Female Leaders, Organizational Power, and Sex Segregation

A large body of research has examined the organizational factors that promote women’s access to positions of workplace authority. Fewer studies explore how women’s access to these positions influences gender inequality among subordinates. Utilizing a 2005 national sample of South Korean organizations, this article examines whether having women in managerial and supervisory roles is associated with lower levels of workplace sex segregation. In other words, do female leaders function as “agents of change,†or are they merely “cogs in the machine†? The findings indicate that women’s representation in managerial positions is associated with lower levels of sex segregation. Women’s representation among supervisory positions, however, is associated with higher levels of sex segregation. The results, in general, suggest that women in higher levels of organizational power may be important catalysts for change, while women in supervisory positions may be a manifestation of institutionalized inequality. The authors conclude with implications for theory and future research.