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Session #4: Gender Issues and the Glass Ceiling in Organizations Objectives and Agenda

Session #4: Gender Issues and the Glass Ceiling in Organizations Objectives and Agenda. Class members will gain an understanding of : The current status of women in organizations and the glass ceiling. Barriers to promotion and advancement. Individual strategies for breaking the glass ceiling.

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Session #4: Gender Issues and the Glass Ceiling in Organizations Objectives and Agenda

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  1. Session #4: Gender Issues and the Glass Ceiling in OrganizationsObjectives and Agenda • Class members will gain an understanding of : • The current status of women in organizations and the glass ceiling. • Barriers to promotion and advancement. • Individual strategies for breaking the glass ceiling. • Organizational strategies for helping women advance. • Fairer Sex video • Relating as Equals exercise

  2. Workforce Statistics: Women(Wow Facts, 2002) • Women are 52% of the population and 47% of the workforce, but hold only 5% of executive positions nationally (Catalyst, 2002). • Census of Fortune 500 firms (Catalyst, 2000).Women comprise: • 12.5% of corporate officers (fill only 7.3% of line positions) • 12.4% of board seats. (8.9% in Fortune 501-1000) • 6.2 % of highest ranks (COO; CEO; Exec VP) • 4.1% of top earners • Women at VP level earn 42% of male peers (Korn-Ferry) • Women owned business opening at twice the rate of male-owned businesses (Wow Facts, 2002) • Annual sales of women-owned businesses grown at rate of 436% over past 12 years (Center for Policy Alternatives) • Between 1997-2002: Sales generated increased 40% nationwide, nearing 1.15 trillion; employ 9.2 million workers (U.S. Census)

  3. Workforce Stats: Pay Gap Widens(Government Accounting Office (GAO), 2002) • Pay gap increased from 1995-2000 for male and female managers • National study of 10 industries showed women women losing ground in 7 • Gap grew by as much as 21 cents on the dollar • Largest gaps in: Finance, insurance, retail, communication and entertainment industries • Women made up 50% of workers, but only 12% of managers • Gap not explained by parental status: only 40% of women were mothers (60% of men were fathers). • Women earn 76.5% of men’s medium weekly earnings (I.e., they earn 23.5% less than men) (www.dol.gov). • In 1999, white women earned 75.7 cents for each dollar earned by white man; black women earned 83.8 cents for each dollar earned by black men; and Latina women earned 85.7 cents for each dollar earned by Latino man (www. Dol.gov).

  4. Workforce Stats: Women of Color(Wow Facts, 2002) • Census of Fortune 500 companies (Catalyst, 2000) (Obtained data from 409 companies) • Women of color comprise: • 10.3% of total female officers (134 out of 1,297). • 2.6% of board seats in Fortune 500 (1.3% in Fortune 501-1000 companies) • 6 women of color are among the top earning corporate officers at Fortune 500 companies • African American women comprise: 6% of population, 5.2% of workforce, but hold 2.2% of executive, administrative and managerial positions in private sector organizations (Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995).

  5. Women of Color in Corporate Management Study (Catalyst, 1999) • 1,735 professional women of color from 30 organizations • (54% African-American; 24% Asian-American; 21% Hispanic) • Only a third viewed diversity efforts as effective for supporting their racial group. • More than half agreed that diversity efforts failed to address gender bias. • Components of the “concrete ceiling”: • Lack of mentor (47%) • Lack of informal networks (40%) • Lack of role models (29%) • Lack of visibility assignments (28%)

  6. Barriers to Advancement(from ground floor up)(cf: reviews by Ragins & Sundstrom, 1989; Ilgen & Youtz, 1986) • Compared to white male counterparts, women and employees of color: • Extended fewer job offers (eg resume studies). • Enter at lower ranks. • Receive lower starting salaries. • Seen as less desirable for managerial positions. • Less likely to be tracked into powerful positions or have the power or authority associated with the position. • Need more promotions to reach the same rank as men. • Women as likely to be promoted, but do not get salaries associated with promotions (Stroh, Brett & Reilly, 1992). • Female executives have less authority than male counterparts; receive less support (Lyness & Thompson, 1997)

  7. Barriers for Employees of Color • Compared to white managers, black managers (Greenhaus, Parasuraman & Wormley, 1990): • Felt less accepted in their organizations • Reported less job discretion and positional power • Had less career satisfaction and more career plateaus • Received lower evaluations on performance and promotability • Different criteria used to evaluate performance; black managers held to higher and different performance standards than white managers (Cox & Nkomo, 1986)

  8. Glass Ceiling and Turnover • 80% of 332 female middle managers reported ceiling was responsible for leaving last job.(Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force, 1993) • At Fortune 500 companies, women leaving at twice the rate as men. • 1,400-1,600 leave per day to start own business or work for competitor(Women in Leadership and Learning, WOW, 2002) • Replacement cost is 70-200% of employees annual salary(Training and Development, WOW, 2002) • Longitudinal study of 615 managers in Fortune 500 companies(Stroh, Brett & Reilly, 1996). 1989-1991: turnover was 26% for women and 14% for men.

