Tag Archive for: Ben Rozon

Professional Women in Germany: The Chutes and Ladders

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women smilingHow easy is it for German woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day Germany? Despite Germany’s reputation for cutting edge modernity, there still exists a big gap between men and women in Germany’s corporate world.

It may be surprising to learn that no other industrial nation has as few top female managers as Germany. Despite having a female Chancellor, there is a general sense that Germany today is stuck well in the past.

Only 11% of German companies have women within management positions. This is lower than the European Union average of 14% and way behind the United States and Canada who have around 40% parity. Many see Germany’s corporate culture and even German society as the biggest obstacle to German women gaining footing in the corporate world. Reinhild Engel, an equal opportunity official at the German company Schering says, “Women have to fight for lead positions. We have to change the company culture and the social culture.”

“Women have to fight for lead positions. We have to change the company culture and the social culture.”

Some say that Germany is simply stuck in the past. Gabriele Schaffran-Deutschmann, a recognized advocate for women also in Schering stated, “I think it’s true that Germany is 20 years behind.” Today’s Germany has a firmly entrenched masculine working culture. In Germany fewer women work full time than in France, Great Britain and all of the Scandinavian countries. Of those who do join the workforce, less than 4% reach positions of top management.

In politics German women are also lagging behind many of the other EU countries. Economist Ute Klammer, who led a study on German women and work which was presented to the federal government recently stated, “Most European countries have more women in leading positions.” There is a growing sense that Germany is behind its more gender progressive neighbours. Current German tax laws are also seen as responsible. Klammer also said, “If you look at West Germany in particular, there is a strong breadwinner model. There is still the idea that the man supports the family and the female works part-time, if at all.”

These systemic problems have had massive effects on the corporate world. Men still outnumber women in Germany’s boardrooms 8 to 1 despite a federal cabinet which is comprised of 40% women. According to the DIW economic think-tank, women occupy just 7 percent of executive board seats among the 30 largest companies on Germany’s blue-chip DAX index.

This problem is compounded by the lack of German women returning to work after having children. This is caused in part by the current parental leave law which states that an employer can return to the same or, an equivalent job up to 3 years after childbirth. However despite the law encouraging 98% of women back into the workforce, employers are often leery of both hiring women in the first place and of promoting them when they come back.

Hans-Olaf Henkel, the former president of the Association of German Industry says, “A very limited number of women advance after they have children. Women are more or less forced to quit in Germany.”

“A very limited number of women advance after they have children. Women are more or less forced to quit in Germany.”

These deeply entrenched gender roles are sometimes attributed to Germany’s turbulent history. A German female banking executive who refused to be identified recently stated, “After the war, so many men were lost, it was essential for women to raise their children as a duty to the Fatherland. If you left your children to others, you were a rabenmutter, a bad mother, like the raven bird pushing her little ones out of the nest.” Barbara Schaeffer-Hegel, founder of the European Academy for Women in Politics and Business stated, “The mother ideology of the Third Reich and the conservative women’s’ politics in the postwar time have left deep marks. The division of the areas of public and private were cemented with the exclusive responsibility of women for the private areas– caring for children and ensuring the welfare of the family.”

These cultural inclinations toward raising one’s own children singlehandedly have left their mark on Germany’s daycare systems. These factors make companies even more wary of promoting women. “It’s a lot harder to reconcile having a family and a career in Germany than it is in most developing countries and almost all industrial nations,” says Schaeffer-Hegel.

The present reality and the future progress

But there are signs that things are getting better for Germany’s corporate women. According to Fidar, a German initiative which promotes female managers, women held 11.1% of positions in executive and supervisory boards in 2013. This is a huge 4.6% jump from 2011. But while this is impressive, Fidar was quick to express that much more work needs to be done. Fidar president Monika Schulz-Strelow said, “It is not enough to bring one woman into the supervisory board. In order for things to change, several women must be in leadership positions of a company.” Fidar states that for actual change to occur and remain so, at least 20-25% of German management positions must be filled by women.

In 2014 the figure for women in supervisory positions rose to 16.2% causing great fanfare in the German media. However what was less promising is the mere 5.9% of women in executive boards. This figure rose just 3.4% from 2013. Schulz-Strelow went on to state, “Nearly a quarter of Dax companies are completely free of women in their leadership. The realization is spreading that having women in the executive and supervisory boards is very good for a company. Yet despite this, companies which simply bring one woman into a leadership position but do not change the culture will simply lose those women again.”

In order to avoid this, Chancellor Merkel and the German government have suggested installing female quotas for German corporate positions. These quotas are being taken very seriously by the media and during policy debates. Merkel has promised that from 2016 on, women must hold at least 30 percent of corporate board positions in some of Germany’s biggest listed companies. And while the debate for and against these quotas is still in heated progress, there is at least consolation in the fact that the argument exists at all.

