All women around the world in some stage of their life career need to break the "glass ceiling" to accomplish their career goals. The ceiling is located above the lowest middle-level management positions and prevents women from attaining higher management positions (Glass Ceiling Commission 1995). Equality in the workplace has resulted in equal opportunities been presented to the male and female gender. Equity programs, as well as rising education levels among the female gender, have led to changes in career paths for women. Additionally, work-life balance policies presented to women in organizations have enhanced equality. However, despite the considerable advancements and considerations in gender equality at the workplace, the glass ceiling remains to be a threat to a career for ethnic minorities and especially Saudi Arabian women. The glass ceiling acts as a barrier that prohibits black women from advancing to top managerial positions in the organizations in the United States. The barrier presents gender differences and inequalities that increase throughout a black woman’s career. Promotions are limited in male-dominated organizations, as well as female characteristics been used to justify the glass ceiling effect. The essay will discuss the threats imposed by the glass ceiling on Saudi women’s career development through close analysis from different theories such as feminism theory, and critical race theory. Saudi: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has experienced a rapid and impressive growth of women participating in all levels of education in recent years. However, there are many areas of the educational sector where gender segregation is still prevalent especially in relation to access to the best educators and resources (Smith & Abouammah, 2013). In the last 19 years, Saudi Arabia has invested a significant amount of money in its educational sector and has raised the overall number of faculty members, both men and women, by 175%. According to Jamjoom and Kelly (2013), In 2011, women gained access to political power. King Abdullah announced that women would be allowed to vote, as well as run for elections, in the 2015 municipal elections (Alkayed, 2015). Saudi women were allowed to join the Shura Council, “the traditionally all men body which drafts laws, debates major issues, and provides advice to the king” (Hamdan, 2013, para.1). After joining the Shura Council in 2013, women then became appointed as deputy chairpersons of three committees within the Shura Council in the same year. All of these actions have helped to open doors to managerial and leadership positions within many other organizations in Saudi Arabia (Alkayed, 2015). However, despite the new increased role of women in leadership positions in Saudi Arabia, they still faced difficulties compared to their male counterparts due to personal, institutional, and cultural challenges which can affect their effectivene ...

1. All women around the world in some stage of their life career
need to break the "glass ceiling" to
accomplish their career goals. The ceiling is located above the
lowest middle-level management positions
and prevents women from attaining higher management
positions (Glass Ceiling Commission 1995).
Equality in the workplace has resulted in equal opportunities
been presented to the male and female gender.
Equity programs, as well as rising education levels among the
female gender, have led to changes in career
paths for women. Additionally, work-life balance policies
presented to women in organizations have
enhanced equality. However, despite the considerable
advancements and considerations in gender equality at
the workplace, the glass ceiling remains to be a threat to a
career for ethnic minorities and especially Saudi
Arabian women. The glass ceiling acts as a barrier that prohibits
black women from advancing to top
managerial positions in the organizations in the United States.
The barrier presents gender differences and
inequalities that increase throughout a black woman’s career.
Promotions are limited in male-dominated

2. organizations, as well as female characteristics been used to
justify the glass ceiling effect. The essay will
discuss the threats imposed by the glass ceiling on Saudi
women’s career development through close analysis
from different theories such as feminism theory, and critical
race theory.
Saudi:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has experienced a rapid and
impressive growth of women participating
in all levels of education in recent years. However, there are
many areas of the educational sector
where gender segregation is still prevalent especially in relation
to access to the best educators and
resources (Smith & Abouammah, 2013). In the last 19 years,
Saudi Arabia has invested a significant
amount of money in its educational sector and has raised the
overall number of faculty members, both
men and women, by 175%. According to Jamjoom and Kelly
(2013),
In 2011, women gained access to political power. King
Abdullah announced that women would be
allowed to vote, as well as run for elections, in the 2015
municipal elections (Alkayed, 2015). Saudi

