Gender Bias: Why women fail to climb the ladder

The failure by women to climb the sticky ladder may be more about unconscious gender bias than intentional discrimination by companies, according to Juliet Bourke, an expert in flexibility and gender equity, and partner at Aqeuus Partners in Sydney. She likens the gender issue to mist: you can see it from a distance, but when you get up close it is hard to identify.

“I think we have become fatigued by our inability to nail this issue. It’s not as if gender inequity is a new topic, but it was easier to challenge the obvious barriers, such as women being excluded from the workforce after marriage, and it’s much harder to challenge the latent barriers,” Bourke says.

Bourke says we subtly value men and women differently through time and recent US research found talent management systems were vulnerable to hidden biases.

The report, Cascading Gender Biases, Compounding Effects, by Catalyst Women, compares the progress (through time) of more than 4000 MBA graduates from 26 universities in Asia, Europe, Canada and the US. Men started with slightly bigger roles and more pay (on average an extra $US4600 for the first job after their MBA), and slightly more opportunities to advance.

Bourke says: “Each slight advantage multiplies, so the outcome is that men ended up in much more senior positions, with more pay, compared with women who were equally ambitious.”

Gender inequity was at the core of the finding. Bourke says this means we should be looking for the subtle decisions people make at work, the micro inequities, rather than the “big bang”.

Consider this scenario: a male leader has to choose between a male and female for promotion.

Because he doesn’t think the female will complain if she is bypassed but the male will, he chooses the male.

It is these unconscious biases and stereotypical assumptions that need to be worked through, Bourke says.

“One of the standout assumptions is that men are leaders and women are followers,” she says.

“Managers can also make assumptions about men being more interested in career and women being more interested in family, but both seek a satisfying blend of work and family.”

Organisations with more than 100 people are required to implement equal employment opportunity policies, but Bourke says many people don’t understand what that means in practice.

In other words, the policies are only as effective as the people who implement them.

“If managers are held accountable for their decisions and given the tools to identify [whether] hidden biases have crept in, we will start moving towards equity,” Bourke says.

In 2008, an Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace report found the number of executive managers in the ASX200 declined to 10.7 per cent from 12 per cent in 2006.

The number of companies with no women executive managers rose to 45.5 per cent from 39.5 per cent in 2006.

There is now opportunity for change, Bourke says, with the Australian Stock Exchange proposing changes to its corporate governance principles and recommendations, including changes in reporting on gender.

As from July 1, ASX200 companies will have to advise the ASX of their diversity strategy, percentage of women on boards and in senior management, and set targets for improvement.

Another barrier to women’s career progression is the long hours culture. Bourke argues we need to question the way work is designed, so people from diverse backgrounds can be brought into the loop.

“As we move into a time of labour shortages, it will be imperative that we design jobs which are more inclusive of both men and women,” she says.

Flexibility will be key.

A recent report prepared by KPMG for the Diversity Council of Australia found introducing more flexible arrangements for people with childcare and parenting responsibilities could boost national economic activity by 9 per cent.

DCA chief executive Nareen Young says flexible work is important for the careers of primary caregivers as well as organisations.

“Introducing more flexible work will help more women remain with their employers. As a result, turnover rates and therefore costs would be lower for the employer, and the investment in women’s skills would not be lost to the employment market and the economy,” Young says.

“It also means people with the best skills and knowledge would be more likely to be in roles to match to their capabilities, thereby improving productivity,” she adds.

Gai McGrath is one of a small number of women who have managed to climb the sticky ladder. She is general manager of customer service at BT Financial Group, leading a team of about 1100 people.

McGrath, a mother of two sons, says having a supportive husband was critical to her career progression. When their youngest son turned two, her husband decided to take advantage of flexible work practices to work part-time in his job as a solicitor with the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.

He has now been working part-time for 13 years.

While many organisations offer flexible work practices, McGrath is concerned balancing family and work is seen just as a women’s problem. She says it is important organisations don’t regard people who access flexible work arrangements as less committed to their work. “It’s got to be a safe thing for men to do as well as women, and society as a whole has got to see it that way,” she says.

McGrath says part of the reason women struggle to make it into senior leadership positions is the way people assess talent. “If they use a very narrow frame of reference about what talent is, then women will be excluded a lot of the time.”

McGrath says the worst thing you can do as a leader is recruit people like yourself. “All you are doing is reinforcing one view of the world and you are not getting the value you can get having people who are different. Diversity is incredibly important.”

McGrath believes this is not just about gender but diversity of background and personality.

Take introverted people, she says. “Often those people have incredible views to offer. It’s just that they don’t talk all the time.

“So thinking about the mix of people you have on your team is more important than anything,” she adds.