Genders differ over the state of women and leadership

Over half of male managers feel more women on the top table would do little to improve company performance. Female managers disagree (87%).

The majority (63%) of female managers feel they do not receive sufficient support to advance in their organisation. The majority of men (78%) say women do.

Both sexes agree: Womenís biggest advancement hurdle is stereotyping

Most women feel that female colleagues in their organisation do not get overlooked for promotion because of their gender.

One in five firms employing over 1,000 people has no women at director level

Over a third of male managers believe that a more female top table would have no positive effect on economic growth.

While women bump their head on glass ceilings, plummet from glass cliffs and become bogged down in sticky floors, it appears that male managers and directors are not necessarily doing as well at tackling the problems as they may like to think.

A new HR Gateway and Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) survey takes a gender snapshot of management thinking on the issue of women and leadership and finds a wide perception gap between male and female managers and directors.

While the majority of male managers and directors (78%) feel that their organisation offers sufficient support for women to climb the career ladder to the top table, female managers and directors disagree - 63% say they doní t get sufficient support.

Out of the 211 middle managers and directors surveyed, women (87%) felt that having more female leaders would improve their organisationís performance. Most men (51%) said that more women at the top would make no difference - despite the growing trend to parachute in women to board positions in times of crisis.

However, the genders do agree on certain things. Most men (84%) agree with women (95%) that organisational culture has an impact on female employees reaching board level. Men also agree that stereotyping is the biggest obstacle women face in terms of career progression ñ bigger even than a lack of support for family commitments.

Julie Mellor, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) sees the results of the survey as a sign that men and women view the situation of women at work differently, a finding that needs to be acted upon if equality is to prevail:

ëThe differences between men and womenís answers could be how they experience things. Women may be more aware that their skills and abilities are under used but men see all the effort to draw women to the top and feel they are well supported. Whether the cup is half full or half empty can depend whether you are a man or a woman.

ëThe use of these findings is to help organisations make the best use of the skills of the workforce. What this reveals is the assumptions in the workplace about peopleís roles which are negative and do not take into account of the roles people have outside of work.

ëThese are blocking peopleís talents and we wonít get a much more mixed balanced mix of men and women in organisations without capitalising on the talents of those with caring responsibilities,í she said.

Gary Ince, chief executive of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) agrees. The survey confirms that women find it harder to progress to senior management positions than men and much of this is due to stereotyping or even prejudice:

ëIn the past too many of our top businesses have been managed by homogeneous management teams. White, male and generally from the same background meant that many businesses looked at their structure through a blinkered approach.

ëHistorically we have many examples of great women leaders in the UK in politics and business. However, they have been few and far between and were exceptional individuals that would have risen to the top through their unique skill.

ëThis survey shows that what is needed now is a more balanced approach that gives opportunities to women leaders in general and not just the exceptional few,í he said.