3. women were allowed to join the Shura Council, “the
traditionally all men body which drafts laws,
debates major issues, and provides advice to the king”
(Hamdan, 2013, para.1). After joining the
Shura Council in 2013, women then became appointed as deputy
chairpersons of three committees
within the Shura Council in the same year. All of these actions
have helped to open doors to
managerial and leadership positions within many other
organizations in Saudi Arabia (Alkayed,
2015).
However, despite the new increased role of women in leadership
positions in Saudi Arabia, they still
faced difficulties compared to their male counterparts due to
personal, institutional, and cultural
challenges which can affect their effectiveness as leaders.
Although Saudi women had high
qualifications, job experience, and a readiness to take
leadership positions in organizations, the
structural and cultural barriers that exist in Saudi Arabia need
to be addressed before the new
policies that the government put in place to empower women
could move forward (Abu Al-Ola,

4. 2014). For example, in Saudi Arabian universities, women
typically do not have the decision-
making power and are currently not part of the planning
process. Saudi women also face a lack of
resources and lack of empowerment in the work world as well
(AlAhmadi, 2011)
In Saudi Arabia, women appear to be seeking leadership roles in
higher education and then hitting
glass ceilings that limit their upward mobility.
The glass ceiling in Saudi higher education experienced by
Saudi women may be explained by
various influences or barriers such as cultural, social
segregation (Jamjoom & Kelly, 2013),
discrimination (Elamin & Omair, 2010), institutional barriers
(Al-Kayed, 2015), and personal
factors (Al-Ghamdi, 2013). These things are all important to
study because many Saudi women
appear to be facing glass ceilings when attempting to obtain
leadership positions in 15 higher
education and even when women secure senior university
positions, they often do not have the same
power and authority that their male colleagues have.
Cultural aspect

5. Saudi Arabia is a socially and religiously conservative country
[24]. Its has a high cultural
homogeneity based on tribal and Islamic affiliations and
therefore has a unique and complex culture.
Hence it is difficult to differentiate between Islamic principles
and Arabic customs [2]. Some customs,
such as the belief that women should not drive cars or practise
Law or Engineering are not from
Islamic law but have become entrenched in the culture [16].
Women’s function in wider society is
limited and Saudi Arabia has one of the lowest participation of
women in the workplace, particularly
from graduates.
Islam and Saudi Arabia are closely intertwined and many
scholars have commented on the close-
knit relationship. Denman and Hilal (2011), for example,
explained that “the Islamic religion is
considered as much a part of the Saudi identity as the country’s
longstanding history as part of the
greater Arab Peninsula” (p. 304). Moreover, Ochsenwald (1981)
wrote: "In Saudi Arabia from its
inception Islam has been the omnipresent and dominant factor

6. in public life" (p. 274). Saudi Arabia
is considered as one of the most conservative and orthodox
Muslim societies in the world. In fact,
Saudi Arabia is the only Arab theocratic country where Islam is
greatly intertwined with the
government
Feminist Theory
Feminism is a belief in social, economic as well as political
equality of the two genders [17]. It
recognises and criticises male supremacy while making efforts
to change it.
Feminists generally fight for gender equality “and argue that
women should have an equal share in
society’s opportunities” as well as other resources that are
scarce [17-21].
The principal relevance of the feminist theory is to define and
analyse the critical possibilities affiliated
to gender inequality [31]. Feminism asserts that the position of
the woman in society is determined by
institutional and social factors, in addition, there is ample
evidence demonstrating that women have
been continuously treated as inferior citizens [13]. As a mode of
analysis, feminism is grounded in the

7. link between the social institutions which influence the daily
life of individuals and in a desire for
social change. As a theory, feminism is both scientific and
political. According to reference [13],
feminist scholars are identified by their political interest in
protesting against women’s oppression and
view their scholarly work as a contribution to comprehensive
understanding of why and how
liberation of women should be achieved.
In the recent past, the government has developed campaigns
against gender segregation with the
major stakeholders endeavouring to ensure change in the
education processes within the Saudi
political system and promoting equality by institutionalising
more female learning institutions to
enhance the number of Saudi women reaching higher education
[23]. Importantly, the scrutiny on
women’s rights to bring about gender equality, particularly in
education and leadership, defines the
value- 122 American Journal of Educational Research free
direction within the political systems, not
only in Saudi Arabia, but also in global political systems [26].
The processes involved in mitigating this

