It's a sad fact that behind every successful man there's a woman, but behind every successful woman there is an army of nannies, cleaners and out-sourced help she pays for and has to juggle daily to support her complex work/life commitments. It is no wonder then that the number of women reaching the board room remains disappointingly low.
Despite regulation and equal opportunities women are discovering it is not a level playing field when it comes to getting to the top. A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) published in March 2007 shows the number of female senior managers working in major UK businesses has fallen by over 40% in the last five years. In 2002, 38% of senior manager positions in the FTSE-350 were occupied by women; this is now just 22 %. Many blue chip companies are spending more on recruiting and retaining women, helping them back after maternity leave, many more have yet to realise the benefits of understanding women's needs thus losing the valuable talent which are key to business growth. With a "glass labyrinth" before them of complex career paths and enormous demands in their private life is it any wonder that women are choosing to opt out and deciding to stay at home or go part time instead?
Certainly one of the most commonly perceived reasons for women not returning is the high cost of childcare (in the UK nursery costs far outstrip inflation, according to Daycare Trust Figures) and elder-care pressures which is becoming an increasingly under-considered factor. However some 52% of women in business interviewed said that they were more likely to leave or not return to a "stalled" career and prefer to seek a position with greater power, challenge and potential. Not, as was previously accepted, that the nursery or nursing home beckoned.
Tellingly the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) reported that a large number of business leaders will only appoint a woman into a very senior post in times of crisis and poor performance. This "glass cliff" situation is a form of hidden discrimination that sets women up to fail and only the very brave woman, or one with little other chance of career progress, takes these high stakes risks. So better, affordable childcare, flexibility and above all, the opportunity to reach for the higher career echelons would encourage key female players to step up to the plate.
In many professions it is also simply a case of the deadly NIAMY's (Not In A Million Years syndrome) which happens when there has never been, in anyone's lifetime, a case where a woman has been in the most senior of positions. A stance usually held by organizational dinosaurs as a way of avoiding natural evolution and guarding their own turf. But nonetheless it's worth remembering dinosaurs become extinct and an altogether more sophisticated and intelligent breed took their place. Women it's time to roar!
