For information
Below is the summary of a dissertation carried out by Hilary Robertson,
Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation in Scotland. The findings might
be of interest to list members.
I can forward this summary as an attachment if people prefer. Please email
me directly at: [log in to unmask] if you want a pdf copy.
Thanks,
Suzi
Dr Suzi Macpherson
Lecturer in Social Policy
Dept of Applied Social Science
University of Stirling
STIRLING
FK9 4LA
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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE WORK DECISIONS OF SENIOR WOMEN IN THE SCOTTISH
PUBLIC SECTOR
Summary
In order to explore the extent to which the experiences of senior women in
Scotland today reflect those of women elsewhere and the factors
influencing their choices about work, a series of qualitative interviews
was conducted with a group of 20 senior women.
All the women had individual and varied experiences to report but several
common themes emerged. These were;
• The continued presence of gender discrimination.
• The limitations of formal equality or flexible working policies in
improving the representation of women at senior level.
• The influence of domestic circumstances on women’s ability to
succeed in senior roles.
While not intended to be a representative group, the experiences reported
by the women were consistent with other studies of the barriers facing
women in the workplace generally and also women working at senior levels.
In particular, the findings show a number of similarities with a 1991
qualitative study of senior women in Scotland and suggest that while the
disadvantages facing women have lessened they have not been removed.
Formal policies designed to achieve equality therefore have not been
entirely successful for this group of women.
It is suggested that the promotion of successful senior women as role
models and of men working non-standard hours would be a helpful step. In
addition, the influence of domestic responsibilities on equity in the
workplace should be explored further.
Background
Equal opportunities have been a feature of life in the UK for 35 years.
The introduction of the 1970 Equal Pay Act gave individuals the right to
the same contractual pay and benefits as a person of the opposite sex
where each was doing like work or work of equal value. The 1975 Sex
Discrimination Act went further to make it illegal to favour one gender
over another in many areas of life including employment and education
(Equal Opportunities Commission, www.eoc.org.uk). As a result, progress
has been made. Nevertheless, equality remains some way off.
An earlier study of senior women in Scotland by Gerver and Hart (1991)
points to a number of barriers to progress. These included; the attitudes
of both men and women to women taking up senior positions, unfair
recruitment and promotion practices, age discrimination, lack of good
quality child care, and geographical mobility. These findings suggest
that equal opportunities policies were failing women at senior level at
that time.
Elsewhere, published literature confirms the under representation of women
and points to some of the reasons why including; organisational culture,
societal and organisational ideas of what demonstrates commitment (eg long
hours) or the continued association of the characteristics of successful
managers with male employees coupled with stereotypical views of women.
Women in Scotland continue to be under-represented at senior level,
although this is improving. In 2001, women accounted for 29 per cent of
managers in Scotland. By 2004, this had risen to 37 per cent while women
make up over 47 per cent of the total labour force (Equal Opportunities
Commission, 2002 and 2004).
One sector where women make up large numbers of employees in certain areas
is the health service. Even here though, women remain under-represented
at the highest levels. Of 92 key management positions in Scottish NHS
organisations, covering chief executive, director of finance, medical
director and nursing director, only 30 per cent are occupied by women
(Binley’s, 2005). If nursing director posts are excluded, the proportion
falls to 16 per cent. Despite the commitment of local and central
government to the promotion of equal opportunities in the workplace, women
also continue to be under-represented at senior levels in local government
and the civil service.
Findings
At the time of the study, of the 20 women interviewed; 75 per cent were
either married or living with a partner, 25 per cent were separated,
divorced or single and 35 per cent had no children.
Three broad categories emerged under which the factors influencing the
women’s decisions and choices about their careers could be grouped. These
were; financial need, making a difference and work ethic or self-
identity.
All had some financial need to work; some were the major breadwinners or
had no partner with which to share the responsibility of earning. Ten
considered their main reason for working to be concerned with improving
the lives of others or putting something back into society. Several worked
because of their ‘work ethic’ or the extent to which they defined their
identities through the work they did.
