Here at mypeoplebiz we were intrigued by the ‘Fed up of never being a top dog’ article in this week’s Stylist magazine. It caused us to pause and consider how far women have come in the workplace in 2013. The article highlighted after a recent survey that 81% of women are saying a lack of opportunities is holding them back. So who is to blame: the employers, the current economic crisis, too many employees?As quoted in Stylist magazine Laura Whyte from John Lewis said, “In recruitment, there’s a tendency to recruit in your own image. Employers need to challenge themselves with the shape they recruit in.” To back it up, in 2011 a survey taken in the FTSE 100 companies revealed that only 12.5% of the board members were women. So why aren’t more women taking more leading positions?
A recent report run by the ‘Counting Women In’ coalition recently published Sex and Power 2013: Who Runs Britain? stated that our country is still largely run by men. If we look at the figures we can see that just 22.5% of MP’s are women. The report reflects the slow progress women have made in the workplace.
According to the 30 Percent Club, an organisation created to encourage FTSE 100 boards to become 30% female, say the statistics of women holding executive directorships are sat at just 5.5%, with a slight increase in non-executive directorships at 15.6%. As of December 2012 the Legal Services Board made it compulsory for companies to publish diversity statistics.
With women making up 51% of the UK population why is there still a pay gap? Why are women in the political minority and why are men the dominating force in boardrooms? Answers could be linked to family ties, caring roles, not enough courage, unable to push themselves. But then why are the majority of women in the workplace in low level positions when compared to men?
Research suggests men are more likely to push themselves for higher job roles. An internal report by Hewlett-Packard found that men apply for roles when they think they meet 60% of the requirements where as women wait until they are 100% qualified. So why not encourage a female colleague to put herself forward for a new job role and take a calculated risk that her experience and expertise will be just as relevant and as good as any of her male colleagues?
Another finding from the FTSE 100 research has shown that companies with female directors do better than those with exclusively male executive teams. What does this tell us? “The lack of women at the top table of politics sends a clear signal to other walks of life: it is acceptable to cut women out from positions of power.” (Fawcett Society 2011) So how is your company representing the female employees?
Have you somehow overlooked women in your company? Perhaps it’s time to give the consistent female employee a chance to prove herself in a leading position rather than hand it out to the next obvious guy. You may just thank yourself one day.
If you’re looking to recruit more women talk to your recruiting team and decide upon the goal. Research female job sites and look attend career fairs, this way you’ll be able to speak to women first hand and find out what they look for in potential companies.
We would love to hear about your experiences and also any solutions that can suggest.
About- Hannah Perella
Having moved from the picturesque city of Bath where she graduated in English Literature and Creative Writing, Hannah is part of the dynamic marketing team at mypeoplebiz. She will be using her blogging skills to post advice and comments on the marketing and recruitment industry and will be exploring the exciting opportunities in social media networks.