8. sexual objectification and stereotyping directed against women
in Saudi society with regard to
education achievement include education equity by opening
more institutions of higher learning for
women, mainstreaming the school curricula for girls’
institutions of learning and incorporating
subjects and career fields that do not discriminate against the
interaction between the males and
females in this society [16].
“Providing Equal Opportunities.” According to Al Saud (n.d.),
Our economy will provide
opportunities for everyone – men and women, young and old, so
they may contribute to the best of
their abilities. We will place a renewed emphasis on 14 lifelong
training, and we will seek to make
the most of the potential of our workforce by encouraging a
culture of high performance. These
efforts will be coordinated by the recently established Job
Creation and Anti-Unemployment
Commission… Saudi women are yet another great asset. With
over 50 percent of our university
graduates being female, we will continue to develop their
talents, invest in their productive

9. capabilities and enable them to strengthen their future and
contribute to the development of our
society and economy. (Al-Saud, n,d, p.37) As seen in this quote,
there is support for support for
women in relation to completing the Saudi 2030 vision.
Insert statistics of working men and women ratio.
As of 2016, there were 38 universities in Saudi Arabia, with 28
being public and 10 private. There
were also 20 private colleges and four “other” higher
educational institutions 20 (Ministry of
Education, 2016). Within these institutions, there were 4,462-
degree programs’. These degree
programs were divided by gender, with 31% of the degree
programs offered only to men, 18.6%
were for women only, and 50.4% of the degree programs are
provided to both men and women
(Ministry of Education, 2015a). Although the number of private
universities was high, 82.3% of
degree programs were provided in public universities, while
only eight percent were provided by
private universities and 9.7% were provided by other
institutions (Ministry of Education, 2015a).

10. Eight universities were restricted solely to male enrollment and
employment, five were restricted to
female enrollment and employment, and the remaining
institutions had both genders as employees
and students (Ministry of Education, 2015a). One of the five
women’s institutions, Princess Nora
University, was “founded in 2007, was the world’s largest
university for women with an enrollment
of over 52,000 undergraduate and graduate students” (Saudi
Embassy, 2016, para.30). However,
although most of the universities employ both men and women,
nearly all of the presidents were
men. The only time that there were female university presidents
was when the university was
women-only (Ministry of Education, 2015a). system.
In higher education, the situation is not much better. Although
the percentage of women university
presidents in the United States has increased from 23% in 2006
to 26% in 2011 (American Council
on Education, 2012), the 26% still seems to be small in
comparison to the percentage of women in
the labor force. In Europe, women make up 10% of leadership
positions in organizations (European
Commission, 2005, cited in Ryan, Haslam, & Kulich, 2010).

11. The scenario for Saudi women is no
better than for women around the world, since only 6.1% out of
the total number of professional
Saudi women in the workforce are in administration, including
leadership positions (Ministry of
Economy and Planning, 2010).
Example of workplace experiences and link to feminism
In Arab societies, regardless of women’s positions in the public
and private sectors, women are
considered inferior and subordinates to men, even if he may
have fewer qualifications (Hamdan,
2005). This scenario is strongly replicated in Saudi Arabian
leadership positions, and the decision-
making roles are predominantly male. Saudi men are in charge
of running all sectors in the country,
regardless of their qualifications; even though qualified,
educated women are available, as well. The
highest leadership position a Saudi women can reach, especially
in higher education, is serving as a
deputy to her male counterparts. This form of glass ceiling
created by the cultural perception of
women’s roles as assistants to men is 33 constraining their

12. advancement and professional growth.
Until this glass ceiling is unveiled, the status quo for Saudi
women will remain the same
(AlMunajjed, 1997, 2010; Hamdan, 2005).
Since women hold less status than men in society and the
workplace, many organization and
institutions construct policies and culture that perpetuate this
status for women (Eagly, 1987;
Sabattini & Crosby, 2009). Such institutional policies and
culture force female leaders to either
speak out or to be passive. Meanwhile, the voices of these
women challenge the traditional
institutional culture imposed upon them. And, either option,
being silenced or heard, still could
harm these female leaders (Chan, 2010). Sabattini and Crosby
(2009) suggested that 46
organizations and institutions should implement flexible work-
life and family-friendly policies to
decrease the gender gap in leadership positions. They proposed:
utilizing technologies, career
flexibility, work-life programs, leadership support, managers’
and employees’ training,
implementing governmental initiatives, and changing the culture
to be more inclusive and