Constraints on choices
Most of the constraints on the women’s choices work fell into two broad
categories; firstly, things that were related to their financial or family
circumstances and secondly, geography. Of the two, by far the most
important were family and financial constraints. Of the 20 women, 11 gave
these as important constraints on their choices.
A third category of constraints covered a range of factors, some
individual and some organisational, for example self-confidence or
organisational culture.
Enablers
Almost all the women identified factors that had either helped them to
reach their current position or were necessary to enable them to work in
the way they did at the time of the interviews. For many, although by no
means all, these were connected to social support mechanisms to help with
childcare or concerned their partner’s role.
For those who were unmarried or without children, there was a sense that
this allowed a degree of freedom so that if they were dissatisfied with
their job, they could simply move on. For others, the picture was less
clear, and one interviewee took the opposite view that being single meant
she was less likely to make a risky career move without the security of
another income or the moral support of a partner.
The price paid
All but one of the group believed there was a price to pay for their
working pattern but most found it hard to quantify. For those with
children, the price was most often related to reduced time at home and
sometimes to the financial penalty of part-time working. A glimpse of
gender stereotypes emerged in the comments of some women which illustrated
the potential conflict between the traditional view of the woman’s
position in marriage and their career.
For women without children, there was still a sense of a price paid in
terms of work-life balance, or the impact on family and social life as a
result of the demands of moving around the country during the climb up the
career ladder.
Most of the women struggled to achieve a good work-life balance.
Perceptions of commitment
Nearly all of the women recognised the tendency for long hours to be
valued as a measure of commitment to an organisation and many had worked
in a culture where that was the norm. But there was a sense that this was
changing. Several interviewees mentioned the strong influence of the
organisation’s leader in setting the tone, either creating a culture of
presenteeism by working long hours or setting an example by taking time
off to attend school events or leaving on time in the evening.
But despite thinking that the organisation’s leadership drove the culture
either towards or away from presenteeism, many of the women themselves
worked long hours or regularly took work home. Those who did this,
however, did not expect their staff to follow their example.
It was the women with children however, who reported the most challenges
over commitment although this was sometimes more to do with their own view
of how commitment was measured than the prevailing culture of the
organisation.
Impact of choices made
Most of the interviewees thought it was harder for women to reach senior
positions than it was for male colleagues. They shared a sense that women
had to demonstrate a greater level of knowledge, expertise and skill in
order to be considered as good. Most who had experienced this believed
it had had a major impact on their career choices.
As before, some of the biggest impacts were felt by the women at the time
when their children were young or when they switched working patterns to
accommodate their caring responsibilities.
A number of the women were keen to make things easier for younger women
coming up the organisation behind them and had set out consciously to act
as a role model or to work to develop a better approach to employing
women. Many believed that things were improving and that difficulties in
combining work, family and outside interests would be less of an issue for
their younger counterparts provided organisations continued to develop
equality and diversity policies right the way through the organisation.
Organisational culture
There was no doubt in the minds of any of the women that the culture of
the organisation in which they worked was absolutely crucial to their
experiences. Some women had encountered what they described as ‘macho’
cultures and had observed that the fewer women in the environment, the
more competitive it tended to be. Another particular concern was the
variable yardstick used to judge women’s aspirations or commitment and the
continued presence of stereotyped views of women’s role in the workplace.
Although there was a sense from some of the interviewees that attitudes
towards women in senior posts were changing, many still felt that women
were disadvantaged at the highest levels because of an assumption, often
unspoken, that men were better suited to the task. Some had experienced
direct discrimination.
Some of the women described the disadvantage they faced in recruitment and
promotion in terms of not ‘fitting a mould’. Others saw it more as an
issue of being part of the right networks or known to the right people who
had informal influence over promotion decisions.
