Overcoming the Gender Bias in Training: An empirical approach in the Latin American quick-service restaurant industry

The services sector in Latin America has emerged as a major employer of female labor: nearly 50% of women in the workforce are either directly or indirectly employed in this sector. However, these numbers belie the fact that women occupy mostly low-wage, frontline positions in the service industry as opposed to better-paid managerial positions. Our previous research shows that in a leading QSR company in Colombia markedly fewer women go farther up the hierarchy. We hypothesize that existing screening and training resources for managerial positions may overemphasize male-centric approaches and styles, posing a systemic friction for women in their recruitment for or promotion to managerial positions. We aim to evaluate the impact of a gender-informed managerial training program we are developing from prior research in other contexts and an ongoing baseline assessment of the gender heterogeneity in the productive value of different skills, practices, and styles among existing QSR managers.