Gender Stereotypes in Sri Lankan Legal Profession: The Company Secretarial Role

Abstract

Phenomenon of corporate glass ceiling still exist in many companies across the globe and especially evident in Asian region including Sri Lanka. Comparative to other top management positions, board are predominated by men and recognized and acknowledged as a masculine arena. (Konrad, Kramer & Erkut, 2008). As a member of the board, role of company secretary is drastically changed overtime. Similarly, it has been claimed that company secretary is the longest serving member in a board comparative to directors. Due to orthodox patriarchal mindset, this critical and significant role in the modern companies is still an under researched domain (McNulty and Stewart, 2015; Hilb, 2011; Cadbury, 2002; Roberts, 2003; Muller, Lipp & Pluss, 2007, Erismann- Peyer, Steger & Salzmann, 2008). However, with the recent corporate and financial crisis, the role of company secretary regained its prominence as earlier. This study reflected on the research problem of whether modern company secretarial role is a gender stereotyped in Asian region especially in Sri Lanka? This is a qualitative exploratory and descriptive research. Findings of the study revealed that modern company secretaries plays an important role as central corporate governance professional in both private and public companies. Also, company secretarial role was transformed from simple administrative record keeping to a top-notch corporate governance and leadership role. Further, this study provide evidence, how Sri Lankan company secretaries utilized this gender stereotyped role to scatters contemporary corporate glass ceiling and utilized it as a strategy to diffuse gender equality on contemporary patriarchal Sri Lankan society.