13. supportive (Sabattini & Crosby, 2009)
conclusion:
In Saudi Arabia, the situation for women seeking leadership
opportunities is similar to women
worldwide, but perhaps even more challenging due to religious
and cultural norms. This 59 chapter
also provided an overview of Saudi Arabia’s culture, primary
and higher education, and work
opportunities.
Methodology :
The previous chapter discussed prevalent literature on the
subject of work-life balance and MCT.
This chapter will discuss how the research will be conducted in
order to answer the questions set
out at the beginning of this dissertation. This chapter will firstly
concentrate, in Section 3.2, on the
research philosophy, discussing the different ontologies and
epistemologies available and which is
best suited for this research. Secondly, in Section 3.3, the most
appropriate data collection technique
will be chosen based on the ontology and epistemology selected.

14. Following that, the sources of data
will be explained and how they were selected for this research
in Section 3.4. Section 3.5 will
evaluate the ethical issues that this research poses. Finally, the
data analysis tool will be discussed,
demonstrating its benefits in Section 3.6
interpretivist paradigm is originally rooted in the fact that
methods used to understanding
knowledge related to human and social sciences cannot be the
same as its usage in physical sciences
because human interprets their world and then acts based on
such interpretation while the world
does not (Hammersley, 2013, p. 26). Consequently,
interpretivists adapt a relativist ontology in
which a single phenomenon may have multiple interpretations
rather than a truth that can be
determined by a process of measurement. Virtually, with
interpretivism perspective, researchers
tend to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and its
complexity in its unique context
instead of trying to generalise the base of understanding for the
whole population (Creswell, 2007).
In the same way, Hammersley (2013) emphasises that since
multiple interpretation is developed

15. among humans’ relationship, interpretivist researchers should
try to understand “the diverse ways of
seeing and experiencing the world through different contexts
and cultures” and try to avoid the bias
in studying the events and people with their own interpretations.
From this aspect, it is highlighted
some advantages of this paradigm in coming discussion. The
first advantage is that with the
diversifying views to look into phenomena, interpretivist
researchers can not only describe objects,
human or events, but also deeply understand them in social
context. In addition, researchers also
can conduct these types of research in natural setting via
utilising key methodologies as grounded
theory, 4 ethnography, case study or life history to gain the
insider’s insights of research’s objects
(Tuli, 2010) to provide with more authentic information related
to the object of research. Second, as
leveraging key method of interactive interview which “allows
researcher to investigate and prompt
things that we cannot observe, researchers can probe an
interviewee’s thoughts, values, prejudices,

16. perceptions, views, feelings and perspectives” (Wellington &
Szczerbinski, 2007). Thus, valuable
data collected will provide researchers with better insights for
further action later. Despite of above
key strengths, this paradigm also remains some disadvantages.
One of these limitations is that the
intepretivists aim to gain the deeper understanding and
knowledge of phenomena within its
complexity of the context rather than generalise these results to
other people and other contexts
(Cohen, Manion & Marison, 2011), hence it tends to leave out a
gap in verifying validity and
usefulness of research outcomes with using scientific
procedures. The second criticism of
interpretivism is that its ontological view tends to be subjective
rather than objective (Mack, 2010).
For this reason, research outcomes are unquestionally affected
by the researcher’s own
interpretation, own belief system, ways of thinking or cultural
preference which causes to many
bias. The last limitation of interpretivism is about the lack of
addressing the political and ideological
impact on knowledge and social reality. This paradigm targets
to understanding of current

17. phenomena rather than focusing the problems related to
empowerment of individuals and societies.
Mack (2010) refers that this theoretical perspective implicitly
neglects the issues of power and
agency, which are features of our society. Interestingly, this
specific limitation has potentially led to
the role of critical inquiry in further enhancing the
practicability of research