Women In Business: Blueprint For Individuals And Organisations

Women reaching the top in organisations continues to be a tough challenge for individuals and businesses alike. At Ashridge we run practical management development programmes for practising managers and have noted over recent years that the number of women attendees has plateaued. In fact the total number of women attending development programmes has not changed significantly for 20 plus years and remains at around the 30 per cent mark. The number of women at senior, and board, level is small and does not reflect the growing number of women at graduate levels or the number who join organisations at junior and professional levels. We set out to explore the current landscape for women in business leadership positions with a particular emphasis on the promoters and restraints for women forging their career in today's business environment. From our survey data (of 1,400) and in depth interviews (20) with women at senior level, we can see that while business takes women more seriously with more family friendly policies there is still a disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. Too few organisations focus on diversity and gender issues, or appreciate stereotypes which surround gender and leadership (Schein & Davidson, 1992). Too many organisations rely instead on simplistic messages and policy statements about equality. The results of our research are now available and we would like to stimulate discussion and reflect with the audience about the issues - and some solutions - for women and for organisations. We believe the findings offer some practical options that will enable employers to improve women's careers (and talent management processes more generally). The research findings identify a variety of ways that individual women can take more control for their own careers; something that we believe is important. The barriers to women's careers have not changed significantly over the past few years. What needs to change our research reveals is more action by organisations and crucially for women to take more ownership for their own career.