Stereotyping Takes Heavier Toll on Women

Stereotyping takes heavier toll on women

BY DONNA NEBENZAHL, FREELANCE; MONTREAL GAZETTENOVEMBER 6, 2009

Both men and women executives surveyed perceived sharp gender differences in women and men leadership, reporting that more women than men are effective at "take care" skills, like rewarding and supporting, and that more men than women are better at "take charge" skills, like delegating and influencing upward.

While we don't want to be finger-pointing at our male colleagues, it's a good idea from time to time to compare how the other half gets on in the workplace.

True, numbers of women and men are about equal here, but men still hold most of the senior management positions and there's that shocking discrepancy - in 2008, a Canadian woman earned, on average, only 70.5 cents for every dollar earned by a man. That's a step back from the mid-'90s, when women earned 75 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

So here's a look at how top executive women compared with their male counterparts, the first "insight" report released this week by Catalyst titled "Opportunity or Setback? High Potential Women and Men During Economic Crisis."

Part of a study looking at future leadership, this survey is based on responses from MBA alumni of 26 major business schools in this country as well as the U.S., Europe and Asia. Researchers are trying to understand the career values, goals and expectations of this highly skilled sector of the workforce, as well as assess developmental opportunities and their strategies for work-life balance.

It turns out that despite a tattered economy, these future leaders continue to receive promotions and to look for opportunities to further their careers. Businesses, Catalyst warns, must work vigilantly to retain employees at this level.

According to the report, more than a third of these skilled women and men received workplace promotions in close to equal measure overall (women at 31 per cent and men at 36 per cent). But Canada's level of promotions was lowest (23 per cent) compared with Europe (41 per cent), Asia (40 per cent) and the U.S. (33 per cent).

Even though they seemed to receive employer support, 20 per cent of this group left for better opportunities elsewhere in almost equal percentages (16 per cent women and 21 per cent men), while 7 per cent moved to another country.

Few men or women in this category lost jobs due to downsizing or closure and although 9 per cent of women (3 per cent of men) left the workforce voluntarily, 10 per cent of women returned to the workforce.

In the report, Catalyst president and CEO Ilene H. Lang stated that "with few exceptions, the downturn has been an equal opportunity crisis, affecting women and men similarly."

In her estimation, with this level of talent, "businesses cannot afford to assume that the poor economy will keep these high potential women and men from actively seeking better opportunities." But there are a few places where there is a troubling discrepancy between men and women. Both Europe and Canada show a much greater penchant for promoting men, for instance, over women.

Canada's low promotion percentage (23 per cent) breaks down to 13 per cent for women versus 27 per cent for men.

In Europe, 26 per cent of promotions went to women, compared with 44 per cent to men.

But the most shocking statistic in the report focused on job loss. Fully 19 per cent of the executive women surveyed had lost their jobs due to company downsizing or closure, compared with 6 per cent of men.

When push came to shove, could gender stereotyping have played a part?

The researchers at Catalyst might be paying attention to this.

A 2005 Catalyst study on the stereotyping of U.S. business leaders titled "Women 'Take Care,' Men 'Take Charge,'" presented "evidence of gender stereotyping in senior managers' evaluations of women and men leaders."

Researchers from the University of Michigan surveyed 296 corporate leaders (128 men, 168 women), most over 44 years old, 85 per cent of whom were either CEOs or within two reporting levels of the top position.

The study showed that gender-based stereotyping persists, and that it can "misrepresent the true talents of women leaders, potentially undermining women's leadership and posing serious challenges to their career advancement."

Men and women often lead in similar ways, their research data showed, but here's a case where perception rules. Both men and women executives surveyed perceived sharp gender differences in women and men leadership, reporting that more women than men are effective at "take care" skills, like rewarding and supporting, and that more men than women are better at "take charge" skills, like delegating and influencing upward.

And, when it came to the critical skill of problem-solving, "women perceive women to be better problem-solvers; men perceive men to be better problem-solvers.

Because men far outnumber women in top management positions, "this male-held stereotype likely dominates current corporate thinking and may contribute to the fact that although women hold more than 50 per cent of all management and professional positions, they make up less than 2 per cent of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 CEOs," the study authors wrote.

Unexamined stereotyping can seriously undermine a female leader. Could it be responsible for the number of high-potential women with lost jobs and fewer promotions? [email protected]