Section head

The barriers to women's progression

The term “glass ceiling” was coined in 1984; 16 years later a combination of workplace attitudes and inflexibility still limit women’s careers and many men do not appear to have noticed. The most striking trend in this research is the fact that men are consistently less likely than women (in most cases less than half as likely) to recognise any of the barriers to gender diversity and women’s progression.

Table 2

“Some women feel exhausted by the battles they face in the workplace - especially when they chose to work flexibly to manage work/life balance. For those trying to progress there is often a lack of senior management support for promotion or development. There is also the problem of long hours 'culture'. As a wife and mother I work extremely hard to balance my time and simply cannot work excessive hours'.
Female Manager

It is not a lack of senior or visibly successful female role models that is the barrier, but a lack of such role models who also have caring responsibilities outside work and keep a reasonable work/life balance... The women who do achieve senior positions mostly seem to all work silly hours, at the drop of a hat and don't have young children or other commitments outside work as well.'

Female Manager