2008 Occasional Papers - AUK

more women a chance to flourish in the Kuwaiti businessworld. Hence, although various signs of a glass ceiling weredetected in the vast majority of companies studied in thisresearch, a few companies were encountered that showeda great support of and dependency on female managers.One such company is Global Investment House. 4Global is a company whose managerial model andhierarchy clearly contradict the presence of a glass ceiling.For one thing, the Vice Chairman and managing Directorof the company is Mrs. Maha Khaled Al-Ghunaim 5 ,a remarkable businesswoman who, as one source putsit, has managed to build a highly admirable reputationfor herself that extends far beyond the Arab businesscommunity. She is the leading asset of the company andthe person who takes care of the management team aswell as all other departments. At Global, the qualificationsof job applicants - rather than their gender - are takeninto account when employment is involved. Furthermore,everyone is treated equally in the company, and salaries,increments, as well as bonuses are distributed accordingto job position alone.Indeed, Mrs. Al-Ghunaim’s success story - which startedless than 6 years ago upon her decision to start her owncorporation 6 – clearly demonstrates that women canindeed make it to top management positions and excelas managers if they possess enough determination. LikeMrs. Al-Ghunaim, there are several other distinguishedwomen that were able to overcome the glass ceiling withtheir determination and hard work and make it to the topof the corporate ladder. These include Sheikha KhaledAl-Bahar 7 , the general manager of the National Bank ofKuwait, and Sara Akbar 8 from the Kuwait Oil Company.Kuwaiti women throughout much of history have hadto fight for their rights to work, travel, and vote withina dominant male society. After they were granted theright to vote in 2006, Kuwait witnessed the appointmentof its first female minister, Dr. Masouma Al-Mubarak. 9Even though women feel that they are moving forwardin their efforts to claim their rights, many women are stilldenied certain positions that the government feels thatthey cannot handle.In my opinion, men and women are alike, especially inbusiness, but they differ in their ability to implement andadapt to a job or a business in a way that makes theirpresence noticeable. After the liberation of Kuwait, Iwent for an interview to one of the largest companiesin Kuwait. I was interviewed by two male managers;during the interview, I experienced a great deal of tensionand negative sensations, and I kept wondering what thesource of this feeling was. I soon came to realize that myeducation, experience, and technical knowledge, as well asmy being a female Kuwaiti, was too much to deal with forsome. The interview lasted for 20 minutes and as I wasleaving, one of the directors escorted me to the door andbluntly informed me that I was overqualified for the joband could cause a threat to any one of them.Therefore, it is very common in Kuwait for a womannot to be promoted to a higher position just becauseshe is a woman. A lot of work in Kuwait is done in the“Diwaniya”, a daily male ritual where men gather at nightin a special meeting room for social and family contactpurposes. With time, the Diwaniya evolved into a formof business contact through which big business deals aremade. Since women are not allowed into the Diwaniya,top managers tend to feel that they will somehow lose inthe long run if they were to hire female managers - evenif the female applicants qualify for the job.Although many indicators of a glass ceiling are presentin Kuwait, it is important to note that the glass ceilingphenomenon extends to many important businessinstitutions around the world, including ones in advancedand developed countries. Empirical evidence for theglass ceiling in the United States is rather widespread, 10for example, and this seems especially true if one looksat the Fortune 500 companies and their ratio of femaleto male CEOs. According to an article released recentlyin 2007, “as of 2005, only eight Fortune 500 companieshave women CEOs or presidents, and 67 of those 50074 5 6 7 8 9