Firms Should Try More Women on Boards - Term Paper Example

FIRMS SHOULD TRY MORE WOMEN ON BOARDS by Student’s Name Code + Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date Table of Contents Task I Introduction Discrimination can be against many sorts of entities including a person’s sex, gender, religion, and race. Equality and diversity are in the current world protection against such kind of discrimination. The terms equality and diversity can be broken down to define each of them as; equality: takes on legal alienation and refers to fairness to access of employment and opportunities for example, while diversity: embracing of the differences among people in a community. In this paper, however, we are going to focus on providing for equal opportunities for women or protection against gender discrimination and specifically discrimination of women in society and hence the term gender equality. According to the United Nations, out of the 143 countries that have guaranteed gender equality in their constitutions, only about 94 have made steps while 52 have not taken any steps towards this direction (United Nations Sustainable Development, 2017). Gender equality is essential to all of us because advances towards achieving this mean that all areas of our society including health and the economy will be productive and healthy. In the UK for example, reducing the gender gap could add 150 billion Euros to the annual GDP in the year 2025 (Woetzel, et al., 2015). Task II Hindrances to Gender Equality It is not easy however to achieve gender equality as there are a number of barriers hindering the advancement made towards actualizing this dream. Some of these barriers include discrimination, poor organizational culture, lack of training and empowerment, poor leadership, the glass ceiling, glass cliff and some other forms of barriers such as structural obstacles, institutional mindset, individual mindset and individual lifestyles. We are going to look at some of these factors as below. Discrimination Discrimination against women means that they are sidelined when it comes to opportunities present in the society. Narrowing it down to the workplace, women are considered weak and unable to take up leadership roles and this is very evident especially at the top level management positions. Prejudices and stereotyping women as incapable of leading makes it hard for them to access top level jobs because they are denied such chances to take on leadership positions. Poor Organizational Culture Due to corporate cultures in many organizations, women are twice likely to think that their gender will make it hard for them to climb the ladder in terms of management. Organizations exclude women through promotion processes but even worse are, organizations are zones in which women come in contact with requirements of getting senior management jobs. Poor structures and cultures then lead to women deciding that going through such processes is not for them. Organizations make it seem like getting to the top of management is so tedious and requires following unending steps. Women are without doubt disturbed by these facts and discouraged to take steps towards getting to top management levels. Lack of Training and Empowerment Top management jobs require training and expertise. When women are denied access to such facilities as training, they are limited to access of such top-level management jobs in extension. Education and training further present women with the skills and confidence to seek out economic opportunities. In the UK for example, on average, women are in about 30.9% of senior critical jobs across 11 sectors on analysis by BBC (Holt, 2012). It is a worrying trend since this means that there is less effort in training and empowering women to equip them with necessities for qualifying for such positions and leaves women populated in areas such as service offering industries and other low paying jobs. Poor Leadership Poor leadership means that there is poor goal setting in a firm and hence the future of a company is unclear. It is a case that presents troubles for women especially those seeking top managerial positions since women will not be considered in the future growth plans of the companies. Policies and regulations laid do not factor in women and deny them roles to participate in the development of the economy in general. In general, poor leadership is inconsiderate about the welfares of women. The Glass Ceiling Fewer opportunities for women to advance as compared to their male counterparts are a major problem or barrier that hinders women taking on top management opportunities. When women imitate the male traits and deny their identity, it means therefore that they take on the characteristics of males who are dominating. It makes other women who are aspiring to climb up the ladders feel discouraged and look at such women in senior leadership as clones and therefore discourages them to emulate such successful females. It reduces hence the number of women following in the footsteps of their fellow women higher above the ladder. The Glass Cliff When a company is not recovering from a downturn or crisis, people at the top are the ones who mostly get axed. Among CEO’s leaving office, 38% are women as compared to 27% men, then again, a woman is more likely to be employed when a company is facing crisis and maybe some of the appointment that is cliff are like Marissa Mayer’s at Yahoo. It, therefore, means that if the company fails to recover and in most cases, companies fail, and then the top manager and in this case, again women are forced out (Caprino, 2015). Other factors such as structural obstacles, institutional mindset, individual mindset and lifestyles all play a big role in ensuring