Other studies have identified the same issues, but noted a clear
difference between those working in the public sector and those in the
private sector. A study of one public sector organisation found that
while the numbers of men and women in management were similar, and the
range of applicants and shortlists reflected this equality, it was usually
men who were actually appointed to senior posts.
Among the possible causes for this ‘glass ceiling’ effect were:
• the attitudes of male colleagues
• stereotypical views of the role of women
• work/home conflict
• the culture of the organisation.
All of these issues were raised by the women in this study tending to
support a view that the experiences of this group are not dissimilar to
those of women elsewhere.
Examples of direct discrimination were cited by several of the women who
had lost out to male colleagues in terms of promotion for reasons not
clearly linked to qualifications, knowledge or experience. Others
reported more subtle, indirect discrimination stemming from organisational
cultures where long hours equate to commitment to the job and
productivity.
Some took the view that discrimination was perceived rather than actual.
However, whether discrimination is in the minds of those making the
appointments or those seeking the appointments, the barrier can still be
considered a real one if the end result is that women are not appointed to
senior posts. The perception among women themselves, in some
organisations where presenteeism persists, is that they will be
discriminated against because of their inability or unwillingness to take
part in the long hours’ culture.
Flexible working
The perception of part-time working was a particular issue for some of the
women in the group. In the absence of an organisational leader who
clearly showed support for flexible working or work/life balance through
leading by example, organisational attitudes to part-time working or other
non-standard patterns could be detrimental.
The idea that flexible working is not for those at the most senior levels
is borne out by the low uptake of flexible working opportunities in some
organisations. One of the NDPBs from which an interviewee in this group
was drawn has a clear flexible working policy which extends to all
employees. Six per cent of all employees have taken up the opportunity.
Of those with a flexible working arrangement, 97 per cent are women, 91
per cent are in administrative or operational roles and only three per
cent are managers.
Low uptake of flexible working even when it is widely available is
reflected in other studies and often attributed to lack of awareness of
the policy and a lack of visible role models. These studies suggest that
formal commitment to flexible working if not backed up by readily
available information leads employees to assume the organisation is not
really serious about supporting parents.
In the current study, 90 per cent of the women said their organisations
offered flexible working policies. However the majority considered
flexible working to be harder to accommodate the more senior the
employee. The wording and tenor of the NHS guidelines on family friendly
policies and the policies to promote gender equality in other parts of the
public sector also suggest flexible working policies are seen as something
managers implement for others rather than something that applies to them
too.
This sense that senior employees are not included in efforts to increase
flexible working or reduce long hours was reinforced by the number of the
women in the study who said they worked long hours but did not expect
their staff to do the same. Several of the women commented on the
importance of the example set by the organisation’s leaders in terms of
working hours and work-life balance. Nevertheless, several in the group
believed that telling their staff they should not work long hours while
continuing to do so themselves, would not contribute to the perpetuation
of a long hours’ culture. This finding supports Coyle’s view that many
managers themselves work long hours and regard part time work as
inappropriate for managerial and professional staff.
Domestic responsibilities
It was clear that the women who considered they paid a real price for
their choices about their careers and who experienced the greatest
tensions were those with dependent children. The same issue emerged in
Gerver and Hart’s 1991 study. They argued that the lack of high quality,
affordable childcare means women without high incomes must either look
after their children themselves, or use lower quality but affordable
care. The potential here for a vicious circle is clear. Without the
higher incomes that go with more senior posts, women are less likely to be
able to afford to pay for good childcare. But without good childcare,
they are less likely to be able to progress up the career ladder to secure
the senior posts that attract the higher incomes.
Other domestic responsibilities also have an impact. In this group most
of the women with partners considered that household work was shared
equally. Some reported that they could only work in the way they did
because their partners worked at home, were retired or worked fewer hours
than they did. The result was that the partners of these women played a
greater role in childcare and household work that would otherwise be the
case. Other studies have found women taking a greater share of household
work.
