Helping Women become the “Best Man for the Job”
| Pages | 10-14 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057388 |
| Date | 01 January 1985 |
| Published date | 01 January 1985 |
| Author | Bob Crew |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Helping Women
become the
"Best Man for
the Job"
by Bob Crew
Why is it that women are evidently finding it more difficult
to gain acceptance as chartered accountants than as
chartered secretaries and administrators? Which are the
most and least likely employment areas for women? What
is the real reason for the small number of women in British
management today? Is it male chauvinism, female defeatism
or personnel policies and procedures? How can ambitious
women best market themselves, beat the system and suc-
ceed in interviews heavily weighed against them? Which
companies go out of their way to recruit and promote
women? What is the preferred image for women intent on
succeeding in job interviews?
If "true confessions" are not the name of the game when
personnel officers interview women, why does Britain's
oldest business school advise female job applicants to tell
interviewers "only what they want to hear"? How can
women resume their management careers after a period at
home having their babies? If experiments with male rats
show that they do not welcome female rats into the "rat
race",
what hope for the human variety? Why do some com-
panies prefer not to send women to business school even
when they are offered scholarship places, free-gratis? In the
following report, the author attempts to discover the
answers to these questions.
In an age of liberation and non-discrimination, it is suppos-
ed to be sexist and indeed unnecessary to talk about
women's careers differently from men's Such a difference
is not supposed to make any difference. But managerial oc-
cupational statistics (despite their inadequacies) clearly
demonstrate that managerial man-power is the operative
term — not woman-power — with 80 to 90 per cent of
managers being male Male managers represent about ten
per cent of all men in employment, while women managers
represent just under five per cent of all female employees.
The higher one goes up the hierarchy, the smaller the
percentage of women. Nor does this pattern seem to be
improving markedly; indeed, it may be deteriorating despite
the dramatic increase in the proportion of women in the
labour force — from 31 per cent in 1951 to 40 per cent
by 1981. Two-thirds of all married women are now working
compared with a quarter 30 years ago, but many of them
left school at a time when women's educational oppor-
tunities were limited
Some signs of change are beginning to appear, according
to Sheila Rothwell, the director of Employment Policy Studies
at Britain's oldest business school, Henley — The Manage-
ment College, who says:
"In the membership of professional institutes, changes
are underway, but the statistics show very few with more
than ten per cent of women members. Men still repre-
sent over 90 per cent of the membership in accountan-
cy, for example, according to the Equal Opportunities
Commission. Thirty per cent of chartered secretaries and
administrators under the age of 30 are now apparently
women,
compared with under ten per cent of the over
30s."
Such change is, of course, partly the result of the steadily
increasing proportion of women at universities — 39 per
cent undergraduates and 31 per cent postgraduates in
1980-1981 — particularly on business management
courses. Between 1973 and 1977, the percentage of
women management students increased from 12 per cent
to 27 per cent, with women comprising 40 per cent of the
management science faculty at the University of
Man-
chester's Institute of Science and Technology
Why So Few Women Managers?
Many studies have been carried out in Britain and the USA
into the likely reasons for the small number of women in
management. They fall into three main areas of explana-
tion,
identified at Henley as follows
Men's Attitudes
Management is generally still seen as a masculine role and,
in the current climate, "macho" qualities of aggression, drive
and achievement are seen to be at a high premium. While
survey evidence has shown a decline in the proportion of
male managers who are opposed to women in manage-
ment, there is little sign at senior levels of any acceptance
of the need for any positive change Many men say they
would like to see more women managers and genuinely
believe that they and their organisations are
non-
discriminatory In practice, however, the subject is irrelevant
to most day-to-day concerns, which are entirely masculine
Women are still spoken of in primarily domestic terms and
largely confined to domestic-related occupations and ser-
vice functions — in catering, cleaning, nursing, teaching
and secretarial work, despite evidence that women are
capable of any occupational role, and that differences within
the sexes are much greater than differences between them.
Women managers are stereotyped into the role of "mother",
"pet", "seductress", or "iron maiden", rather than seen as
individuals with different personalities. The very use of the
term
"girl",
in a situation where a male manager would never
be spoken of as a "boy", is subtly demeaning and signifi-
cant of an attitude to asymmetrical relationships. Lack of
career commitment is assumed, even when proved
otherwise.
Personnel Policies and Procedures
Company personnel policies are usually non-discriminatory
in appearance and in intent, but since they are geared to
the normal male management career, their effects and the
10 IMDS • JANUARY/FEBRUARY • 1985
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