Advancing women's careers through leadership development programs
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451111153871 |
| Pages | 498-515 |
| Date | 16 August 2011 |
| Published date | 16 August 2011 |
| Author | Marilyn Clarke |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Advancing women’s careers
through leadership development
programs
Marilyn Clarke
Business School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – Women continue to be under-represented at higher levels of management in organisations
and on boards throughout Western industrialised countries despite more than 30 years of government
policies and organisational practices designed to redress this imbalance. The problem is how to ensure
that more women make it to senior positions. This paper seeks to explore one approach to advancing
women’s careers through a women-only development program designed for those identified as
high-potential leaders.
Design/methodology/approach – Telephone interviews were conducted with participants from
two intakes of the development program. Qualitative data analysis methods were used to identify
common words and themes as well as divergent opinions.
Findings – Women-only development programs provide a safe and supportive environment for
improving self-confidence, learning new skills, and learning from the experiences of successful role
models.They are a usefuladdition to other strategies designed to increase the number of women in senior
positions but factors such as organisational culture and career choices also impact on career progress.
Research limitations/implications – The sample size is small and may not be representative of
overall program participants. The data rely on self-reports. Only limited demographic detail was
obtained.
Practical implications – Future programs should focus more on helping women identify and tap
into existing networks, develop more instrumental networks and access suitable mentors.
Originality/value – The paper identifies social capital as an important element in career
advancement and one area where women still lag behind men due to a lack of career enhancing
networks and high-status mentors.
Keywords Careers, Women,Development programs, Social capital
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The imbalance between men and women in high-level managerial, board and other
elected public and private sector positions across Western industrialised countries,
such as the USA, Canada, the UK, European Union and Australia, has been well
documented. This imbalance continues despite increasing female participation rates in
the workforce (Pocock, 2009), greater numbers of women in middle management, and
a high proportion of women graduating with business qualifications (Catalyst, 2008).
The benefits of having women in senior positions have been well documented.
Reasons for encouraging higher female participation rates at senior levels inclu de the
opportunity of tapping into a wide talent pool, obtaining the best people to fill
leadership positions, having female role models for younger high-potential women and
making companies more attractive to women graduates (Burke and Nelson, 2002;
Burke and Vinnicombe, 2005). There is also growing evidence that women can make
a difference to a company’s bottom line. A recent study of Fortune 500 firms found
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
ER
33,5
498
Received 16 April 2010
Revised 24 February 2011
Accepted 14 March 2011
Employee Relations
Vol. 33 No. 5, 2011
pp. 498-515
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425451111153871
that those with more women in senior positions were 18-69 percent more profitable
than median companies in their industries (Wolfe, 2009) while a McKinsey study of top
European companies found that greater gender diversity resulted in higher than
average stock performance (Desvaux et al., 2008). Burke and Vinnicombe (2005) add to
the debate by suggesting that with an impending shortage of suitably qualified and
experienced leaders, an aging workforce, and a war for talent, organisations cannot
afford to overlook the development and career progression of their female employees.
Current data indicates however, that after more than 30 years of attention to gender
equity issues attempts to redress this imbalance have brought only limited results and
that men continue to dominate senior positions in organisations and on boards. For
example, in 2009 women held 50.8 percent of management positions in US organisations
but only 13.5 percent of Fortune 500 company executive officer positions and
15.2 percent of board memberships (Catalyst, 2009). In the decade 2000-2009, the number
of women running US Fortune 500 companies showed only a marginal increase from
three to 15 (Wolfe, 2009). European Union data report no change in the number of women
in senior management over the period 2004-2007, remaining static at 17 percent
(Thornton, 2007) while in the UK women represent only 22 percent of management jobs
and 9.6 percent of executive directors (Catalyst, 2009). The picture is similar in Australia.
The Australian Census of Women in Leadership (EOWA, 2008) indicates that although
women comprise 44 percent of the Australian labour force and 45.5 percent of managers
and professionals, they are just 10.7 percent of executive managers, 8.3 percent of ASX
200 board directors, 2 percent of ASCX 200 CEOs, and 2 percent of ASX 200 chairs.
The lack of women at senior levels is perplexing given the many strategic
commitments to improving gender balance over the last 30 years through changes to
both policy and practice. While these initiatives have clearly resulted in some
improvements, there still appears to be a gap between the rhetoric of gender balanc e
and the reality as played out in women’s careers. How then can the number of women
in senior positions be increased? What strategies are required to ensure that women
make the transition from middle to senior management within companies and onto
boards? This paper explores one approach to advancing women’s careers through a
tailored development program designed for those identified as having high potential in
terms of progressing to senior management. It reports on participant experiences of the
program and their perceptions of its value in supporting career advancement.
Women’s career paths
The way in which women’s careers evolve is often markedly different from that of the
organizational career as experienced by men (Liff and Ward, 2001). Women’s lives tend
to be shaped by roles, relationships and responsibilities such as spouse’s careers,
child-bearing, child-rearing, and the care of elderly family members. While men also
have these constraints, traditionally women have adopted a primary care-giver role and
thus are more likely to experience disruptions to career during child-bearing years as
well as the ongoing impact of family responsibilities (Ackah and Heaton, 2004).
Women’s careers are also shaped by structural factors. Masculine work cultures
(Liff and Ward, 2001), male stereotyping and preconception of women’s roles and
abilities (Metz, 2005), exclusion from informal communication and political networks
(Mackenzie Davey, 2008), lack of relevant management experience (as an outcome of
structural barriers), lack of mentoring, the relative under-representation of women
Advancing
women’s careers
499
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