The ‘glass ceiling’ seems as impenetrable as ever in Australia, and the ‘invisible’ barrier is everywhere. The more power, prestige, and financial compensation associated with a profession or position, the fewer women you will see.
Australian women make up 45.3% of the overall labour force, and roughly 44.6% of managerial and professional positions. But women hold just 17.6% of ASX 200 board positions. Only 10 such boards have female chairs and 42 boards on the ASX 200 still don’t have a woman.
The numbers in the public sector tell a similar story although a slightly better one. Despite comprising almost half the public sector labour force, women account for only 33.4% of all government board positions, 30.1% of Federal Parliament positions, and 17.9% of all university vice chancellorships, and these percentages haven’t changed much over the last decade.
Part of the cause of the ‘glass ceiling’ lies at home where research shows that mothers do far more of the domestic labour necessary to run a family household than fathers do. Even when a mother is the vice-president of a mid-sized company and earns $250,000 per annum, their male partners at home do not necessarily compensate their highly successful wives by doing more housework to make ends meet. Instead, the successful female executive simply comes home to a ‘second shift’ of domestic duties.
And even some male executives who have learned the lingo of gender equity in the workplace still betray their true biases when push comes to shove. Research shows that if you ask male CEOs about ‘family-friendly’ work policies, including those addressing paternal leave, flexible hours, equal opportunity, affirmative action and the gender pay gap, you’ll get a carefully rehearsed litany of political correctness. Women should be equal in this; women should be equal in that; companies should give priority to hiring women in senior executive positions; parental leave policies should be gender neutral. You name it, and they’ve learned the 21st-century, feminist-sanctioned, politically-correct response. But ask these same men to describe the perfect daughter-in-law for their aspiring sons, and you’ll get a lock, stock and barrel description of Suzie Homemaker. She cooks, she cleans and, most importantly, she supports his career.
One aspect of the glass ceiling is reflected, and perpetuated, in the proportion of female Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates, a degree viewed as being one of the most essential for advancing to the highest levels of management. Women comprise roughly 50% of enrolments in all undergraduate and postgraduate business degrees in Australia and globally, except for the MBA degrees where enrolments are 30 – 35% female, domestically and abroad. The gender gap in MBA enrolments and completions has been persistent over time and can be observed in several different countries.
All of the above subtle gender stereotypes and social norms may underlie the lack of women in MBAs. Meanwhile, a perception of hyper-competitive learning environments, drunken social events, and a lack of female professors and mentors that can be aspects of a typical MBA program may be aversive or alienating to women. Week night classes don’t help either. Career-oriented women, and particularly mothers, have just started their second shift when most MBA classes are starting.
In addition, research shows that completing an MBA does less for a woman’s career than a man’s. The post-MBA salary gap starts at around $5,000 per annum more for men in the first year after graduation, later reaching a maximum of more than $30,000 per annum. The cumulative value of all those lost earnings to women approaches a half a million dollars over the course of her working life. This gender gap in earnings is not unique to MBA graduates. It can be found over a wide range of degrees in a large number of industries.
I am a husband, a father, and a former single father who seeks balance in my life. I want wives and mothers to achieve domestic/professional balance in their lives without having to run themselves into the ground to make it happen. In this sense men and women want the same thing: it’s just that we’re approaching the holy grail of a balanced lifestyle from opposite directions. She needs more time to pursue her career and he needs to spend more time with his kids. Let’s give everybody the opportunity to pursue their ambitions — especially when it comes to further tertiary education for women. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
The research in the above article can be found in Professor Charles Areni’s upcoming book, The other glass ceiling: Fathers stepping up, Mothers letting go, co-written with Stephen Holden and published by Darlington Press.