Gender-based barriers to senior management positions: Understanding the scarcity of female CEOs

Although the number of women in middle management has grown quite rapidly i n the last two decades, the number of female CEOs in large corporations rem ains extremely low. This article examines many explanations for why women h ave not risen to the top, including lack of line experience, inadequate car eer opportunities, gender differences in linguistic styles and socializatio n, gender-based stereotypes, the old boy network at the top, and tokenism. Alternative explanations are also presented and analyzed, such as differenc es between female leadership styles and the type of leadership style expect ed at the top of organizations, feminist explanations for the underrepresen tation of women in top management positions, and the possibility that the m ost talented women in business often avoid corporate life in favor of entre preneurial careers.