Most women aspiring to senior management
positions believe the glass ceiling to career progression still exists,
according to a report by a leading UK management organization.
The survey of 3,000 members of the Institute of
Leadership and Management (ILM) found 73% of female respondents felt barriers
still existed for women seeking senior management and board-level positions in
the UK. In contrast, just 38% of men believed there is a glass ceiling.
The report, Ambition and Gender at Work, suggests
women's managerial career aspirations lag behind men's at every stage of their
working lives, and that they have less clarity over traditional career
direction than men.
At the start of their careers, 52% of male
managers had a fair or clear idea that they wanted to work in a particular
role, compared with 45% of women managers. Only half of women said they
expected to become managers, versus two-thirds of men. Even among the
under-30s, gender aspirations remained entrenched, with 45% of men and 30% of
women expecting to become managers or leaders.
The findings, which came from an even sample of
men and women with an average age of 43, also revealed that 24% of women under
30 expected to start their own businesses within 10 years, compared with 20% of
men.
It's not that women are risk-averse; younger
women in particular are incredibly ambitious around entrepreneurial activity.
Yet we can see that a promotion path within a large organization is almost seen
as riskier for them, on a personal basis, than going out and setting up their
own venture.
Companies have to think about how they can
nurture that ambition. The only way is to hold chairmen and chief executives
responsible. Good governance is good governance and it shouldn't be
gender-specific.
A separate recent report by the London School of
Economics for cosmetics company Avon predicted
a doubling in young female entrepreneurs over the next decade, with 72% of the
2,000 16-24-year-old women questioned saying the idea of being their own boss
appealed to them.
Women are not an end in
themselves, and must be part of a package of measures designed to create a more
representative and successful business norm – for example there must also be
wider awareness of incidental discrimination, and action to tackle it. But one
only has to look at the success enjoyed by those countries that have embraced
quotas to see it makes business sense.
Source:
Graham Snowdon , The Guardian, Monday 21
February 2011