that women are limited in accessing top-level opportunities. Men are well established in their professions plus have well organized social networks hence have greater access to information and institutional support as compared to women. It makes it hard therefore for women to break such support systems for example. Authoritative traits associated with leadership are not viewed in women by many people hence denying them a chance to lead. Most women internalize stereotypes by society, they consider themselves as being less qualified for leadership roles and are often not sure to take up on opportunities. It, therefore, limits their risk taking characteristics and self-promoting characteristics hence making women stagnant or unable to move up the ladder in terms of management roles in firms (Rarieya, 2017). Task III Conquering the Barriers Considering the barriers we have considered above that limit women in leadership and specifically, in going for top jobs in companies, it is clear that gender inequality is more than just a social issue, it poses economic constraints too. Women account for about half of the world’s working demography. Therefore we should all join the effort in ensuring that they attain their full economic potential so as to save the world economy. There is need therefore for interventions in this matter and this can be in form of organization’s effort towards addressing the barriers discussed above and this can be in other ways plus an overall diversity strategy, measure, coaching, training, policies of communication, reinforce and review in order to better the women’s presence on boards (Woetzel, et al., 2015). Diversity Strategy A diverse workforce will surely play a major role in ensuring that everyone feels included and valued at the firm. It is especially important since the times are changing and moving towards people appreciating and valuing that business with a representation of women and generally no gender inequality. Customer needs are well understood and there is a general appeal for a diverse base of customers and hence the discovery of new markets by extension. It means that this inclusion will surely raise economic levels and is a sure way of achieving the addition of 150 billion euros to the GDP of UK for example as according to the study by McKinsey. For every 10% increase in gender diversity, there is a rise in EBIT by 3.5% (Hunt, 2015) Policies of Communication, Coaching, Training, Measure, Reinforce and Review Providing the relevant support system for women in executive positions such as the relevant education, skills development, and training in subjects such as technology, science, and math go a long way in ensuring that the talents of women in executive positions are developed. The policies are important in ensuring that women are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to be able to handle top management jobs, this will definitely go a long way in ensuring that the number and presence of women at top management has increased (Adema, 2014). There should be older women to mentor women aspiring to join top leadership through coaching, reviewing and reinforcing. The next generation of female leaders can be inspired by women who are currently in senior roles. For a powerful message to be sent to the workforce about women advancement being achievable there needs to be an increase in the number of females holding the positions of executive members of boards in companies. Therefore governments around the world should concentrate their efforts on ensuring that regulations and policies are put in place to support women in organizations and should make sure that these policies are followed through. Positive action The positive action takes place when in some instances, employees take the initiative to encourage and support certain disadvantaged groups’ access opportunities, work or training at the workplace. Positive action can happen by providing support and mentoring programs for women, encouraging their participation by reserving positions for them and helping women overcome discrimination by offering such things as internships. All this work together to enable the inclusivity of women at the workplace and it is a way to help women get to top levels jobs in the workplace since they gain experience, skills and knowledge along the way, knowledge that will help them deserve and be capable of managing a company at a top level position (Miller, 2017). Equal pay Review Equal pay is another important factor that firms need to consider and is part of the corporate’s social responsibility. Productivity and efficiency can be increased through equal pay. A firm is able to send a positive message on its value systems if it has transparent methods of paying and rewarding its employees. Women coming into the workforce and seeing such gestures and responsibility are motivated hence do their best and even join top-level management positions (Adema, 2014). Changing the Mindset According to Fabrizio Freda, who is the CEO and president of Estee Lauder Companies, there is a lack of urgency in increasing the number of women at the top level jobs (Adams and Ferreira, 2009). Goals need to be set by policy makers and companies towards achieving diversity on boards. There should be an active role playing by every stakeholder to ensure that fewer blame games and excuses are being laid by managements and that action is being taken on promoting the need of having more women on executive boards. Active Pipelines need to be maintained When a company is conducting a search of its resources and in this case its employees, it should not only rely on personal networks and search firms, as this would mean adding to the already big list of men at the company, but