What’s holding women back?

Barriers to women’s success remain in the workplace, and only direct intervention will pull the barriers down.

We have named and continue to address overt discrimination, such as harassment and pregnancy discrimination. What holds women back today is more insidious; that is the unconscious incompetence of many of our leaders and managers in managing difference, together with blokey organisational cultures.

This is why there is no critical mass of women succeeding in senior management ranks, nor in non traditional roles. In banking, there are few women in profit and loss roles.

For women to succeed, an integrated approach is needed to ensure that people policies and systems provide equitable recruitment, retention, career development and promotion outcomes. That is, the workplace culture must support women. Leaders and managers must become consciously competent in managing difference while women are supported through coaching and mentoring.

We have to change organisational cultures where these problems are denied, or women are seen as an inconvenience. An ideal workplace culture supports women, and adapts to embrace their different but effective workplace styles.

When it comes to leadership, international research shows that women believe if they work hard they will be promoted while most do not apply for promotion until 90 per cent sure they can do the next job. According to the findings, women also lack the informal networks that are key to success as well as the organisational savvy in how things get done. They are less willing to play organisational politics and work for supervisors they don’t respect, and don’t understand the critical profit & loss roles they need to fill to advance.

Women need to be mentored and gain greater insight into organisational politics. They need encouragement to take calculated career risks, and to explore career opportunities. They also need to communicate their career aspirations and ask for roles, seek visible assignments and build strong external networks.

Many managers believe they have no responsibility for women’s lack of success. Managers should be encouraged to take the same risks with women’s careers as they do with their male peers, and make sure they are part of informal networks and that they are mentored. They should also support all reasonable flexibility requests.

A shift in culture, and in the expectations of the role played by women and managers is needed.

By Fiona Krautil, head of advancement for diversity & women, ANZ