Climbing the career ladder can be perilous.
Annie Lennox may have sung it loud and proud, but are sisters really doing it for themselves?
The proportion of women in senior management positions in Australia and around the world is dismal. ABS statistics from 2006 show women made up only 12 per cent of all executive managerial positions in the top 200 ASX companies. Industry bodies aren't much better: of the 12 board members of the Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry, two are women. The Australian Retailers
Association has five board members, but only one is female. There are no women among the Australian Wheat Board's 17 members.
So with the exception of Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon and a handful of female chief executives, who do Australian women really have to look up to?
The sole female board member of the Business Council of Australia, for one: she is also the CEO. Katie Lahey, who has been CEO since 2001, knows that the choices women make early in their careers often limit their capacity to get to the top of large companies.
"The traditional role of women involves taking time off for children, but being out of the workforce for a key period in their 30s can mean they miss a few rungs on the promotional ladder," Ms Lahey says.
But Ms Lahey says that even the women who make the sacrifices and do the hard yards to work their way into senior management positions often hit a wall - themselves.
"Time and time again I see women who self-select out, or don't put themselves forward. They see a job advertised, look at criteria and decide they haven't got what the company is looking for, so they don't apply," she says. "A man will often look at the same role and say, 'I'll throw my hat in."'
Maureen Frank, the managing director of Emberin, agrees.
"Some of the structures in business are so rigid that women just give up," she says. "I'm not saying we should be giving more roles to women to create a balance - the women have to be willing to step up for the job. The problem is, many of them don't think they can."
As a CEO of large multinational companies in a variety of countries and a single mother of twin girls, MsFrank knows how hard it is to juggle career and family. But because she believes much of her success has been due to the encouragement and support of the men around her, she left the corporate world to start Emberin, an organisation that helps businesses retain, attract and grow their female staff. Emberin also has a program helping men to support women at work.
"Many men have very little idea of the issues women face. There's no malice involved, they just don't realise how challenging it can be for us," Ms Frank says.
Brian Hartzer, CEO of ANZ's Australia Division, has seen firsthand the benefits of encouraging women.
"When I came to Australia (from the US) 15 years ago, one of the first things that struck me was the lack of women in banking," he says. "While we're not where we need to be yet, we have seen an improvement and several benefits: greater availability of talent, diverse perspectives in the decision-making process and, in many cases, a greater understanding of our customers - a large proportion of which are obviously women."
Ms Lahey and Ms Frank agree that supporting women in the workplace can have massive benefits for a company, and both women point to studies that show creating a gender balance increases profits.
Ms Lahey says: "Studies show that the most profitable companies have a more balanced board."
Ms Frank adds: "A balanced leadership table will be more innovative, creative and productive, and this is likely to have significant commercial benefits."
Tips from the top
Katie Lahey says:
"If you're given the opportunity to manage something with a big budget and lots of people, jump at it, even if it's not particularly glamorous or exactly where you want to head. Experience and determination to have a go is what counts on your CV."
Maureen Frank says:
"Flexibility is crucial, but women can approach it the wrong way; walking into HR and complaining that their role or their colleagues' have no flexibility is not helpful. Instead, present your request for flexibility like you would a business case: explain how you are going to do it, identify key stakeholders that will be affected, and pinpoint any financial implications. The key is to make getting to 'yes' easier."
