Posts Tagged ‘women’

Best Practices

WILL – CAN – MAY Women pursue a professional career ? / Wollen, können und dürfen Frauen führen?

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 by Anke Meier

© Viorel Sima - Fotolia.comEven though a lot of companies have a proven track record of being family friendly, and despite numerous programms to promote female carreers, women still lack adequate participation in top management ranks, compared to their overall participation in the working place or their share in university graduates.

A recent study of the network “Synergy durch Vielfalt (synergy through diversity)” shows that programs to foster female careers will be not effective, if they do not follow an integrated approach combining Motivation (WILL) – Qualification (CAN) and Company Culture (MAY).

The “WILL” decribes the motivation of women to pursue a career in a male dominated environment. The “CAN” describes the professional qualification of women, including soft factors like self-marketing and assertiveness. “MAY” deals with the cultural environment in a company, which is maybe exclusive and establishes the so-called “glass ceiling”, hindering women to climb up the ladder.

Effective promotion of women in the workingplace starts with an analysis of the actual situation: On one hand, demographic data, like share of women in management positions, gender promotion statistics, results of assessments, etc. are being compiled and analyzed. Is there an evident or hidden discrimination for example of pregnant women, part time employees or fathers, who take paternity leave ? On the other hand, the actual company culture will be looked at with respect to the acceptance of part-time work, flexible work options (time, location) or presentism vs. performance. The results of such an analysis provides ideas about hidden bias in an organization, but at the same time shows the unleashed potential.

However, many companies do not like to carry out such an analysis, as real cultural change is not wished or feared, as it always carries some frictions. Thus, the unrestricted committment of the Management Board for such a task is necessary. Otherwise, promoting female careers ends up in the “usual” measures, like agreements on flexible working hours or locations; child care; or the establishment of employee networks.

These measures usually overlook one important factor in effective promotion of female careers: it´s the male factor ! Extensive programs for women, maybe even quotas lead to restistance and the fear of men losing this game. More and more fathers do not want to be only “celebrity dads” who see their kids on the weekend or read the good-night story to them. They want to actively participate in seeing their children grow and thus require a good work-life balance as women do.

And finally: only women and men together can achieve the necessary cultural changes in a company, be overcoming unconscious bias and strive to have equality in chances, an no quotas.

What do you think ? Is it time for action for both men and women ? [DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Doing the Chores… / Das bisschen Haushalt…

Thursday, April 21st, 2011 by Astrid Bosten

Men are responsible for assuring their family’s livelihood and women are responsible for hearth and home – of course without being paid for the work! That has been the typical role allocation which had persisted for centuries and which has not been changed until the 19th century in consequence of the female emancipation.

Nowadays it is common for women to work and to assure their own livelihood or the livelihood of their family. Women have become independent and are capable to master their lives without depending on men. In recent 15 years the importance of women’s income has increased and the traditional design of the male bread-earner crumbles. By this time about 18 percent of the German women are bread-earners. This can be referred to their situation as a single mother or to their partners who are not able to fulfil the role of the main earner. According to studies women on the one hand do not have equal rights as a man – have a look at the Gender Pay Gap study – but they are headed in the right direction and are supported by economy and politics.

Now there is the question coming up who is – within the age of emancipation – responsible for the unpaid tasks such as housework, child education, and elder care?

A survey carried out by the “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)” shows that an average citizen works about 3.5 hours every day without being paid, whereas Germany exceeds this average with 3.6 working hours. Women still do the majority of the housework – no matter if they are employed or not. In comparison to German men, German women spend roughly 100 additional minutes for the daily housework, child education or care. Among the typical men jobs are still repairs or activities of craftsmen and there are few men who clean the house, cook or educate the children. In relation to voluntary work men and women are with 3 percent on the same level.

According to OECD the high share of women who does unpaid work can be referred to the higher percentage of women who – in contrast to the majority of men – work part-time instead of working full-time or is unemployed. Those countries which have a higher share of women in full-time employment also have a higher share of men doing unpaid work. Thus, the following can be recorded: The higher the share of employed women is, the higher is the balance of the total-working hours of men and women, paid as well as unpaid.

