Careers of Algerian Women Managers: The Psychological Drivers of Discrimination in Professional Careers

Today, the texts governing the Algerian economy claim equality between men and women in the labour market: no training, no profession, and no position of responsibility is legally closed to women. Algerian law prohibits all discrimination in hiring and career development. The imbalance has even been reversed in one essential respect: women are entering the university field more than men and are more successful. However, they account for only 19% (ONS, 2020) of the working population and are still only marginally present in positions of responsibility in the public and private sectors. However, this progressive and constant access of women to so-called 'male' bastions has led to the emergence of a professional category, namely female managers. The reason that led us to choose this research object is the desire to understand and apprehend the professional pathway of this category of women (executives), to attempt, through professional and family representations and perceptions, to understand the identity construction of women occupying executive positions. In this perspective, empirical research built on a qualitative approach, based on semi-directive interviews with 20 women executives working in a public paramilitary institution, appeared relevant. This research aimed to understand the career path through the professional experiences of women managers insofar as it highlighted professional trajectories interacting with family life and different professional rhythms in terms of career. More generally, how women managers in this institution articulate their private and professional life and place them in an organisational context. In this sense, studying the practices and social representations of women managers means understanding the codes, values, and ideologies that women's work occupies in Algerian society as a whole and this paramilitary institution.