  9. Reasons for Turnover • Turnover intentions predicted bylack of career opportunityrather than presence of children or spouse (Stroh, Brett & Reilly, 1996). • Reasons for turnover (Workforce 2000, WOW 2002) • Lack of flexibility (51%) • Glass Ceiling (29%) • Unhappiness with work environment (28%) • Lack of challenge (22%)

  10. Career Strategies of Survivors • Catalyst survey of 461 female executives - Vice Presidents or above of Fortune 1000 companies(Ragins, Townsend & Mattis, 1998). • Asked to rank 11 strategies; 4 strategies for reaching the top: • 1. Consistently exceeding performance expectations(99% rated as critical or fairly important.) • 2. Developed a professional style with which male managers are comfortable(96%) • 3. Sought difficult or highly visible stretch assignments(94%) • 4. Developed mentoring relationships(91% had a mentor)

  11. Beyond Performance: Walking the Fine Line • ".... the guys can yell at each other all the time, shake hands and walk out the door, and it's perfectly comfortable for them--but on the rare occasion that I raise my voice, it's not accepted in the same way." -- Personnel Director, retail organization. "how to interact with men who had never dealt with women before, and how to be heard, and how to get past what you looked like, and what sex you were, and into what kind of brain you had.... I had to learn how to offer opinions in a way that they could be heard because I wasn't necessarily given the right to have an opinion." -- Vice President, (consumer products company)

  12. "Don't be attractive. Don't be too smart. Don't be assertive. Pretend you're not a woman. Don't be single. Don't be a mom. Don't be a divorcee.” (write-in responses) • "Do not make waves. Do not disagree and be correct (kiss of death !). [Working] longer, harder, smarter means nothing if you have a mind of your own and express your own ideas and opinions.” (write-in responses) • "With 13 men on the management committee, and I'm the only woman....it was very awkward at first. But it's been over two years now, and what I have found is that they are never truly comfortable because it's not a hundred percent men. And that's not because they don't like me, or they don't like the fact that a woman's there. It's that there's always that certain guard that what they might say in a roomful of men will be taken wrong when a woman is there." --SVP, health care organization.

  13. Mentoring is Mandatory • 91 percent of female executives surveyed reported having a mentor. All of the women interviewed had a mentor. • "I think it's the single most critical piece to women advancing career-wise. In my experience you need somebody to help guide you and ...go to bat for you. And I'm not saying someone to take care of you because you're a woman. I'm saying, because you are a woman, you need somebody to fight some of your battles in the male environment." --VP/Corporate Secretary, utility company • Over half the women interviewed reported being mentors. Nearly all of them reported mentoring other women. • "As my career has progressed, I have very consciously taken on the mantle of mentoring. I work at it because I think it's part of the obligation... to make sure to get people, especially women who are coming up in the field, out of a 'There's only so many slots for women' mentality." -- VP, chemical/manufacturing company

  14. The Mentoring Advantage • Mentoring related to compensation, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, promotions, organizational commitment & reduced turnover (Ragins & Cotton, 1999; Dreher & Ash, 1990). • Women and people of color face greater barriers to gaining a mentor, no gender differences in presence of mentor; mixed findings for race (Ragins & Cotton, 1991; Catalyst, 1999; Thomas, 1990). • Women and people of color more likely to be cross-gender/cross-race relationships (Ragins, 1997). • These relationships have restricted role modeling and social functions (Thomas, 1990; Ragins & McFarland, 1990) • White male mentors provide the most compensation (Dreher & Cox, 1996) and promotions (Ragins & Cotton, 1999).

  15. The Quest for Balance • Gender disparity in Marriage/Children: • 72% of women executives married64% have children • 91.4% of male executives married (Korn/Ferry, 1990) • 91% have children • Everyone Needs a Wife: • 45% of male executives have unemployed spouse • 2% of female executives have unemployed spouse • 75% of women executives were primary bread-earners • "I think every woman ought to have a wife, if you're going to dedicate this much energy and strive to continue in a position like the one I'm fortunate to have." --SVP, health care organization

  16. Or Supportive Spouse: • Largest single write-in response to "other: ___". Noted by 8% of the survey respondents. • "Had a very cooperative husband who shares 50 percent of the household and childrearing responsibilities." • "Married the right guy--not threatened by me, shares work." • "Married the right person -- the second time."

