GENDER INEQUALITY AT WORK AS A FACTOR OF WOMEN'S CAREER SUCCESS

The research is devoted to the problem of studying mechanisms of influence of gender inequality on career success of working women. The aim of the study is to find the connection between manifestations of gender inequality and resources available for development in the workplace and the career success of a woman. A socio-psychological model of success factors for working women was developed, including both the organizational environment and career resources for predicting success. The study was conducted in two phases in 2020-2021 using an online survey on a sample of women working in organizations in different fields. In the first phase (206 women aged 19 to 62), the relationships of the individual constructs of the model were tested; in the second phase (781 women aged 18 to 82), the socio-psychological model was tested by structural modelling (SEM). The results of the study confirm a positive relationship of women's career success with the availability of organizational resources (R = 0.56, p < 0.01) and the ability to implement networking behavior (R = 0.56, p < 0.01), and a negative relationship with perceived organizational policies (R = -0.38, p < 0.01), with structural (R = -0.24, p < 0.05) and normative (R = -0.2, p < 0.05) gender inequalities. The results of testing the socio-psychological model and alternatives by structural modelling show that gender inequality has a negative effect on women's career success, but the main contribution to limiting women's career resources and reducing career success comes from non-transparent organizational policies.