By Ben Rozon

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Professional Women in France: The Chutes and Ladders

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diverse women in the boardroomHow easy is it for French woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day France? France is currently a regional leader when it comes to wage parity and the participation of women in top corporate positions. However there is still much that needs to be done to reach true gender equality in the French business world. Much of the recent work done by France to reach equality was started in 2011 when France officially set quotas regulating the amount of women present in directorial and supervisory boards on large French companies. The quota aimed for 20% female participation by 2012 and 40% by 2017. And while some companies and political bodies are still struggling to achieve the 2012 goal, several other large companies have hit the mark and are well on their way to the 40% female occupancy mandated by 2017.

Najat Vallaud-Belgakem, the French Minister of Women’s Rights said that quotas at top tier positions are only part of the solution. She cites training and increased opportunity at the bottom rungs of French companies are what’s truly needed to change French society. Currently, French women are over-represented in part-time jobs which have little chance for career advancement.

And of those women who are well represented, they seem to be concentrated in a few key areas such as the retail and service industries. Vallaud-Belgakem recently said that only 12% of France’s working population is employed within a mixed gender profession. This is evidence of a strong culture of professional segregation alive in France today. Most French industries are either overwhelmingly male or female dominated.

French politics today remains, like certain industries a definite old boys club. The Assemblée Nationale, the Lower House of France’s congress, remains resolutely male, with only 18 per cent of seats held by women. And with the introduction of the quotas in 2011 some big parties have shown they prefer to pay fines rather than introduce the mandatory numbers of women to their ranks.

A Socialist woman politician, who asked not to be named, recently told the Independent that macho attitudes remained dominant in French politics, even on the supposedly progressive Left. “If a man makes a mistake, he’s a poor politician or a poor manager. If a woman makes a mistake, then she is the mistake. She should never have been appointed in the first place.” This attitude is characterized by an incident where Cecile Duflot, the former Housing Minister, appeared in the National Assembly wearing a white and blue summer dress, she immediately received catcalls from other members of the national assembly. The anonymous Socialist politician said: “It is difficult for some French men. But the world is changing, whether they like it or not.”

This seems to characterize a prevalent belief in French society that women are not suitable for leadership. Florence Montreynaud, a leading feminist activist in France stated,“It is still very difficult for a woman to be accepted in a position of power in this country. It may not always be easy for women elsewhere but it is very, very difficult in France. Here, if a man has a strong personality, people say: ‘Isn’t he a powerful character?’ If a woman has a strong personality, they say: ‘isn’t she a difficult person? Isn’t she impossible to work with?’” Montreynaud says this feeling is sometimes characterized in the way French media refer to prominent French women. “Have you noticed, that prominent women in France are called by their first names? It is always Segolene, not Madame Royal. It is Atomic Annie, not Madame Lauvergeon. In a whole page of articles in Le Monde about Madame Nougayrède’s departure, she was constantly referred to as Natalie. That disgusts me. It is way of diminishing people, infantilizing them.” When it comes to high power business roles this attitude can make it hard for women to be taken seriously. “What is very difficult in France is for a woman to be both powerful and feminine. They have to dress like men, with severe suits and short hair, if they want to be half-way accepted,” said Montreynaud.

The present reality and the future progress

But attitudes in government and business seem to be changing. Initially many high profile businesswomen opposed the encroachment of quotas. Some believed that the tight deadlines would result in a wave of unqualified women into high level positions and result in even more discrimination. But after years of trying to change what is seen as the old guard, many now see the quotas a something of a necessary evil. Anne Lauvergeon, the chief of the nuclear power giant Areva said, “The situation in France is abnormal. If we cannot manage otherwise then let’s make things move with quotas.”

Since the introduction of the quotas back in 2011, the rate of women serving on boards of directors or supervisory boards of prominent CAC 40 companies rose by 7.4 points. In just 5 years this rise has tripled the amount of women in these key advisory roles. According to the Ethics and Boards Cabinet, on the 1st of June 2014, 30.3% of boards of directors and supervisory boards within CAC 40 companies were women. France as a whole has had the largest increase in its share of women in governance roles out of all countries within the European Union with an increase of 17.4%.

But despite the progress in general governance bodies within large French companies there is still a long way to go when it comes to the feminization of French executive boards. Between September 2013 and June 2014 the rate of women in CAC 40 companies and SBF 120 companies increased only 0.3 and 0.1 points respectively. This puts these executive boards as of June 2014 at a low 10.3% and 12.1%.

