Why are gender diversity and female participation on Australian boards and at senior leadership levels so rare? Why after my experience of 23 years in executive recruitment has the gender landscape across senior management not expanded?
By Simone Allan, Founder/Director of Mondo Search, a recruitment agency that
Australian women have
Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13
The national gender pay gap is currently 18.2
- Women and men working in different industries (industrial segregation) and different jobs (occupational segregation).
- Historically, female-dominated industries and jobs have attracted lower wages than male- dominated industries and jobs, as well as a lack of women in senior positions and a lack of part-time or flexible senior roles.
- Unpaid carer work – women are more likely than men to take on this challenge.
- Actual years in the workplace (big hours).
- Discrimination, both direct and indirect.
I am one of the 14
I call myself a social observer, with a degree in Psychology/HR and a commitment to Mental Health Board work. I have interviewed over 22,000 executives – both genders. I think the reasons for the lack of gender diversity are numerous and many reasons are “elephants in the room” – never mentioned.
Eight key reasons why women won’t get what they want in the workplace – gender diversity and leadership opportunities:
1) The perceived look that you need to “look like you work hard by being at the office” discriminating against women working remotely and not publicly demonstrating deliverables
2) Unconscious biases: “ jobs for the boys” and “old school ties”. Too many single-sex high schools that do not help men and women learn how to interact and collaborate together in the workplace.
3) The “nuclear family nuked generational childcare support”– rarely is there care for your children by older family generations, by people who are related to and love them. This places pressure on parenting and mothers choosing to stay at home and not drive a career.
4) Women say no and men say yes! In my 23 years of executive search experience, I see a difference in genders when people are ‘head hunted’. Women always point out why they can’t do the job and what they lack in skills and experience and men will tell you what they can do – women say no and men say yes. This is well written about by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, who talks about why women don’t make it to the top. Women systematically underestimate their own abilities.
5) Pregnant women are not predictable – so much is ahead and no one can be assured of what is ahead, only the universe holds the future and this does not help future proofing an
6) Our long history of heritage – men are the hunters and women are the gatherers. Do we naturally as women prefer to push the shopping trolley and nest with our young? I like the saying that you never know the torment of flying the coup if you have never built a nest!
7) I think “men have egos and women have pride,” therefore does the drive to get that big job/promotion appeal more to a man than for a woman? Do women seek pride in delivering good work – doing a good job, ignoring the politics?
8) The power of the maternal gene is more ominous than the corporate ladder climbing gene. I know personally how many hours I have laid in bed tormented about how my kids are tracking at school – do they feel supported and nurtured? I don’t know if these tormenting thoughts are experienced by a man. I open this question up to you fathers to share what keeps you awake at night. Is it a difficult staff member or is it that your child needs to improve at school?
At the Women in Drinks
Women won’t fake it in the workplace!