Conclusions and Recommendations

It is disheartening that from a woman’s perspective the barriers to her progression have diminished so little over the last five years.  It is equally disheartening that the gap in perception between the men and women remains so large.  The proverb which suggests that to understand a man, or in this case a woman, you need to walk a mile in his shoes is well illustrated here.  Many men just don’t understand what it feels like to be a woman at work.  To engage men in diversity initiatives, organisations need to work on this understanding; otherwise, diversity will always be viewed as “lip service” to HR or preferential treatment.  Without men actively involved in dismantling these barriers and challenging the preconceptions and stereotypes which hinder women’s progression, little will change. 

The top barrier to progression remains balancing work and family.  It is depressing that in 2010 women still pay a career penalty for having a family.  Some will cite “choice” and suggest that sacrificing progression at work for a family life is an acceptable trade off but it is one that leaves organisations and the UK as a whole poorer.  The implications of failing to address this issue go far beyond the disappointments and frustrations of these women’s careers. We risk wasting the talents of another generation of women and leaving the board rooms of UK organisations without the diversity of skills talents and experiences that will enrich decision making, enhance innovation and make the UK more competitive in the future. 

Recommendations

Raise Awareness

Effective diversity programmes require all employees to recognise the need for change and become involved.  In particular, engaging men is recognised as an important pre requisite for successful change and research indicates that this is best done by building their own sense of fairness[1]. This research is a powerful catalyst for action:  showing that, whilst diversity structures and processes are in place, complacency is misplaced.   The research shows that and that there is still a gulf between men and women’s experiences at work.  Employers should use this to generate discussion about how both men and women’s behaviour is affected by gender norms and stereotyping.  This will help to get men involved in changing culture rather than simply being viewed as part of the problem.

Set Targets

The slow pace of change over the last few decades undermines the assumption, once commonly held, that it was just a case of women working their way up the pipeline and into the board room.  This report indicates that the barriers which prevent this have not diminished in the five years since this research was originally conducted.  If we are to do better over the next five years then organisations need to do more to force the pace of change.   Many of the barriers highlighted as in this report require behavioural changes, but experience suggests that if we rely on awareness raising and sharing best practice then the pace of change will remain glacial at best.  Organisations are caught in a vicious circle:  there are not sufficient numbers of women at senior levels to force a change of culture and behaviour and whilst the prevailing culture presents barriers to women’s progression, there are unlikely ever to be.  Targets are a way of breaking out of this circle and forcing the pace of change.  Meaningful targets for the recruitment retention and development of women send a clear message that diversity is a business issue which should be measured, accounted for and remunerated in the same way as other business issues.

Leadership

Leaders play a key role in setting the culture of an organisation.  Leaders need to be vocal and visible in their support of diversity and in their challenge to unacceptable behaviours. Even more importantly they must  displaying more inclusive leadership behaviours such as recognising the strategic importance of diversity to the business, being open to change, valuing people and valuing difference, being aware of their own unconscious biases, and being able to inspire and lead others to do the same . 

Role Models

Leaders also have an important part to play in finding and supporting female role models.  The lack of female role models reflects a lack of women at the top.  But there can also be reluctance among those women who have made it to speak up.  Leaders can help with the latter issue by personally inviting women to play a more active role in gender diversity in their organisations and publically supporting their decision to do so. 

Tackle unconscious bias

Many of the barriers in this report are a manifestation of what is now commonly termed unconscious bias: the assumptions and attitudes which shape all of our behaviours without us even realising it.  For example stereotyping of roles and abilities emerges as an important barrier. Thus, where women are frequently stereotyped as warm and friendly and leaders are stereotyped as tough and strong, women will find it hard to progress, as will men who do not fit the mould.   This benefits neither women nor organisations.

Tackling unconscious bias in organisations can be a powerful lever for change.  It allows organisations to move away from polarised and pejorative debate about discrimination to a discussion of fairness and inclusion, recognising, for example, that a different question would have revealed just as much unconscious bias from the female managers in this research as they perceive is displayed by the male managers. 

 Many organisations have undergone unconscious bias programmes and training, designed to raise awareness among individuals of their own bias and how this impacts on their behaviour.  This is most effective when undertaken by senior leaders first and then cascaded through the organisation.   This work needs to be underpinned by longer term work on developing inclusion competencies in the organization.   Binna Kandola in his work on eliminating bias in organisations identified inclusion competences as including[2]:

•  Developing people 
•  Valuing individuals
•  Championing diversity
•  Strategic diversity focus.

Mentors and sponsors

Lack of mentoring emerges as a key barrier.  Research indicates  that mentoring systems are likely to work in different ways for women and men [3].  Women are likely to have mentors who act as coaches and provide a sounding board, whereas men are more likely to have mentors who act as sponsors and take responsibility for advocating for their advance through an organisation.  Mentoring schemes could be more effective if they were assessed according to the success or failure of senior male mentors in supporting their women mentees into senior positions.  This is already done at IBM, where it is explicit that women mentored under the FTSE 100 Women at the Top scheme should be promoted within a year, and accountability mechanisms are invoked if this has not happened.  This does not restrict the choices available to those making board appointments, but it does make it more attractive for those holding power to advocate for women. 

Give women a voice

One way of changing behaviour is to personalise people’s understanding of the issue – facts and figures about women’s progression in an organisation may not break through, where an understanding developed through a personal story will.   There is a range of evidence from employers that creating spaces for women and men to speak about their experiences within an organisation can be transformative in developing understanding and changing attitudes[4].  Reverse mentoring programmes for example, enable senior managers to personalise their understanding of the barriers that more junior colleagues from underrepresented groups face. 

Provide women with a platform

Women have the skills and competencies to progress into senior leadership positions.  However often they just don’t get noticed. For women with agile working patterns, visibility is even more problematic.   Providing women with a platform to demonstrate their abilities is vital.  Mentors acting as sponsors can help with this.  Encouraging women to get involved in extracurricular activities to raise their profile is also important.  Women’s networks have a role to play, where they provide the chance for women to meet and work with senior leaders they would otherwise not come onto contact with. Most important however is to make sure that diversity and balance is considered when managers are allocating work and pulling together project teams.  Agile workers in particular often miss out on high profile opportunities. Providing managers with support and guidance to manage agile working effectively so that all team members contribute and can be recognised is vital[5], as is a clear articulation from senior managers of the business case for a good gender balance of skills, experience and perspective, and a willingness to challenge those who regularly sideline female talent.

Mainstream agile working

Balancing work and family remains the top barrier for women.  Research indicates that women still retain primary responsibility for managing care and domestic arrangements.  However there are some signs that this is changing.  As men start to take on more of these responsibilities, this juggling will also act as a barrier their careers, unless employers radically change their attitude to agile and flexible working. 

Opportunity Now research[6] indicates that employers and employees will never reap the potential benefits of agile working whilst it is viewed as an employee benefit rather than a fundamental rethink of the way we work.    Organisations who have successfully embedded agile working have changed the way work is organised; shifting focus from jobs to tasks and from individuals to teams.  This promotes clarity and transparency about the way that work is organised and provides managers with far more flexibility of resourcing.  This approach, which recognises that many employees can and should work flexibly offers the best chance of moving flexible working away from “the Mummy Track” to a new way of working that offers better results for both individuals and employees.