Despite recent advancements by women in the business world, new studies find that women are still being held back from achieving their full potential, as access to management development programs are often still inaccessible to many women in corporate America.
The higher up the corporate ladder, the more noticeable the absence of women in the high potential management development programs and the one-on-one mentoring that prepares individuals for the coveted executive positions, according to a recent study titled “Holding Women Back. Troubling Discoveries—and Best Practices for Helping Female Leaders Succeed,” by Development Dimensions International, Inc. (DDI), a Pittsburgh- based talent development consulting firm.
“The deck is stacked against women right from the beginning… men get pushed into high potential programs to make sure that they get to the executive level,” Ann Howard, chief scientist at DDI, claimed in a recent podcast interview with Jennifer Pesci-Kelly, a DDI public relations specialist.
Many senior level executives choose men over women into leadership development programs, DDI found.
Howard said that male development often begins on an informal basis, with a leader selecting and mentoring a potential candidate unofficially.
In the early stages of women’s careers they do not realize “who has a mentor and who doesn’t. And so what that means is that women don’t recognize they’re not getting the same development opportunities until it’s really too late,” Howard discovered during discussions with many females managers.
Disproportionate Selection for Development Programs
Training programs are divided into lower, mid-level, senior-level and executive ranks. The gender disparity in lower level programs is 4 percent, with 19 percent of the respective company employees being male and 15 percent female, when taken from the entire firm’s employee pool, DDI found.
The disproportion in the second tier management level rises to 8 percent, with 25 percent being male and 17 percent female. At the senior level, an 11 percent gap was found, with a 35 percent being male and 24 percent being female. When it comes to the highest echelon of the corporate level, 39 percent are males and 26 percent are females, a 13 percent imbalance.
“Gender discrimination continues to thrive below the surface to the detriment of not just female leaders, but the organizations that employ them,” the report’s authors suggested.
The researchers claim that women who reach top-level positions without having gone through an at least 10 years of rigorous leadership development program are prone to failure.
Potential for management, based on innate abilities and formed through education, training and experience, is required for an individual to move successfully up the corporate leader. Each level has its pitfalls and breeding ground for stronger management abilities.
“Leaders especially need training and support when they make the transition to a higher-level position. With each step up, leaders acquire more accountability, affect wider audiences, experience greater visibility and face a heightened risk of failure,” the researchers advise.
American Females Ahead of the Management Game
Globally, the United States has the most women at all management levels.
The researchers claimed that women could never reach their potential worldwide as they are kept out the “old-boys network,” where the sitting manager chooses a successor and mentors him throughout his career more or less clandestinely.
Industry sector also determines the composition of female versus male leaders. Surprisingly, in the healthcare industry more females than males have achieved a leadership position, with over 60 percent of all managers being female. In banking, electronics and in the consumer products manufacturers industries, there are between 20 to 39 percent female mangers. The least female managers, below 20 percent, were found in the computer hardware, energy and utilizes and transportation sectors.
Strongest Mentoring Programs for Females
Ten companies that provide excellent mentoring programs for females were listed on ResumeBear, an online resume help Website, on their “Top 10 Companies for Executive Women 2009.”
Sodexo, Inc., a global food and facility management firm with 355,000 employees, was named No. 1 for its female development program.
Others on the list were Johnsons & Johnson, Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Bank of America Corporation, American Express Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., and Marriott International, Inc.