should also consider being patient as John Thompson the Microsoft chairman puts it. In the long run, the patient pays and this is especially the case with companies that are in a quest for diversity. Long term foundations will be established by such companies and search firms, for instance, will more likely send you a qualified female board member before even initiating a search with them (Huber and O’Rourke, 2017). For there to be economic opportunities, the private sector, the government, and all the stakeholders should all join hands and walk down this road of ensuring that there are diversity and more inclusions of women on boards by limiting barriers causing such disparities. Better opportunities that enable women to work in more productive areas should be on the start list. Social norms and stereotypes that group women into categories and make them tools to enable men to attain their goals should be a thing of the past. Women should be included in academic and educational projects and urged on to study in order to acquire skills and the competence as a qualification for top level jobs. Opportunities for such jobs should be communicated and made accessible to all equally (Hafkin and Huyer, 2006) TASK IV Conclusion and Recommendation Women are a powerhouse when it comes to the development of the world economy, the problem, however, is the insufficient opportunities presented to them. The economy of UK, for example, will increase with the inclusion of more women especially in high managerial positions. It can be achieved since inclusion will increase consumer appeal for companies, there will be diversity in decisions made at companies and this means quality also increases and some factors that would have been missed are now considered, and everyone will also feel included and hence working together will be inevitable. Diversity at board appointments, changing the mindset of stereotyping women as incapable and lacking leadership qualities, policies that create opportunities for women to be trained and educated, and the few women in power acting their role of motivating and being good role models to their fellow women are some of the ways in which we can all promote gender equality and help with the women inclusion at top managerial positions. It is possible despite setbacks, for example, a high level of discrimination present currently in many organizations, lack of training and empowerment of women, diminishing mindsets, the glass ceiling and glass cliff effects. Therefore organizations should: Recommendation a) Quoted companies and FTSE companies for that matter should disclose the proportion of women on their boards each year and all the female employees in the company. b) To achieve women representation of 25% all the heads of companies should set out the percentage of women they aim at the boards of their companies for a given period. It can be achieved if appointments are to be 2/3 males and 1/3 female. c) To encourage diversified appointments, companies should announce non-executive positions on its boards for the application. d) The steering committee for this project should meet twice a year to see if these recommendations are being followed and also the Corporate Governing Code provisions for example provision B2.4 (UK’S) should be in practice by companies so that all information about appointments is disclosed (Davies, 2011, pg. 18). References Adams, R.B., and Ferreira, D., 2009. Women in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Governance and Performance. Journal of financial economics, 94(2), pp.291-309. Adema, W., Ali, N., Frey, V., Kim, H., Lunati, M., Piacentini, M. and Queisser, M., 2014. Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership in OECD Countries. Caprino, K. (2015). Forbes Welcome. [Online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/10/20/the-glass-cliff-phenomenon-that-senior-female-leaders-face-today-and-how-to-avoid-it/#213d980b79c6 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. Davies, E., 2011. Women on boards February 2011. UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, Available at https://www. gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31480/11-745-women-on-boards. pdf. Hafkin, N.J. and Huyer, S., 2006. Cinderella or cyber Pella?: Empowering women in the knowledge society. Kumarian Press, Incorporated. Holt, G. (2012). Women hold fewer than third of top jobs - BBC research - BBC News. [Online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-18187449 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. Miller, J. (2017). Leveling the playing field requires bold action - Jill Miller - CIPD Blogs - CIPD Community. [Online] Www2.cipd.co.uk. Available at: http://www2.cipd.co.uk/community/blogs/b/jill_miller/archive/2017/03/07/levelling-the-playing-field-requires-bold-action [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. Rarieya, J. (2017). HSRC. [Online] Hsrc.ac.za. Available at: http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/hsrc-review-july-2013/women-leaders-in-the-workplace-the-intangible-barrier [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. United Nations Sustainable Development. (2017). United Nations: Gender equality and women's empowerment. [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. Woetzel, J., Madgavkar, A., Ellingrud, K., Labaye, E., Devillard, S., Kutcher, E., Manyika, J., Dobbs, R. and Krishna, M. (2015). How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth. [online] McKinsey & Company. Available at: http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/employment-and-growth/how-advancing-womens-equality-can-add-12-trillion-to-global-growth [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017]. Read More