Perspectives on the issue between Genders
As we have seen in the previous sub-section significant effort is put forward by corporations
and governments alike to tackle this issue. However, moving from a macro-perspective to a
inter-personal level of the issue, there have been far fewer industry investigations regarding
perceptions of barriers to restoring the gender balance. The few industry reports that have
investigated this issue, have shown striking discrepancies between genders in their
perception towards barriers to progression, “men are consistently less likely than women to
recognise any of the barriers to gender diversity and women’s progression”( Opportunity
Now, 2010). The results are more telling as the companies in this study generally
outperform FTSE 100 companies in the percentage of board members (22% v 12%).
Figure 1 Barriers to progression: comparing male and female responses ( Opportunity Now,
2010)
Their results highlight major differences across several dimensions related to how the two
genders perceive the barriers women face at the workplace. Furthermore, these results are
consolidated by a McKinsey ( 2013) investigation into the perception of men and women
executives on the difficulties women face in advancing.
As highlighted by the last report (Figure 3), scepticism about gender-diversity issue still
exists among male executives.
The results from these two reports, showcase there is a difference in understanding
between the perceptions on the barriers women face at work, both generally and as seen by
senior executives. We are not arguing that the results of these studies should be taken at
face value, but rather that by submitting investigations into the perceptions to barriers to
progression, to the rigours of the academic research process, we will be in a better position
to draw meaningful conclusions, both for our sponsor company affected by this issue but
also for the academic research in this topic.
To manage our scope we have chosen three factors identified by the report in Figure 1 has
showcasing the biggest discrepancies between how men and women perceive the barriers
to progression. We have classified these statements as belonging to three categories in
academic literature:
“Work-life Balance” - How the individual balances work and non-work
responsibilities
“Organisational Fit” – How the individual fits in with the prevailing model of
success/leadership in the organisation
“Mentorship” – What support does an individuals get from a higher ranked
employee to advance his own career
Conclusion
As we can see from this section, the gender diversity issue is being tackled from a
governmental and industrial point of view. The financial services industry is strongly affected
by this issue, with impacts which can affect firms and economies alike. Specifically in the UK
it is a major sector of employment, however women seem to have a smaller share of the
senior managerial roles, adding to the importance of restoring balance in the share of roles.
There are significant benefits to be gained from improving gender diversity both at societal
and organisational level, where most of the industrial reports have been focused, however
at an inter-personal level there has been little research into the perceptions of barriers to
progression to higher levels from the two genders, this being the practical gap identified in
this chapter.
