume they feel the need for change or a development in their life and career differently during middle age. In order to maintain organizations’ talent pool, it is important not to lose expertise and to consider a variety of pathways for leaders to attend to their mid-life personal growth and re-evaluation. Konur eru í minnihluta forystu í íslenskum skipulagsheildum og vísbendingar eru um að þær séu líklegri en karlar til að yfirgefa forystuhlutverkið að eigin frumkvæði. Þá fjölgar konum til þess að gera hægt í æðstu stjórnendastöðum í fyrirtækjum, sérstaklega sé litið til skráðra félaga. Konur eru þó í forystu víða og eru þær fleiri í opinberum fyrirtækjum heldur en ...