However, this is easier said than done: Women still have to face disadvantage on the job market because woman’s jobs are underpaid and there are slight chances for women to advance in those positions that are highly compensated. Due to that fact households in which women are the main earners often can be found in the sector of low income. And this is where the circle is completed: A survey carried out by the “Science Centre Berlin for Social Research” shows that wealthy women more often draw on household help and therefore must spend less time for unpaid housework than “poorer” women have to. Thus, the majority of the women have to do the housework on their own. Now, one could conclude what ought to be changed in order to decrease the unpaid working hours for women and to ensure an equality of total working hours for men and women: Firstly the childcare possibilities ought to be enhanced in order to give women the chance of working full-time – or the men ought to do the childcare. Secondly the career possibilities for women ought to be enhanced in order to give women the chance of having responsible and well paid jobs – and thirdly the salaries for men and women ought to be adjusted.

 

Apropos: If unpaid work was considered for the measurement of social welfare within the gross domestic product, the gross domestic product of an above average OECD-country would increase about 30 to 50 percent – according to the scheduled hourly wage.

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Women in Business

The silent quota / Die stille Quote

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Pro and cons against women’s quota dominated the diversity discussion this year. And although there were so many rumors around this topic, the German Telekom was the only enterprise that walked the talk and introduced a women’s quota. Tina Müller, Corporate Vice President hair-, body-, skin- and oral care at Henkel now adds a new idea to this discussion: a silent quota.

“A quota is always an insult for women who made it to the top. On the other hand I see that without a quota everything develops very slowly,” said Tina Müller in an interview she gave the newspaper Welt am Sonntag this weekend. Her way out of this dilemma is a silent quota: “[…] a mutual agreement of all managers to specifically recruit and promote women.”

For her career, decisions because of a quota didn’t play any role. In fact her success is the result of the support she got from her family, her own ambitions and performance and line managers who promoted her because of her performance without taking gender issues into account.

Tina Müller’s advice for women nowadays: conscious decision making and taking the opportunities they have – in case of doubt this also includes female attractiveness. [DE]

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Women in Business

Women like it pink! Really? / Frauen lieben rosa! Wirklich?

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A study of the University of Duisburg-Essen came to the conclusion that women are becoming more and more important to car manufacturers. The share of women who bought a car rose to 34 % during 2010 and a further rise to 40 % by 2020 is expected.

Has the car market for a long time been male dominated and one of the last retreat areas of macho culture , times are changing now – and they are changing very fast. Therefore one should also have a look on other sectors of economy.

In September 2009 the Harvard Business Review titled “The Female Economy”.  According to this article, women are a huge growth market. The overall income of women will rise from 13 trillion dollar in 2009 to 18 trillion dollar in 2014 what is an increase of nearly 40 %! Together, women are a growth market twice as big as China and India together. Further, the article reported that “women make the decision in the purchase of 94 % of home furnishings…92 % of vacations…91 % of homes…60 % of automobiles…51 % of consumer electronics.” So, women are the most important target group for most companies.

But do the companies understand how to address female consumers? In the past, “make it pink” , seemed to be their recipe to meet the needs of women. According to the Harvard Business Review article, many companies don’t even try to satisfy the needs of their female consumers. „Companies continue to offer them poorly conceived products and services and outdated marketing narratives that promote female stereotypes.“

In order to stay competitive, companies will have to understand the needs of women. And who could better understand these needs than women themselves?

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Women in Business

Career 40 plus? / Karriere 40 plus?

Thursday, October 28th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

From september 20 to 22 the HRM Expo, Europe’s biggest Human Resource Management expo and convention, took place in cologne. There, the Women’s Symposium extensively introduced measures, companies developed to support women. Especially women in leading positions was often discussed. A sign, that the times are changing?
According to the newspaper FAZ, companies roll out the red carpet for talented women.
Also a new concept, which could change Human Resource Management completely, was discussed: Career 40 plus.
At the moment, the course of a career is set between the age of 30 and 35, when many women decide to have children. If the most important time of a women’s career was around her forties, women would have another chance to break through.
What do you think? Are the forties the best time for a women’s career? [DE]
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Women in Business

Female employees file a suit against Citigroup / Mitarbeiterinnen verklagen die Citigroup

Monday, October 25th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Citigroup was among the Top 100 Diversity Employers and one of DiversityInc’s 25 noteworthy companies. But now the bank find’s itself in a lawsuit, accused by six women of being an „outdated boys club“ that discriminates against women.

