The Antecedents of Gender Stereotypical Attitude towards Females in Management

Although the role of women in labor market has increased dramatically in recent years, the share of women from top organizational levels is still very low in comparison with their male colleague worldwide. One explanation for this situation and lowerfemale count in managerial positions is the existence of gender stereotypes about women, which is in conflict with the stereotypes of management and leadership. The purpose of this study is to identify the antecedents of stereotypical attitudes toward females in management positions in Iran.Data gathering tool was semi-structured interview. The open coding method has been used to analyze content of the interviews and to identify concepts and categories. Statistical population of this study consisted of university experts with expertise in human resource management, organizational behavior management, sociology and womenstudies. Fourteen interviews were conducted using purposeful sampling and snowball technique. The results of the study identified 23 concepts and 11 categories as the antecedents of gender stereotypical attitudetowardsfemales in management.