  17. Sacrifices Are Still Being Made • 10% of respondents reported that they decided not to marry in order to obtain a work/life balance. • One in four women executives (26 percent) postponed motherhood in order to obtain balance. • 20 percent reported that they chose not to have the children. • "I have chosen not to have children. I've kind of always thought, well, if my job gets a little bit more calm, then maybe I can do both. But I could never have this high-stress, high-intensity job and have kids as well... So I think that's a major personal sacrifice.” -- SVP, retail company

  18. Balance Requires Stamina and Priorities • "I set clear, limited priorities -- family and profession -- and ordered everything around them." • "Wake up at 5 a.m. every day, keep social obligations to a bare minimum, put job and children way ahead of self in establishing priorities." • "I sleep very little and have a huge capacity for work. So I married, had a child, got a Ph.D., and worked full time the entire time." • "Worked 60 hours a week, completed education, and slept 4-6 hours a night." • "Stopped sleeping. Developed a sense of humor to get through the crises."

  19. Balance: The Elusive Goal? • Some women executives reported balance: • "I think I'm very pleased with it (work/life balance). But I had to create that balance. It wasn't created for me." --General Counsel, technology company. • "I am the mother of three children under the age of 14. I was not willing to sacrifice my personal goals for professional gain. My company, my husband, and my own drive have enabled me to achieve both objectives." • However, other women characterized work/life balance as a myth: • "You can't have it all, and if there's a woman out there that says you can, she's crazy, she hasn't looked around. Something is going to sacrifice, because here are only 24 hours in a day."-- SVP, health care organization.

  20. "Balance ? There is no balance. My life consists of my kids, my kids, and my husband and my work. My other interests, the other things I would like to do in life have been absolutely subordinated to those particular set of obligations. I'm not proud of it, I don't think it's a healthy way to live, and the only thing that sustains me is the knowledge that life is chapters. My children are not going to be young forever. I've made choices, and for every choice in life you make, you pay. There is really no such thing as having it all."---General Counsel, media company.

  21. White Noise in the Executive Suite: Divergent Perspectives on Barriers to Advancement • WHAT'S HOLDING WOMEN BACK ? CEO's BLAME LACK OF EXPERIENCE: • "My class from business school had seven women in it, out of 650. So, there is a pipeline issue. And it'll take another five to eight years before the number of 45-year-old women ready for senior management jobs is balanced with the number of men. " • "It's not that women haven't been in the pipeline long enough; it's what they have done while they are in the pipeline." • "I think many women have been held back because they haven't been prepared to make the same sacrifices as perhaps men are.... they're not apt to move or relocate. Their families are all there."

  22. WHAT'S HOLDING WOMEN BACK ? • WOMEN POINT TO CORPORATE CULTURE: • "You'd want for once in your life to walk into a room where people are talking that they continue to talk and you don't feel that you're listening in on something you're not supposed to be listening in on." --Vice President, high tech company • "I don't think men are ever totally at ease working with women."--Senior Vice President, healthcare company • "There's still a perception in this organization that men are more long-term employees than are women. These things still go on." --Personnel Director, retail company • One interviewee described a situation where, despite her impressive credentials and achievements, she was still assumed to be a secretary in a business meeting: • "I was 43 years old and I was the highest ranking woman on the ... staff, and this guy thinks I'm somebody's secretary. I mean I was at Harvard. I was a Fellow at Harvard...."

  23. Implications of Dual Perspectives • THE PROBLEM DEFINES THE SOLUTION: • PIPELINE: • PROBLEM WITH INDIVIDUAL • PASSIVE/ TIME WILL REMEDY • CULTURE: • PROBLEM WITH ORGANIZATION • ACTIVE/ REQUIRES INTERVENTION • ACCURACY OF PERCEPTIONS OF MAJOR CHANGE AGENT (CEO) • IS THE SOLUTION WORKING ? IT DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK: • CEO’s more than twice as likely as female executives to say that opportunities for women improved in their company over the past 5 years.

  24. Conclusion • BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING REQUIRES: • 1. Tracking womeninto line positions with profit and loss responsibility. • 2. Minimizing gender bias by usingobjective performance appraisal systems. • 3. Holding managers accountablefor the career development and tracking of female employees. • 4. Developing effective succession planning systems. • 5. Facilitating access to effective mentoring relationships. • 6. Promotingwork/family balanceby implementingflexible workplace policies. • 7. Raising the awareness of CEOs and other male executives. (Particularly critical since top management commitment is necessary for effective implementation of #1-#5).

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