Abstract Book of the 3rd World Conference on Gender Equality
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Gender diverse Boards and Women´s Career Advancement in Austrian Corporations
Birgit Fischer
ABSTRACT:
This research presents first findings from a qualitative study examining how gender-diverse supervisory boards influence gender equality across management levels in Austrian corporations. While existing research highlights the symbolic and strategic importance of women on boards (Seierstad & Opsahl, 2011; Terjesen et al., 2015), the internal mechanisms that translate board diversity into organizational change remain underexplored. Grounded in gendered organizational theory (Acker, 1990) and Upper-echelon Theory (Hambrick & Mason, 1984), this study draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with senior and mid-level executives from four major Austrian corporations. The aim was to understand how diversity objectives are implemented internally, and how leadership careers are shaped by structural and cultural factors. Interviewees widely acknowledged gender diversity as a strategic objective but emphasized that “most measures remain compliance-driven or symbolic.” Traditional leadership ideals – such as “the expectation of full-time, uninterrupted career trajectories” – continue to shape promotion criteria, unintentionally excluding women with non-linear careers due to childrearing or part-time work (Williams, 2003). Participants described a “disconnect between board-level diversity and middle-management pipelines”, with mentoring and inclusive hiring seen as promising but insufficient. Few reported observable changes in promotion of women beyond the board level. Austria`s combination of progressive legislation and deeply rooted cultural norms creates an emblematic setting to examine these contradictions. This poster showcases emerging insights from these interviews, contributing to the debate on how board diversity policies might better translate into tangible outcomes for women across all organizational levels.
Keywords: Austria, boards, career trajectories, gender diversity, organizational change