In the September Harvard Business Review, Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli co-authored an article entitled Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership, based on their November 2007 book Through the Labyrinth: The Truth about how Women Become Leaders.
The authors suggest that there is a new account for why women are not securing leadership positions. It is less about the ‘glass ceiling’ and more likely as a result of many obstacles that women face along the way. Although we have seen some improvement, let’s review the current statistics:
- In the United States, only 40 % of managerial positions are held by women
- At the C-suite level, as reported by Fortune 500 companies, only 6 % are women and 2 % of CEOs are women
- Further, only 15 % of the seats on the boards of Fortune 500 companies are held by women
Notwithstanding this tepid update on the advancement of women in the corporate world, the authors dispel the glass ceiling as myth; they position that women face a variety of complex challenges along their leadership journey, rather than one absolute barrier. Eagly and Carli replace the metaphor of the glass ceiling with that of a labyrinth, a complex journey toward a goal worth achieving.
The authors identify five (5) obstructions that women face as they traverse the leadership labyrinth.
Prejudice
The authors present very compelling data that clearly suggests that discrimination remains prevalent in both compensation and promotional opportunities:
In the US in 2005, women employed full-time earned 81 cents for every dollar that a man earned.
Marriage and parenthood are associated with higher wages for men but not women.
Promotions are slower to materialize for women than for men with equivalent qualifications.
Resistance to Women’s Leadership
Most people will identify different traits (personality and behavioural) for men as compared to women. We tend to describe men as ambitious, assertive, self-confident, self-reliant and individualistic; all traits that are commonly associated with leadership. These leadership traits are seen as effective and appropriate when it comes to men as leaders. How about women leaders? These agentic qualities are frowned upon when displayed by women. Women are expected to act more communal; displaying empathy, kindness and sympathy. However, can a leader be effective if they are communal in nature?
The authors describe this as a double bind that women face when competing for the top jobs. It could be said that men also face the same challenge. The difference is the assumptions that average people make when they assess women leaders as compared to their male counterparts. The studies show that successful female managers must be more deceitful, pushy and selfish as compared to a successful male manager.
Issues of Leadership Style
The pace of business is challenging enough without the added task of balancing the communal qualities that people look for in women with the obvious agentic qualities those same people look for in their leaders. The authors reference a study by Catalyst of the Fortune 1000 female executives that found “96 % of them rated as critical or fairly important that they develop a style with which male managers are comfortable”. Catalyst also published a study in July of this year titled The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership:Damned if You Do, Doomed if You Don't
The authors also compared the concept of transformational and transactional leadership as they relate to men and women. Transformational being based on relationships, gaining trust and empowerment (think role model and mentor that helps people develop to their full potential). Transactional is focused on clarifying subordinates’ duties, rewarding them for execution and correcting them when they fail. The analysis showed that female leaders were more transformational than male leaders. Most leadership research indicates that the transformation style is more suited to leading the organization of today. So, and perhaps no surprise to many of you, women’s approaches are generally more effective.
Demands of Family Life
Perhaps the most challenging of the twists are the ones associated with family responsibilities. There have been improvements in the overall balance of responsibility between men and women as it relates to housework and parenting. Though men have taken on more of the household/parenting duties, the challenge for women has escalated; particularly as it relates to intensive parenting and the demands of high-level careers (men have increased their parenting involvement from 2.6 hours per week in 1965 to 6.5 in 2000 whereas women have increased from 10.6 to 12.9 hours respectively). We have a long way to go gents!
A negative associated with a mother reaching for leadership positions is the belief by many key decision makers that mothers have domestic responsibilities that make it difficult to promote them to more demanding positions.
Underinvestment in Social Capital
A further challenge for women is that their increased parenting responsibility does not allow for socializing with colleagues to the extent that their male counterparts are afforded. The ‘social capital’ that is accrued through these informal interactions is essential to the leadership track. In addition, this ‘network’ often places women in the minority as men occupy the majority of this circle.
What to Do?
The authors share that if a company would like to see more women in their executive offices, it should do the following:
Increase people’s awareness of the psychological drivers of prejudice toward female leaders, and work to dispel those perceptions.
Change the long-hours norm.
Reduce the subjectivity of performance evaluation.
Use open-recruitment tools, such as advertising and employment agencies, rather than relying on informal social networks and referrals to fill positions.
Ensure a critical mass of women in executive positions – not just one or two women – to head of the problems that come with tokenism.
Avoid having a sole female member of any team.
Help shore up social capital.
Prepare women for line management with appropriately demanding assignments.
Establish family-friendly human resources practices.
Allow employees who have significant parental responsibilities more time to prove themselves worthy of promotion.
Welcome women back.
Encourage male participation in family-friendly benefits.
The authors undertook their research to better prepare women for the challenges associated with the leadership labyrinth and the barriers that they will face. More information equals more informed choices. Management has an opportunity to implement effective strategies that will create better gender balance at the leadership level within their organizations.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
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