Work Uncertainty and the Promotion of Professional Women: The Case of Law Firm Partnership

Work uncertainty may affect gender disparities in professional's upward mobility in organizational hierarchies. Professional work involves three forms of uncertainty — problem variability, strategic indeterminacy and dependence on autonomous actors — that weaken the association between performa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 2006-12, Vol.85 (2), p.865-890
Main Author: Gorman, Elizabeth H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actors
Ambiguity
Analysis
Attorneys
Business and professional women
Business structures
Business studies
Candidates
Certainty
Collaboration
Company business management
Comparable Worth
Empirical research
Employed Women
Employee promotions
Employment
Employment Level
Employment policies
Equal Opportunities (Jobs)
Equality
Females
Firm theory
Gender
Gender Discrimination
Gender performativity
Gender roles
Hierarchy
Law
Law firms
Law Schools
Lawyers
Legal practice
Male-female relationships
Management
Men
Mobility
Organizational Effectiveness
Part time employment
Partnerships
Personnel Selection
Problems
Professional Personnel
Professional Women
Professional workers
Professionals
Promotion (Occupational)
Proportions
Selection Criteria
Sex Fairness
Social Characteristics
Social mobility
Studies
Trust
U.S.A
Uncertainty
Women
Women attorneys
Women lawyers
Women's work
Work
Work organization
Working women
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Summary:Work uncertainty may affect gender disparities in professional's upward mobility in organizational hierarchies. Professional work involves three forms of uncertainty — problem variability, strategic indeterminacy and dependence on autonomous actors — that weaken the association between performance and ability, leading organizational decision-makers to weigh gender more heavily in promotion decisions. Strategic indeterminacy also increases the need for trust, so decision-makers feel more comfortable promoting candidates of their own sex. These ideas are explored using data on promotions to partnership in U.S. law firms. Findings show that (1) promotions are less likely to go to women when work involves greater problem variability and strategic indeterminacy; and (2) the negative effect of strategic indeterminacy becomes stronger as the proportion of male partners increases.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1353/sof.2007.0004