women in management

WOMEN IN MANAGEMENTPipeline or glass ceiling barriers?

Gro Ladegård1.Associate professor

2.UMB School of Economics and Business3.Oslo University College

UNIVERSITETET FOR MILJØ- OG BIOVITENSKAP

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THE GENDER GAP SURVEY World Economic Forum The Global Gender Gap Index was introduced by the World

Economic Forum in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress.

The target respondents included the 100 largest employers in each of the 30 Member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Brazil, Russia, India and China (over 3,400 companies).

“The Corporate Gender Cap Report shows the current representation of female employees in some of the largest companies in the world’s biggest economies and provides a quantitative analysis of how well these companies are implementing practices and policies that are aimed at reducing gender inequality.”

DETTE ER TITTELEN PÅ PRESENTASJONEN

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National pipelines, private companies


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Score2010

Womenemployee

s

Entry%

Middle%

Senior%

CEOs %

Boarddirector

s

Norway 0,84 36% 16 18 17 12 26Finland 0,83 44% 17 10 10 13 10Switzerl. 0,76 40% 14 13 8 0 5Spain ,76 48% 16 13 16 9 12Germany

0,75 33% 16 15 8 6 2

Belgium 0,75 39% 20 19 7 0 5UK 0,75 40% 33 25 16 0 13US 0,74 52% 20 23 24 0 10Canada 0,74 46% 27 28 18 0 9France 0,70 37% 16 23 14 0 8Greece 0,69 33% 16 14 9 0 5Italy 0,68 30% 16 17 10 11 7Brazil 0,67 35% 12 10 13 11 9


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Benefits from closing the gacp

“The Global Gender Gap Reports confirm the correlation between gender equality and the level of development of countries, thus providing support for the theory that empowering women leads to a more efficient use of a nation’s human talent.”


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Perceptions of barriers


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On a scale of 1 (least problematic) to 5 (most problematic), rate thefollowing barriers to women’s rise to positions of senior leadership in your company

BarriersGeneral norms and cultural practices in your country

3.11

Masculine/patriarchal corporate culture

3.11

Lack of role models 3.03

Lack of flexible work solutions

2.671 2 3 4 5

Average Other: opportunities, work-life balance, networks – total 16 items


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WOMEN IN NORWEGIAN LAW FIRMS The pipeline of law firms:

– High vertical “ladder”– 65% of the law students are women– 11% of the partners are women

Turn-over in law firms:– Women lawyers leave private firms and go to public

sector– Men lawyers leave public sector and go to private

firms Many explanations, as the traditional:

– Long hours– Hard competition– Work-family conflict


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THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES What causes turn-over in the private firms? Hypothesis: Lack of organisational commitment

• Affective commitment (personal preference)• Cognitive commitment (alternative costs)• Normative commitment (obligation)

Drivers: Factors that will increase – personal motivation for working as a lawyer– personal commitment and identification with the

organisation: Empowerment, identification and values are

indep.var. Turnover intention and organisational commitment

are dep.var.


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MODEL


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TurnoverTurnover

OrganisationalOrganisationalcommitmentcommitment

ImpactImpactSelf-determinationSelf-determination

MeaningMeaning

ValuesValuesIdentificationIdentification

CompetenceCompetence


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METHOD Seven informants: 5 women, 2 men

– Private sector: 1 legal assistant, 2 lawyers and 1 partner (different firms)

– One self-employed lawyer sharing offices– Public sector: 1 police lawyer, one legal

practitioner in a large company Semi-structured interviews Audio-taped, fully transcribed Answers grouped into


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FINDINGS: DRIVERS Meaning

– Are the fundamental building stone for the profession– People find happiness and meanind in contributing to society

Competence– Important for the management of challenges– Personal psychological feeling of self-efficacy

Self-determination– A key to the feeling of independence– Difficult to be on sick leave, especially in private sector– Little autonomy, in both sectors

Impact– Varies between the informants, specifically between vertical levels– Position determines impact specifically in the large private firms

with strong focus on earnings


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DRIVERS CONT. Indentification

– Defined as being in a job where you succeed in contributing to the organisation’s goals

– Difficulty, gives a feeling of insufficiency Values

– Common characteristics: everyone has a hard time in identifying with the money-value fundament of the large, private firms

– The job changes the perspectives on life


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WHAT CAN MAKE PEOPLE STAY? Job flexibility: the job should rule the leisure time,

not the opposite Organising/arranging work environment for people

with caring responsibilites/children Leadership: respondents are critical to leadership

in law firmsSociety at large: Awareness of the problem may change things Understanding: there is a lot of verbal

understanding but less real understanding


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DESCRIPTIONS Law professionals do have a lot of meaning and

competence in their jobs There are large variations in autonomy and

impact: perceived as a problem Higly commited individuals are less likely to quit

the job Too strong focus on extrinsic motivation, too less

on intrinsic Flexibility, organising and leadership will

strengthen both empowerment and commitment and reduce turnover.


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CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The work/family conflict is a stereotypical

explanation for women leaving law firms, and it is not necessarily correct

The “receipt” for stronger commitment and lower turn-over is fairly simple

The internal organisation, management leadership and policies are historical and may be changed.


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women in management

Documents

milj og

gender inequality

scope of gender

gender equality

corporate gender cap

law students

largest companies

women lawyers