Indonesian Women’s Civil Service Leadership: Analysis of Career Progression Opportunity and Constraint

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231167556
• Author: Helen McLaren,Emi Patmisari,Mohammad Hamiduzzaman,Cassandra Star,Ida Widianingsih
• Date: 01 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231167556

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(6) 1218 –1249

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997231167556

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Article

Indonesian Women’s

Civil Service Leadership:

Analysis of Career

Progression Opportunity

and Constraint

Helen McLaren1, Emi Patmisari1,

Mohammad Hamiduzzaman2, Cassandra Star1,

and Ida Widianingsih3

Abstract

Women in Indonesia’s civil service (n = 320) were surveyed about their

career advancement. Analysis of variance identified differences in career

progression, and post-hoc comparisons were tested using Fisher’s

Least Significant Difference method. We found that family support and

interpersonal relationships, paired with superior education to men, were

critical to women’s successful leadership progression, especially through

the echelon ranks. Qualitative results suggest that interpretations of hadith

outweighed more contemporary textual readings, which required strategic

maneuvering if women wanted to advance. This is because women’s own

career aspirations required their ongoing loyalty to men and strategic

maneuvering among filial, societal, and organizational constraints.

Keywords

women, public sector, female leadership, career progression, Indonesia

1Flinders University Australia, Adelaide, Australia

2Southern Cross University, Coolangatta, QLD, Australia

3Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia

Corresponding Author:

Helen McLaren, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO

Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia.

Email: helen.mclaren@flinders.edu.au

1167556AAS0010.1177/00953997231167556Administration & SocietyMcLaren et al.

research-article2023

McLaren et al. 1219

This article reports on mixed methods research that explored women’s career

advancement in the upper echelon ranks of the Indonesian civil service, spe-

cifically the opportunities and constraints reported by the women. While

important to achieve equitable representation of women in leadership, the

Indonesian civil service context is fraught with gendered personal and politi-

cal issues. The careers paths of women through leadership ranks are full of

obstacles and often blocked. Socio-cultural and policy factors contribute to

inequitable numbers of women in decision-making roles in business, civil

service, and non-government agencies. When there are few women in posi-

tions of power, the women they represent are effectively denied voice in the

formulation of policies and programs affecting them. This is ethically unac-

ceptable and detrimental to human rights. Inequitable representation risks

rendering women in society voiceless, and unserved.

Commonly known as the glass ceiling, researchers agree on the existence

of ever-present barriers that discriminate against women and prevent their

progression to roles observable ahead of them (Cook & Glass, 2014;

Lathabhavan & Balasubramanian, 2017). This is because stereotypes, gender

bias, organizational architecture and structural barriers persist in privileging

men for senior leadership positions (Loring, 2018; H. McLaren et al., 2019).

Women who crack this glass ceiling are highly likely to encounter yet another

glass ceiling in their attempts to advance further (Russo & Hassink, 2012;

Traavik, 2018). This double glass ceiling phenomenon is no longer sufficient

to capture the pervasiveness of women’s leadership progression journey,

which Eagly (2007) more accurately calls a labyrinth. The beginning of a

woman’s career is like entering a labyrinth in which the maze ahead moves

and re-forms, and continuously blocks their way. The few women who navi-

gate this labyrinth may become discursively pressured to join the ranks of

men or be loyal to machismo to survive (Chinga, 2021; Faniko et al., 2017;

Mavin et al., 2017). Inadvertently, some women may then limit opportunities

for other women to follow.

While research exists on barriers experienced by women, less is known of

the enabling factors for women that have succeeded in forging pathways to

the top. A brief overview of the extant literature on women’s leadership is

provided below prior to highlighting women’s career enablers and constraints

in our study.

Leadership Careers and Constraints

Research establishes that individual and environmental factors, along with

institutional conditions, can either enable or hinder women’s advancement.

This is observable when societal interests are blended into organizational

1220 Administration & Society 55(6)

culture and bureaucracy (Busayo, 2017; Wickramaratne, 2013). In localities

where patriarchal culture is strong, collective macro-level change is seen as

critical to opening opportunities for women (Ndlovu & Gerwel Proches,

2019; Shockley et al., 2020). For example, Ohia and Nzewi (2016) examined

the social structures in Nigeria that regulate and sustain public mindsets

viewing male dominance in leadership as normal and natural. They found

that women who succeeded in formerly male domains had to first negotiate

the socio-cultural barriers external to the workplace, then survive within.

While understanding how to navigate the male domain was a career enabler,

more critical was the targeting of macro-level customary institutions main-

taining gender inequity in the first place. A balanced composition may boost

institutional efforts toward equality, diversity, and social inclusion, and help

to dismantle barriers operating at all societal levels (Diehl & Dzubinski,

2016). However, in a recent study of women’s leadership, Caven et al. (2022)

argued that an equal proportion of women does not guarantee that gender

equality in society will be or has been established.

Authors focusing at the micro-system level argue that women would suc-

ceed in career advancement by participating in leadership development pro-

grams (Jugmohan & Muzvidziwa, 2017), receiving mentoring from

colleagues or leaders (Khalid et al., 2017) or guidance to become leaders

from other leaders in their organizations (Beeson & Valerio, 2012). Women’s

personality traits are frequently provided as a reason for non-progression to

leadership and some researchers argue that women need male role models,

male mentors, or to act more like men, to succeed (Azmi et al., 2012; Kim &

Cho, 2018). More like men means being “agentic,” with assertive, control-

ling, dominant, and competitive acumen (Boytos et al., 2020). However,

Boytos et al. (2020) identified a paradox in which women leaders tend to

operate from a stereotypically feminine modality in which collegiality and

relationships are important in leadership, but these qualities are often con-

structed as deficits in women.

In overcoming so-called leadership deficiencies in women, researchers

propose that girls should participate in leadership courses from a young age

to equip them with appropriate tools, confidence and capacity as leaders later

in life (Bowen & Miller, 2018; Mims & Kaler-Jones, 2020), likewise locating

gender and not patriarchy as the problem. In response, researchers suggest

that girls could be conditioned to be risk embracing and assertive, and pro-

posing associations between women’s assertiveness and the capacity to gar-

ner the trust of their families and communities to pursue leadership careers

(Guillén et al., 2018; Notwell, 2018). Such researchers argue that these con-

ditions are necessary to progress in societies where male leadership is

favored, irrespective of women’s leadership capacity. However, it is unlikely