You could almost see the boxes being ticked in the last few days as the major parties made or restated their election promises about childcare and maternity leave – that’s women’s workplace concerns checked off.
The same pigeon-holing applies to the debate around sexism and women leaders which was triggered while we had a female PM. Now she’s gone, it seems, there’s a rush to bury that tricky topic as well.
But none of this fobbing off is having an effect on the animated debate about the many barriers facing women in the business sector as a packed launch this week of a new book on women’s careers, Sideways to the top showed.
The hot topics were all about breaking through barriers, the myth of merit, and the question of government regulation to accelerate the very slow progress to better gender equity in businesses.
The women at the launch, many in the middle of their careers, were keen to hear from Carnival CEO Ann Sherry and Korn Ferry managing director Katie Lahey, who were also profiled in the book by author and career consultant, Norah Breekveldt.
While we are still a long way from having a more nuanced public debate about gender and leadership in this country, the panel agreed the use of targets in business was a step forward, but it was clear there were no quick solutions. While quotas were not ideal in some ways, the slow progress meant they could offer a possible circuit breaker.
The panel agreed ‘merit’ is a much misused term in the discussion on gender, particularly when it comes to objections to using targets or quotas.
Merit needs to be clearly defined so everybody has the same idea, said Sherry. The concept that merit was objective and evenly applied to everyone was one of the great myths.
In career terms, moving from the public to the private sector and from banking to a cruise line was clearly not planned, Sherry told the launch, but it was about developing a set of transferable skills and being a generalist.
Public sector experience proved a major career advantage, said both Lahey and panellist Leanne Wallace, principal with Nous Group. All three women had taken chances to gain more experience as opportunities came up, even if it didn’t mean a step up the ladder.
Instead of advising women on how to conform to male norms to be accepted as peers, experience helps you to realise others have to adjust to you too, and it’s important to assume you will fit in and not the other way around.
Some of the main ingredients for success identified by the women in the book include being aware of and choosing different career paths, often by taking a sideways step rather than pursuing a promotion; moving jobs if you run into a glass ceiling; and having a flexible approach to career planning and decisions.