By Ben Rozon

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Professional Women in Brazil and the Landscape for Working Women

How-to-build-a-teamHow easy is it for Brazilian woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day Brazil? Brazil’s women have been making rapid but quiet advancements over the last decade. At the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in 2011, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president announced that the 21st century is the century of women. “I speak to you with a feminine voice; it’s the voice of democracy, of equality.” Today her words seem to be ringing true as the trend of women entering into the Brazilian business world steadily increases. They have narrowed the gap in education and are now graduating at a faster rate than men. However when it comes to senior level positions within the corporate world, Brazil is still lagging far behind,

Top Brazilian Women in Business

1. Maria das Gracas Silva Foster

As the CEO of Petrobras, Silva Foster is undoubtedly the most powerful woman in Brazil. She was also voted the 18th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. Petrobras is a massive oil conglomerate and has the distinction of being the largest company by sales in the Southern Hemisphere. She grew from humble beginnings in a Favela or shanty town and still lives in a modest apartment between two large apartment buildings. She is known for her humble, down to earth demeanor and as the first woman in the world to head a major oil-and-gas company.

2. Chieko Aoki

Aoki is the CEO of a luxury hotel chain called Blue Tree Hotels based in San Paolo. A native of Japan, Aoki went to law school in San Paolo before rising through the ranks of the hotel industry and eventually founding her own luxury based hotel chain. Last year she saw the company earn $170 million in sales. This figure rose for the 2014 FIFA world cup and is expected to explode in anticipation of the 2016 Olympics.

3. Luiza Helena Trajano

As CEO of Magazine Luiza, a retail company Trajano was headed one of the most gainful Brazilian Retail stocks last year. She is rumored to have been offered a cabinet position by the president overseeing the growth of the countries small-companies sector. Today she has over 700 stores throughout Brazil. Her business strategy of targeting the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid has made her extremely popular with customers and employees. She is known as one of the few business people who have successfully been able to “court” Brazil’s poor.

4. Adriana Machado

Machado is the CEO of General Electric Brazil. She has recently been cast as an environmentalist with her support of Brazil’s fledgling wind industry. She is also very vocal about the slow moving bureaucracy of Brazil’s government starting rumours that she may be eyeing a government position sometime in the future.

The present reality and the future progress

Brazilian women are entering the business world at a rate never before seen and are making some significant advancements. In 2011 women comprised 42.7% of the entire Brazilian workforce. However the lack of women in senior positions within Brazilian owned companies still needs to be addressed. In a study launched by the 2011 Global Gender Gap study by the World Economic Forum, Brazil was ranked 82nd among 135 nations studied. In an Executive Opinion Survey done by the World Economic Forum, the ability of Brazilian women to rise to top business leadership positions was measured. Out of a possible scale of 7, Brazil received a mediocre 4.06.

These middling scores reflect a number of root causes of gender imbalance in both the Brazilian corporate world and society itself. According to IBGE on average, women earn 28% less than men in the same job. Saadia Zahidi, senior director of the World Economic Forum also noted that despite having a female president, Brazilian women still only hold 9% of positions within parliament.

But Brazil’s biggest barrier to corporate women is workplace discrimination and a culture of permissiveness. According to Time, 40% of Brazilian women felt that they were currently receiving treatment at work that was inferior to their male colleagues simply because they were women. And despite a legal platform designed to combat workplace gender inequality in the words of journalist Ana Paula Padrao, “I have never heard of anyone being arrested for underpaying women”.

Brazil is also a country which faces deeply entrenched gender roles if it wants to advance its corporate women. There is a prevalent “macho” business culture which calls for displays of manly intimidation as a boss and during meetings. Not only are women sometimes seen as unable to exude these qualities but their own place is perceived as firmly with their children. Even women who can afford to hire a nannie and return to work are sometimes dissuaded from doing so. Their morality is often questioned as if her love for her children is being tested by leaving them in someone else’s care. For many in Brazil, the word mother is synonymous with the word woman. And of course, the word mother includes all the domestic duties traditionally associated with it.

But Brazil has a lot to celebrate. Today 60% of all college graduates in Brazil are women. Brazilian women have also become fixtures with developing inroads to top tier positions in the industries of health, education, and many technological industries. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, a founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy recently wrote, “In Brazil, 14 percent of the C.E.O.’s of large companies are female.” This is in sharp contrast to the United States. Of all American Fortune 500 companies, less than 5% have female CEO’s. Anna Maria Tornaghi, an international communications and marketing consultant based in Rio de Janeiro summed up the situation when she said, “Dilma is the culmination, it’s a quiet revolution, which is growing by leaps and bounds.”