The different picture that emerged in the current study therefore, while
not explored in detail, could be interpreted as supporting a view that in
order for women to have equal careers, they need to be freed of an unfair
share of domestic and childcare duties.
Conclusion
Nearly all the women thought there had been some improvement in the
position of senior women in recent years. But, echoing the conclusion of
Nutley, Perrott and Wilson (2002), the message was clear. More needs to
be done and formal policies alone are not enough.
The barriers and constraints the women in this group identified can be
summarised as:
• combining domestic responsibilities with work
• keeping hours under control
• informal networks from which they were excluded
• hostile organisational cultures.
At the other end of the spectrum, the factors that helped the women
achieve and remain in senior posts were:
• supportive leaders
• help at home
• flexible working policies applied right to the top of the
organisation.
Gerver and Hart’s (1991) qualitative study of senior women in Scotland
found very similar barriers.
Researchers elsewhere have considered women as distinct groups of those
whose main focus is career or those whose main focus is family. What
united this study group was not an orientation solely towards one or the
other, but a desire to achieve a balance between the two extremes. Given
the small size of the group, this cannot be assumed necessarily to apply
to other working women. But it certainly supports the suggestion that one
factor putting women off seeking to advance in their organisations is the
perceived difficulty of accommodating orientations towards career and
family at the same time.
The majority of the women had experienced direct or indirect
discrimination in some aspect of their career. While there was a clear
sense that discrimination was lessening, it was without doubt still
present. Many of the women considered it to be particularly associated
with the non-standard working arrangements women with children need to
balance home and work demands.
Nearly all the women reported that they had paid a price of some sort for
their choices. In roughly equal measure, the women had sacrificed time at
home with their children or the pursuit of other interests for their
careers or had limited their career aspirations in order to accommodate
their home lives.
Many of the women were driven to work long hours by their desire to do
their jobs to the best of their ability and sometimes also by a lack of
confidence in colleagues or subordinates to do the job to a high enough
standard. Only one of the women took the view that if she could not fit
her work into the hours for which she was contracted, her employer should
consider taking on another person.
The experiences described by the women do reflect in many cases, the
conclusions of other studies suggesting that the experience of this group
is similar to that reported elsewhere.
Part time working and the attitudes of male colleagues were clearly a
difficulty for some of the women. This included those who would have
liked to work part time but did not at the time of the interview. At the
same time, it is clear from evidence in this study and elsewhere that
formal policies to increase flexible working have a significant impact on
employees throughout the public sector but tend to exclude senior women.
The question then arises of how attitudes can be changed to ensure
flexible working is considered every bit as appropriate for the most
senior employees as for the most junior. Role models make a significant
contribution here as some organisations have already recognised (Miller
and Neathey, 2004). Public sector bodies could do more to identify role
models and publicise their experiences to other employees. A small number
of the women in the study had already recognised their potential to act as
role models and were keen that younger colleagues could benefit from their
experiences. However, there was a sense, at least for one, that this was
not being supported by her organisation.
But increasing the numbers of senior women is about more than adopting
better equality or flexible working policies. The views of the women in
this study about domestic and childcare responsibilities were revealing.
Partners who did an equal or greater share of the domestic work were an
important factor in the careers of some of the women. This too supports
the findings reported elsewhere that domestic commitments are a
significant barrier to career progress (Wilson, 2003 and Institute of
Management, 2002) and points to a need for greater equality in the
domestic sphere as well as in the work environment.
In summary, formal policies to promote equality and flexible working are
important but in themselves are insufficient. They must also be
accompanied by the promotion of appropriate role models, both male and
female, to counter the stereotyped views that flexible working is not for
senior employees and that men do not have to combine work with family
life. In addition, the importance of childcare and household duties to
women’s career progress should not be underestimated and the proposition
that greater equality at home is necessary to achieve greater equality in
the workplace is deserving of further exploration.
Hilary Robertson
January 2006
Summary of a dissertation submitted as part of the requirements for the
Master of Business Administration at the University of Glasgow.
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