Gender Equality At Work? Check Back In 100 Years

The study’s pipeline and programs data is based on surveys from 118 companies across North America, with an additional 60 companies from a previous study conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2012. For instance, women are underrepresented at all levels of the corporate hierarchy, a problem that grows worse the higher up the ladder you go.

The study doesn’t assert a causal link between the views held by respondents and the underrepresentation of women at the top.

– Provide programming that helps women develop critical skills for career advancement. Here it is: If the percentage of women in C-suite roles continues to rise at the same rate as it has over the past three years, it will take a full 100 years to achieve gender parity. “This data creates a road map to faster progress for women in the workplace”.

In contrast, a majority of men hold line-of-business roles at every level. Ms. Rice, who spent eight years running the companys mutual-fund business, observed that midlevel women hesitated to seek high-level jobs due to their lack of profit-and-loss experience. Black, Hispanic and Asian women are on average 43% and 16% more interested in becoming a top executive than white women and white men, respectively. But unlike HBS’s findings, this study suggests the main source of stress is not work-life balance, but women’s disproportionately stressful path to leadership.

And among all respondents, only a third think gender diversity is a top priority for their direct manager.

Interestingly, women at all levels of a company believe they are given fewer opportunities to advance because of their gender and believe they are disadvantaged by their gender. By and large employees are not taking advantage of flexibility programs, and there is evidence that they’re reluctant to participate for fear of being penalized.

And although companies are providing flexible work schedules to allow for greater work/life family balance, more than 90 percent of men and women believe taking extended leave will hurt their position at work – fittingly echoing my colleague Natt Garun’s sentiment about flexible parental leave.

Interestingly, women are not leaving their jobs at an increased rate, compared to men. The researchers in this case speculated that women might feel this way because they’re still more involved at home, and a powerful career would be hard to juggle.

“While there is still significant work to do, it is encouraging to note that a majority of women and men report being satisfied with their careers, family situations and personal lives”, the report concludes. By the time women hit the vice president level, however, participation drops to 27 percent.

The completeWomen in the Workplace2015 study can be found atwomenintheworkplace.com.

Above: Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook. Women are more likely to occupy staff roles, which don’t produce revenue. LeanIn.Org is a private operating nonprofit organization under IRS section 501(c)(3).

That’s the bottom line from new research from Sandberg’s Lean In organization and the consulting firm McKinsey. Slack Technologies is one company trying to change the industry mind-set.