The Battle Of The Sexes At Work

Most men are blissfully unaware of the fact that women still face a glass ceiling at work.

A survey of over 3,000 people found that only 38% of men thought that women faced barriers in senior management whereas 73% of women thought there were barriers.

This was from members of a British group called Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), so clearly they are in the business and they know what they are talking about.

The report also says that women’s ”managerial career aspirations lag behind men’s at every stage of their working lives, and that they have less clarity over traditional career direction than men.”

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Not all women want to be managers and there’s nothing wrong with that. And this is not at all a surprise. Men are taught to go out and conquer the world so of course they grow up thinking they will be running a business. Women, on the other hand, are often taught that yes, they can have career aspirations, but there’s always the fact that marriage and babies will get in the way. To be a top business woman we are taught that we cannot also have babies. Or if we do we need to be rich enough to afford nannies so our carers don’t get interrupted when we give birth.

But many women want both career and  family and clearly this is still not happening. Thank goodness business is starting to change and provide ways for working women to encorporate their family lives. There are now more flexible working practices, maternity and paternity leave, and even concessions for breastfeeding mothers.

The glass ceiling is the reason that many women are starting their own business — instead of a glass ceiling the sky is the limit. When we look at the statistics of salary and glass ceiling it’s important to take these independent business women into account. Are their salaries limited by what’s between their legs or not? I’d love to see a comprehensive survey of all women, instead of just restricting it to those in traditional business models.

Clearly though, for those women who do want to work in traditional business models, there’s a long way to go.

This is not a battle of the sexes or a political debate, but an endeavour to get better working conditions for everyone, including those men who appreciate time off to be with their families.

If the men in charge who don’t think there’s a glass ceiling would realize the barriers women are facing at work and how to help them then they could become our allies instead of our enemies – that would make for a happier workplace for everyone.

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com