MANAGERS ON MANAGEMENT:Managers should ensure women don't have to choose between children and career success, writes PETER CLUSKEY
WHEN WOMEN do manage to break through that infamous glass ceiling, are their attitudes really different enough to make them better managers than men?
“Of course I’d like to say yes,” smiles Dr Maryann Valiulis, director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College Dublin, “but I think the more honest answer is: yes and no.
“There are certainly those who take the view that women’s style of leadership generally is more inclusive, less confrontational, more conciliatory – with less of the ‘I’ than you may get with some male managers.
“On the other hand, if a woman comes up through the system, how much of that difference remains? I don’t know the answer to that.
“But I do know that a lot of it depends on the individual.”
Part of the problem, Valiulis believes, is that while there are, of course, ambitious and successful women in leadership roles, they tend to be treated as an anomaly.
“If I’m an ambitious woman and I have a fairly decent position, and you’re an ambitious man in a fairly decent position, the way we assert our authority is taken differently.
“It’s as if it’s a male right and there’s no comment about it. Whereas a woman will be called a bitch, she’ll be called domineering and various other unflattering names – because the stereotypical image of a manager or a leader is of a man.”
Male managers, however, can contribute to changing those attitudes.
“I’d say to male managers that you need the talents of both men and women. You need to maximise the impact of all your workforce.
“So you have to find a way of including women. And that doesn’t mean just leaving it to chance.”
The key is mentoring, she says. “When I say mentoring, I mean a formal programme of mentoring with properly trained mentors. And those mentors should be both men and women.
“Men know the power structure and how it works, so it’s important to involve them.”
As important as mentoring, she says, is career planning. “Research has shown that – whether male or female – people who plan their careers do better.
“For women it’s particularly important because, if I want to continue to climb the corporate ladder but I also want to have children, I have to figure out a way that I can do both. And if a company is genuinely interested in making the most of its female talent, it has to make room for that to happen.
“And of course the other thing is paternity leave: you’re not going to get equality in the workforce until you get equality in the home.”
Interestingly, Valiulis has carried out extensive research on women in the Civil Service – and that research has shown that women who make it to the top are more likely than their male colleagues not to be married and not to have children.
Overall, 71 per cent of men in middle-management positions or higher had children – while only 54 per cent of women in similar jobs had children.
“As women progress up the career ladder, you can see the statistical impact very clearly. At junior management level, 41 per cent of men have children and women are higher at 59 per cent.
“At middle management, 62 per cent of men have children, whereas women have dropped to 38 per cent.
“And then by senior management, 79 per cent of men have children – but the number of female senior managers with children is just 21 per cent. In my opinion that’s incredible.”
What should statistics such as those tell senior managers?
“Well, I know the impact they’ll have on me if I’m a talented woman looking upwards: they’ll make me ask myself, is it really worth all that sacrifice? And any worthwhile manager should see that.”
Name: Dr Maryann Valiulis
Organisation: Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Trinity College Dublin www.tcd.ie/cgws
Job: director
Management advice: Make ambitious women the norm rather than the exception in your organisation
Next week: Liam Murphy, managing director of Henkel UK Ireland, on productivity as the key to success and recovery