The women, of whom five lost their job at Citigroup in 2008, accuse their ex-employer of denying women equality in payment, assignments and promotions. The sixth woman claims, she was demoted after she returned from parental leave.

„Old Boys Club“ is a term to describe an exclusive network of male managers who exclude women from executive levels.
The lawsuit is the latest in series of lawsuits accusing American banks of gender bias: Goldman Sachs was accused in September, Bank of America in March. Both were accused by three former female employees. Both denied the accusations. The court decision in all cases is highly anticipated. [DE]

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Best Practices

Deutsche Telekom introduced Women’s Quota: an interim conclusion / Frauenquote bei der Telekom: Eine Zwischenbilanz

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Six months ago the Deutsche Telekom introduced a women’s quota. By the end of 2015 thirty percent of percent of upper and middle management positions in the company are to be filled by women. The company has five more years for the implementation, however after six months they published an interim conclusion. Chief Human Resources Officer Thomas Sattelberger is satisfied with the development. 52 percent of the newly recruited managers are women. The top-management team now includes six women, instead of two. Furthermore, six female supervisory board members were appointed.
Above all, he observes a change in the corporate culture, Sattelberger reports. The improvement of childcare facilities and new guidelines allow flexible working models which help to reconcile management-positions and part-time work. Also men befenit from the women’s quota. The share of men who go on parental leave increased about 40 percent.
At Henkel there is no women’s quota, but for the Deutsche Telekom a women’s quota seems to be the right way. [DE]
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Women in Business

Leadership Tips for women / Führungstipps für Frauen

Thursday, October 7th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Eight reasons why and how women constrain their own career can be found on Roland Kopp-Wichmann’s personality blog. They add up to one central mistake, women make at work: They are too polite and stick too much to the rules.

For example, women don’t express their demands directly. Thus, their requests can be misinterpreted by men.

Also, the female body-language doesn’t express leadership behavior. Tilting the head or holding on to the back of a chair expresses insecurity and restraint.

Finally, women ask for permission or apologize too often and for the wrong reasons. „Excuse me please…“, „May I…“ Proposals for solutions are more productive than excuses.

Kopp-Wichmann advises women to change this behavior. The job is not a popularity contests, he says. Gaining respect should have the priority. Women who behave dominant are often perceived as negative, but are also respected. What do you think? Should a manager be respected or be liked? [DE]

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Women in Business

Today’s Schwarzkopf Customer / Die Schwarzkopf-Kundin von heute

Friday, July 30th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A new Schwarzkopf study examined modern women and their attitude towards career and family. The Study took a closer look at the self-conception and requirements of women from Germany, France and Russia. It shows: today’s women are self-confident. 50 percent of women under 30 describe themselves as emancipated and self-confident. At the same time the study revealed that men are sceptical of this development. But despite the changes, one thing in women’s lifes hasn’t changed: the leading fields of interest are fashion, hairstyles and cosmetics.
The results of the study were combined with another study about women and beauty and resulted in a new Schwarzkopf-typology: “Youth on the move” are young women under 35 without children. “Modern Mothers” are between 35 and 50 years old, have kids, but aren’t working. “Kids & Career” are a group of women between 35 and 50 years who have children and a career. “Working women” on the contrary, don’t have kids. “New beauty age” includes 51 to 70-year old women without children, respectively grown up children. [DE]

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Women in Business

The decision maker / Der Entscheidungsträger

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

 Women and men have different decision-making techniques. But what are these differences based on? A recent post by Holly Buchanan on her blog Marketing to Women Online gives an insight on this question. In her post, Holly Buchanan quotes an article, she read on MSN. The original topic was „what men love about women“ and one interesting answer was: We love how you solve problems. When a woman is solving a problem, she internalizes everything and puts herself in every possible solution to see how she would feel. Men on the other hand are trying to find the fastest solution. Holly Buchanan explains, that men and women have different brains. The parts responsible for responsible for problem-solving, decision-making and regulating emotions are larger in women’s brains. When selling something to women it’s crucial to understand her buying process. Two simple thing can help to accommodate women’s preferences and thus, „sell more stuff“, as Holly Buchanan says. First: give women enough time to make her decisions. Second: make an emotional connection with them. [DE]

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