The idea of equal opportunity is that men and women, on average, should have the same chances of, say, becoming the chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, or of pursuing careers in management at all levels. What individuals make of their lives should depend on their talents, choices and efforts, and not on artificial barriers such as sexual discrimination. We might expect that equal opportunities will lead to roughly equal representation of men and women in management, or at least that representation at this level will reflect the balance between males and females within the workforce. Should we expect 50% of managers to be women? If so, British business is clearly a long way short of the mark. However, this outcome should only be expected if men and women have, on average, the same talents and make the same choices. It can be argued that part of the ‘under-representation’ of women in management is a reflection of women having, as a group, different attitudes to work and careers than men. In particular, if a proportion of women choose home (i.e. being a stay-at-home mother looking after young children) over career then we would expect men, on average, to be more successful in their careers than women.
‘Mummy, I want to be a housewife’ (Hakim, 1996) Hakim’s research suggests that some women choose to prioritize ‘home’ over ‘career’, and that these choices go some way to explain occupational segregation and pay differences: ‘sex differentials in employment experience . . . are . . . due to personal choice as much as to sex discrimination’. She claims that there is a polarization of the female population between ‘career women’ and ‘home-centered women’.
This research suggests that we need to distinguish between support for the principle of equal opportunity and approval of working wives/mothers among women, and the personal choices of many women about their own lives. However this argument is controversial, because, it can be argued, we need to consider the pressures and constraints that influence women’s ‘choices’. These choices might be explained by cultural norms concerning femininity, or by the refusal of men to take on a fair share of childcare and household chores.
Questions:
1 Do you agree that 50% of managers ought to be female?
2 If not 50%, then what percentage would you settle for?