Have you been doing a whole lot of ‘leaning in’ only to find yourself coming up against a brick wall?
You’re not alone.
In corporate America, women are now negotiating for pay rises and promotions as often as men, but are still not getting them at similar rates and facing a likeability issue when it comes to corporate leadership.
Meanwhile, women report having less access to sponsors, say they’re receiving less feedback than men and report getting fewer challenging assignments, according to the findings of the Women in the Workplace 2016, a study of 132 companies employing 4.6 million.
Seems there’s a whole lot of pushback from workplace when it comes to women doing everything they can to “lean in” to opportunities, and promotions and pay rises – as Sheryl Sandberg said we should do.
Interestingly, the above study is actually a joint initiative of Sandberg’s LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co, and Sandberg is now pushing the fact companies need to do more to enable ‘leaning in’ women to access what they need.
The study found that women who negotiate are 67% more likely to receive feedback that their behaviour is “intimidating” or “too aggressive” compared with women who don’t negotiate. According to Sandberg, sharing the findings in the Wall Street Journal, the reason for such pushback comes down to unconscious bias.
“We expect men to be assertive, look out for themselves, and lobby for more—so there’s little downside when they do it. But women must be communal and collaborative, nurturing and giving, focused on the team and not themselves, lest they be viewed as self-absorbed. So when a woman advocates for herself, people often see her unfavorably.”
While the study is American-based, its sample is wide and the findings appear to reflect what we continually hear anecdotally at women’s events and from our readers – particularly when it comes to the “uphill battle” that Sandberg describes, which sees women attempting to climb from promotion to promotion with less support than their male counterparts. It’s also encouraging to see Sandberg acknowledging that the problem can’t be solved by women “leaning in” alone – women face pushback from their workplaces, and corporates need to do more.
The good news is that (most) companies are taking the issue seriously, with 78% of those surveyed saying gender diversity is a top ten priority for the CEO. But that doesn’t mean they know what to do about it, with just half saying they know how to make improvements.
So what can be done?
Sandberg suggests targets and measuring progress is a good start, as is companies making the case for gender diversity and explaining why it matters. She adds companies should also encourage all employees to openly discuss and challenge gender stereotypes, provide more access to sponsors and keep encouraging women to negotiate.
As she puts it: “More women are leaning in—and we’ll all go farther when the workplace stops pushing back.”
So it’s not all up to women after all.
Key findings from the 2016 Women in the Workplace report
* Women are less likely to receive feedback than men, despite asking for it as often
* Just 40% of women are interested in being top executives, compared with 56% of men.
* Women report having less interactions with senior leaders than men, something both gender say is essential for success.
* Women who negotiate are 30% more likely than men to receive feedback they are “bossy”, “intimidating” or “too aggressive”
* Women negotiate as often as men
* For every 100 women promoted to manager, 130 men are promoted
