Resignation of Women Managers: Dispelling the Myths

The relative lack of career achievement among female managers, when com pared to male managers, is often attributed to higher turnover rates of women. Such stereotyping may result in the development and perpetuation of a vicious cycle. On the one hand, perceptions of turnover rates may impact on promotional opportunities of women managers; on the other, women man agers may resign because, for example, they do not perceive they receive equivalent promotional opportunities as their male counterparts or there is dissatisfaction with the management style.

This article reports the findings of a recent study into the reasons why managers resign. Managers in Australian were surveyed to identify whether or not female managers resign for the same reasons as male managers. The research findings suggest that both male and female managers resign from organizations in Australia for effectively the same reasons. The findings also suggested significant gender differences between respondents in areas related to the environment within which managers work. These differences were inde pendent of resignation status.