Why women find it so difficult to access top jobs and why the change takes so long
Quotas to improve gender balance on corporate boards (and threats to introduce them) have gone some way to pushing Europe in terms of female representation in directorships. But the fact remains: globally women are astonishingly scarce in the higher spheres of corporate management.
Two U.S. researchers, Luce and Hewlett, studied the career trajectories of a large number of women and noted that female executives were more likely to follow paths filled with “horizontal” career interruptions. Reasons vary and include motherhood, a husband’s career, family commitments to children or aging parents, or personal preferences. Women consider such temporary exits from their career a natural thing. However, reintegrating back into the organisation and finding a job that suits their talents often proves impossible.
The big hurdle in this case has nothing to do with skills and pertains to women’s deviation from the “standard” career path designed by and for men. Perverse labelling (conscious or subconscious) sets in as well: women find themselves characterised as unable to be counted on, lacking professional commitment, or presenting insufficient experience given their age. The solution lies in changing false perceptions and establishing a number of “ladders” that allow women back on the path.
“If he’s sponsoring her, he must like her a lot…”
A third major hurdle to the top is the matter of sponsorship. Sponsoring is key to earning the assignments that allow an individual to show that he or she is “CEO” material.
Recent research by INSEAD Professor Herminia Ibarra carried out jointly with Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva, Vice-President and Research Director of Catalyst, an organisation devoted to promoting opportunities for women in business, confirmed that although women enjoy the same career mentoring and coaching as men, critical differences appear in terms of what they identify as “sponsoring” which is significantly inferior to that enjoyed by men. Men tend to sponsor largely other men, those that do look to sponsor a female subordinate will find the value of the association discounted by the thinking “if he’s sponsoring her, he must like her a lot…”.
While this in itself should be bad enough, Hekman and Foo confirm that minority leaders (including women) who actively sponsor minority candidates (including women) are themselves labelled as less competent than executives whose attitude toward minorities are less positive … unless the latter are white males.
New Behaviours, New Attitudes, and New Requirements to Support the Change
The conclusion to all this is clear: the barriers (behaviors, labels, biases…) that prohibit the progression of women to the top are deep-rooted, pernicious, and ubiquitous … and much more prevalent than we imagine and recognise.
Ending this unfair discrimination against women requires understanding, creativity, commitment and perseverance, and foremost positive action by both men and women. As my colleague Jean-François Manzoni points out, “We do not see the world as it is, we see it as we are.” The implication is that the first change we need to make is to see the world as it really is.
The idea that this discrimination will, or ought to, end “voluntarily” just flatly defies the research we have mentioned. Things are too ingrained. Patterns must be broken. And that is where regulation – such as a quota for women - has its place. Hopefully temporarily …
Ludo Van der Heyden is the Chaired Professor in Corporate Governance and Academic Director of the INSEAD Corporate Governance Initiative. He co-directs the International Directors Programme, and the Value Creation for Owners and Directors Programme.
[This article is republished courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge, the portal to the latest business insights and views of The Business School of the World. Copyright INSEAD 2024]