By Ben Rozon

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Professional Women in Russia and the Landscape for Working Women

Russia

How easy is it for Russian woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day Russia? Russian women typically haven’t made their way into Russia’s management positions. However according to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Russian Association of Managers, women represent 93 % of chief accountants, 70 % of personnel directors and 47 % of finance directors in 2010. But Russia still faces many hurdles when it comes to workplace equality in the corporate world. A culture of leadership discrimination, male dominance in certain sectors and a marked lack of confidence in Russian women’s ability to hold high profile positions puts todays Russia behind many of its Asian (China) and European neighbours. Tatyana Dolyakova, general director of Penny Lane Personnel recently said these statistics are promising for Russia’s women, “But in general no revolution is in sight in the market for top managers”

The present reality and the future progress

One of the biggest barriers to Russia’s career driven professional women is Russia’s culture of discrimination. For many Russians in the corporate world, there is a belief that women simply do not make competent leaders. Elvira Maymina, CEO of Russia’s Gasinvest Bank says,“One thing that I understood very early on in my career is that whatever job you do you have to learn, you have to ”soak up“ professionalism and always be a head taller than everyone following you, otherwise you stop being a leader.” The qualities demanded by this distinctly macho leadership style are often seen in Russia as unobtainable by women.

But corporate discrimination in Russia isn’t as blatant as in many of Russia’s neighbors to the east. Tatyana Dolyakova, the general director of Penny Lane Personnel says, “It is quite a rare occasion that the gender of a future employee is indicated in an employer’s request sent to a recruitment agency.” This discrimination seems to be more concentrated in the traditionally male dominated industries like aviation, technology and oil and gas rather than media and retail. Dolyakova then goes on to say “Of course, on the one hand, the world of business was created by men and therefore a handicap of this kind is not surprising, but, on the other hand, a lot depends upon the particular industry.”

Recently a lot of attention has been paid to women who seem to have beaten the odds and attained leadership in industries not traditionally held by women. Again, Dolyakova states, “There are examples of a traditionally ‘male’ business being run by a woman, like general director of Ledovo (a sea-food producer), Nadezhda Kopytina, or president of Inteko (a construction group), Yelena Baturina.” However these women are often divided carefully between a minority who are self-made and the majority who are married to Russian business magnates. Russia’s most popularized business women, Daria Zhukova and Polina Deripaska, known for their art galleries and media house respectively were both “heavily associated” with two of Russia’s richest men when they launched their ventures. And the groundbreaking President of the Inteko Construction Group, Yelena Baturina was once married to Moscow’s former mayor and third richest man Yury Luzhkov. The perceived notoriety of such relationships is seen by many as an example of how Russian women really climb social ladders and acts as a barrier to young women looking to succeed in business on their own.

Today in Moscow, women are on average better educated than men. But despite this, they hold only 15% of management positions within the city. This is typical of Russia’s problem of limited regional success in the involvement of women in top tier positions. In the city of Belgorod for instance, women command a 65% share of all top management offices. Statistics like these are sometimes used to show Russia’s progress and avert attention from more encompassing statistics.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Russian Association of Managers reported that a whopping 91% of chief accountant positions were held by women but conversely women only occupied 6% of company president seats. The study blamed a large portion of this figure on Russian women themselves not reaching for the top. Panfilova, of Transparency International says candidly that “Sometimes women just prefer to keep a lower profile. We shouldn’t forget that most women are also mothers and simply don’t have the time to promote themselves. The time that men have to spend on self-promotion and PR, women spend cooking dinner.” What this reflects is not only the predominance of traditional gender roles in Russia but also the widespread acceptance of these roles as an excuse for the lack of women in business leadership positions.

But the Russian leadership disparity between genders is improving. In the first months of 2010 there were more women chosen for top level positions than left them. This could represent a shift in the philosophy of Russian’s big-wigs. And the PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Russian Association of Managers survey also reported that most people felt that pay and conditions were the same for men and women, with only 18 per cent saying their company paid women less than men in similar positions.

By Ben Rozon

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Update: Professional Women in South Korea and the Landscape for Working Women

myeongdong-seoul-korea-southThis article is part of theglasshammer.com’s annual Spotlight on Asia feature running throughout the month of August.

How easy is it for South Korean woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day South Korea? Today’s South Korea is undeniably behind the rest of the world in its prevalence of women in professional positions. Most of Korea’s female workforce finds employment as secretaries or in low paid blue collar work. Compared with a worldwide average of 10.5%, Korean women hold only 1.9% of director level positions in Korea. This systematic inequality at corporate and managerial levels of Korean society resulted in South Korea scoring the lowest of all industrialized nations on The Economist’s glass ceiling index. But with the election of Park Geun-hye as president in 2012, change is on the horizon for South Korea’s career oriented women. Through Korea’s rapid development, women today have opportunities their mothers could only dream of at the same age.

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