How Does Gender Stereotype Affect Women’s Career Progression Toward Top-Leadership Positions in the Corporate Industries of Bangladesh?

<b>How Does Gender Stereotype Affect Women’s Career Progression Toward Top-Leadership Positions in the Corporate Industries of Bangladesh?</b><b>Abstract</b><b>Background </b>Notwithstanding the sharp rise in women’s engagement in the workforce, leadership positions in Bangladesh remain predominantly occupied by men, perpetuated by deep-rooted gender stereotypes and the belief that women lack managerial capabilities. Before commenting on women's leadership ability in Bangladesh, how often they receive the chance to lead compared to males, which consequences they encounter, and why they can't continue are matters of question. To answer this, we have leveraged the Leader-Member Exchange Theory and Career Curve to systematically explore overlooked facets and scrutinize the impact of gender preconceptions on women's leadership advancement.<b>Methods</b>This study employed Nvivo 14 software for qualitative data analysis and conducted 16 in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of mid-level to top-level employees, comprising both genders, within the corporate sector of Bangladesh.ResultsOur findings unveil that women play the out-group role due to the persistent adherence to the "think manager think male" paradigm, the male ego, and fear of accepting women's leadership, critiques, and prejudice within the organization. Hence, women have longer mid-career crises than men and are marginalized in succession planning, which leads women to have self-doubt, moral dilemmas, and the propensity to step down from the lead role and to switch organizations even at inferior positions. Moreover, the persistent adherence to the "think manager, think male" and by-born leadership attitude may inadvertently create a glass ceiling for male advancement in future leadership scenarios.<b>Conclusions</b>The authors urge organizations to foster diversity, challenge biases, ensure equitable professional progression, and adopt think manager think contingent over the think manager think male paradigm.<b>Originality</b>The paper's novelty lies in its substantial contribution to addressing a gap in current literature by comprehensively analyzing the theoretical aspects of leadership and gender stereotypes.<br><b>Author's Contribution</b><b>Marjahan Akter Jhumu</b><b>: </b>Conceptualization, Methodology, Analysing, Visualization, Writing; <b>Mr. Razib Hossain</b><b>:</b><b> </b>Supervision, Editing; <b>Dr. Shah Ridwan Chowdhury:</b> Supervision, Reviewing, Validation<b>Declaration of Competing Interest:</b> The authors declare that there is no competing interest. <br><br><br><br>