·
More than 50% of graduates in
the UK are women
·
Nearly 50% of the workforce in
the UK are women
So
why are the vast majority of the top jobs held by men?
It
is widely recognised that businesses perform better with women throughout the
company, so what is going wrong?
There
are several possible scenarios:
·
Is it that recruitment is
biased in favour of men?
·
Is the system stacked against
women with families?
·
Or do few women aspire to the
lifestyles that go with the top jobs?
Undoubtedly
career success requires hard work and the willingness to make tough choices.
Women have to make sure they are the right person, in the right job at the
right time – but that isn’t the whole story. As Hilary Devey says
“It
may be a little more difficult for a woman than a man so she has to work harder
– fact.”
This
may be true, but is it right?
This
situation represents a shocking waste of talent – it is bad for women, bad for
business and bad for the economy. The system of promoting from only half of the
workforce, as is the case in many companies, is inefficient and is causing the
loss of a vast amount of talent from the business sector.
Every
business knows there is a huge cost associated with recruitment and training so
it surely makes sense to retain the skill sets that have cost so much to
develop? This has to be basic good business sense.
Women
bring different life experiences, different perspectives and are often more
constructive. This ultimately leads to better decision making. Evidence shows
that companies with an equal mix of men and women in leadership positions make
better decisions, make a higher return on sales, equity and capital investment.
So
what can be done?
Hilary
Devey states that not enough women are coming forward to apply for senior
roles. Why is this?
It
may be that the wording of job advertisements contain gender bias. Words such
as “gravitas”, “demanding”, “relentless”, “outstanding” and “exceptional” will
all lead to more applications from men. It may also influence the recruiters
who may appoint candidates based on unconscious language bias and gender
stereotypes.
Added
to this is the tendency for women to point out the few attributes from a long
list that they feel they fall short in and use this to talk themselves out of a
job. Men, on the other hand, will often point out the few attributes they are
confident in and ignore those they may not possess.
It
is an issue of confidence.
In
the UK today, approximately two-thirds of women work at least part time.
Many
of these find the challenges of juggling work and family commitments can affect
their confidence and their career progression.
There
comes a point when women have to choose what they want to do with their lives
and often, work is an important part of this. However, the reality is that
being a mother can slow their progress up the career ladder.
More
than four in ten mothers with good degrees say they have taken a job for which
they are over-qualified in order to secure a part-time working arrangement. Too
often they have to sacrifice seniority and pay to achieve a satisfactory
work/life balance.
There
are also the costs of childcare to be factored in to the equation. Childcare in
the UK is among the most expensive in the world and many families spend 33% of
their annual budget on this. Often it just doesn’t make financial sense for
women to return to full-time work after having children.
Clearly
it is a complex issue. However, there are facts that point to it being cost
effective for companies to develop strategies for managing career breaks
because it has been demonstrated time and time again that mixed gender teams
and departments produce more profit.
What
do you think?
Do
you have a solution to the issue?
More
to follow in Part 2.
Sue
Courtney is an expert in Personal Rebranding for Career Success.
For
information about her programmes and events please email her at sue@successandimagecoach.co.uk
Or
go to her website at
Free
book – “The Ultimate Guide to Personal Rebranding for Professional Females
Climbing the Corporate Ladder” can be found at www.freepersonalrebrandingbook.co.uk
