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GENDER BALANCE IN MANAGEMENT: A Sectoral Analysis

GENDER BALANCE IN MANAGEMENT: A Sectoral Analysis. Dr Susan M Ogden. BACKGROUND TO PRESENTATION. Research undertaken as part of two Gender Balance in Management projects within the Centre for Public Policy and Management (CPPM) at GCU: ESF part-funded project 2002-2005

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GENDER BALANCE IN MANAGEMENT: A Sectoral Analysis

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  1. GENDER BALANCE IN MANAGEMENT: A Sectoral Analysis Dr Susan M Ogden

  2. BACKGROUND TO PRESENTATION • Research undertaken as part of two Gender Balance in Management projects within the Centre for Public Policy and Management (CPPM) at GCU: • ESF part-funded project 2002-2005 • Finance, Retail, Health, Voluntary Sector, Manufacturing • Scottish Executive funded project, 2005-2006 • Police Service, NHS, Contract Catering, Food Manufacturing

  3. AIMS OF PRESENTATION • Summarise Sectoral Gender Gaps • Summarise the Barriers to female career progression across sectors • Highlight Organisational Success Stories • Career development enablers • Open up discussion… • Implications of Gender Equality Duty, April 2007?

  4. BACKGROUND 30 years after introduction of Sex Discrimination Act and Equal Pay Act • Females comprise 51% of UK workforce and 47% of Scottish workforce(Scottish Economic Statistics, 2003) • In private sector, 40% of workforce is female, and females hold 28% of managerial positions • In public sector, 60% of workforce is female, while 40% of managers are female. • A 24% gender pay gap exists in managerial occupations (EOC, 2002)

  5. Managerial Gender Gap – Private Sector

  6. Managerial Gender Gap – Public Sector

  7. Barriers to Career Progression (1) • ‘Masculine’ organisational cultures • Long hours culture (finance, vol sector, NHS mgt) • Internal networking / impression management in larger org, particularly in financial services & NHS • “Women tend to be excluded from inner circles of power and influence.” (NHS – Miller, 2005) • External Networking - male dominated social & professional networks • “Corporate banking provides a real challenge and barrier to women.. It’s all about contacts, networks, trust and this is a male dominated field.” (Ogden & McTavish, 2006) • “It’s still an ‘old boys’ club sadly, but that’s not different from other professions.” (NHS – Miller, 2005)

  8. Barriers to Career Progression (2) • Negative perceptions of ‘part-time’ (non-standard) working patterns and/or maternity leave [e.g., NHS, Finance, Food & Drink]. • “More female doctors are being qualified but nothing is being done to plan for it. What happens when three out of five cardiologists are on maternity leave?” (CPPM, 2006) • Part-time workforce but ‘full-time’ management posts(catering) • Female acceptance of barriers /tentativeness in career progression. • “the only barrier to my career is me” (retail - Maxwell & Ogden, 2006) • “I’ve set my own limitations due to my work-life balance” (ibid) And Perceptual…… • ”if women have children, they don’t want to progress as high, I don’t think its discrimination though’ (Ogden & McTavish, 2006)

  9. Barriers to Career Progression (3) • Mobility barriers (retail) • “I would love to go on to store manager but I have two children and you have to move…because of my personal circumstances my career goals are on hold”(Maxwell & Ogden, 2006) • Bureaucracy …. stress….work-life balance “When jobs or promotion does come up people now consider do they really want it, do they really want to go there! Is it worth the extra hours, money or work? There are too many targets, we are not in control of workload, we are driven by national policy initiatives…”(NHS – Miller, 2005) • Employee Development Practice (vol. sector and SMEs) • Confusion over routes to progression • Lack of formal career development strategy or formal HRD opportunities • Underdeveloped and inconsistent HR practices (see Beattie, 2005; Ogden & Maxwell, 2006)

  10. Highlighting Success Stories (1) • Positive policy initiatives have led to some improvements in female recruitment & development. • Police - Piloting of new promotion policies • Finance – Women’s network • Health - Fairness for All • Flexibility in Employment practices • Best practice in vol sector, catering., retail sector and smaller financial services practices. • FWP are not common in F&D sector but pockets of good practice exist: • “In the food industry you have to state your case and then stay focused to achieve and maintain a work-life balance” (CPPM, 2006)

  11. Highlighting Success Stories (2) • Women often found to prosper more in smaller organisations where I.M is easier [See Ogden & Maxwell, 2006] • But they also prosper more where there are ‘formal’ HR policies; and where there are: • Visible positive female role models within organisations AND within professional bodies (catering) • “A couple of female managers along the way have inspired me and motivated me….I’ve modelled myself on them” (retail – Maxwell, 2005) • Supportive and approachable managers were found in all sectors who had • encourage access to training & development, & applications for promotion • “supportive bosses helped me move through the ranks and out with by comfort zones” (finance - Ogden & McTavish, 2006)

  12. Emerging issues – across the sectors • Business benefits mostly understood and leading to ongoing incremental change (e.g. Food & Drink, Police) BUT there is still a need for further ‘gendering’ of policy & strategy formulation • Lack of ‘gender budgeting’ is inhibiting organisational cultural change within many sectors • Prevalent org. culture inhibits uptake of work-life balance and flexible working practices • Many women still face a challenge in balancing human vis-à-vis social capital • Female networks ‘v’ female-friendly networking activities? • “I don’t want to be tarred with the Women’s Network’. (finance) • Direct and Indirect Impact of Gender Equality Duty?

  13. References • Beattie, R (2005) ““Gender Balance in Management: the Voluntary Sector in Scotland”. • Centre for Public Policy and Management (CPPM)(2006), Gender Balance in Management: Scotland’s Public and Private Sectors”, report to the Scottish Executive. • EOC Scotland (2006), ‘Gender Equality Duty: Draft Code of Practice Scotland’, http://eoc.org.uk. • Maxwell, G. & Ogden S, (2006), “Career development of female managers in retailing: Inhibitors and enablers”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 13, pp 111-120. • Maxwell, G, (2005) “Gender Balance in Management: the retail sector in Scotland”. • Miller, K (2005), “Gender Balance in Management: the Health Sector in Scotland”. • Ogden, S, (2005), “Gender Balance in Management: the Finance Sector in Scotland”. • Ogden, S M & Maxwell, G. A. (2006), “The smaller business context: a conducive environment for women in management?” in McTavish, D. & Miler, K. (2006) (eds) “Women in Leadership and Management”, Edward Elgar. • Ogden, S, McTavish, D. McKean, L (2006), “Clearing the way for Gender Balance in the Management of UK Financial Services Industry: Enablers and Barriers”, Women in Management Review, 21(1), 40-53.

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