The Diversity Debate

Women in business: the reality and the challenges

Since the publication of the Davies report, quotas and gender diversity have been hot topics amongst HR professionals, so it seemed suitable that our first diversity discussion forum should be on the subject of gender equality in the workplace.

Currently, of over a thousand directorships within the FTSE 100, just over ten per cent of roles are held by women. The figure improves slightly when looking at the FTSE 250 to 22%.

With gender increasingly becoming a focus area in business, what are some of the challenges we are facing? The Institution of Leadership and Management (ILM) carried out a survey that found that women are less ambitious than men and have lower expectations. However, when asked about job satisfaction, women were just as satisfied as men. Within the discussion the group was quick to point out that it was highly dependant on the individual, the industry and whether enough opportunities were being provided. A comment made by one of the attendees, a female 'Big 4' employee, was that she had found that fewer women aspire to be partners due to the lack of role models. Are women opting out or are they just being realistic?

Another challenge that was highlighted was the differing aspirations of the new generation. Does this generation expect flexible working hours as a right? Will this generation influence how we function as a business? It was noted that implementing flexible working for some businesses is challenging due to the nature of the business. It was agreed that 'face-time' in business is crucial. Flexible working challenges some of the cultures and business approaches that have operated quite successfully for many years.

Legislation comes into play here. Do we want more or less legislation? Do we need governments to legislate on these matters? The majority of people that formed the group were from large, corporate companies in the City where legislation is perhaps less relevant than it is for smaller businesses. Legislation is a driver for social change, but it was noted by some members of the group that whether it's actually a step forward is open to debate.

Raising women's ambitions and confidence and treating them as individuals as opposed to generalisations is key here.The Institute for Management and Learning (ILM) found that a way to raise the confidence of women was through coaching, mentoring and having access to role models. A commentator on the group noted:

'Five years ago, women used to want to talk to senior female role models. Now they want to talk to senior men and find out how they got there.'

Some firms have faced a backlash, both externally and internally, for having women-only programmes. People complained that it singled women out and treated them differently. Organisations should encourage engagement across both genders. We should continue to have these development programmes but they don't have to be gender specific, just include both genders.

Another solution proposed by Lord Davies is having quotas - is it effective to impose quotas? There are two sides to this argument that were raised. When the quotas debate was being held, suddenly more women appeared at the top of businesses and a lot of businesses promoted or employed more women as a result. In fact, just the threat of quotas was probably enough to make businesses pay closer attention to gender diversity.

One side of the debate suggested that quotas and tokenism would be an effective means to an end and would 'kick-start' senior equality. However those that disagreed explained that no woman wants to be in a position of power due to a ratio requirement, but wants to be assigned a role based on merit.

A middle-ground viewpoint was that the mere threat of quotas has been enough to encourage companies to make a change to their boards. But the long-term impact of this threat may not be effective enough - when the hype dies down, recruiters could fall back into their old habits if real changes aren't made.

Discussion was lively and the accumulation of multiple viewpoints provoked a lot of interesting thoughts. The next seminar in the series looks to be just as worthwhile.

To register your interest for our next Diversity Debate, contact Laura McNair on lauramcnair@frazerjones.com.

"Of over a thousand directorships within the FTSE 100, just over ten per cent of roles are held by women."

"Flexible working challenges some of the cultures and business approaches that have operated quite successfully for many years."

"Some firms have faced a backlash, both externally and internally, for having women-only programmes."