Women in business: the path to leadership

Women in business:
the path to leadership
Grant Thornton International Business Report 2015

40%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN RUSSIA
8%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN JAPAN
32%
OF BUSINESSES
HAVE NO
FEMALE LEADERS
22%
OF SENIOR
LEADERSHIP
ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN 40%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN RUSSIA
8%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN JAPAN
32%
OF BUSINESSES
HAVE NO
FEMALE LEADERS
22%
OF SENIOR
LEADERSHIP
ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN
40%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN RUSSIA
8%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN JAPAN
32%
OF BUSINESSES
HAVE NO
FEMALE LEADERS
22%
OF SENIOR
LEADERSHIP
ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN
40%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN RUSSIA
8%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN JAPAN
32%
OF BUSINESSES
HAVE NO
FEMALE LEADERS
22%
OF SENIOR
LEADERSHIP
ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN
40%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN RUSSIA
8%
OF SENIOR ROLES
HELD BY WOMEN
IN JAPAN
32%
OF BUSINESSES
HAVE NO
FEMALE LEADERS
22%
OF SENIOR
LEADERSHIP
ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN
Women in business: the path to leadership
Executive summary
The proportion of senior roles held by women has barely changed over the
past decade. Eastern Europe leads the way, and there has been some progress
in Europe, but Japan, India and Germany remain at the bottom of the rankings.
• Stop holding female leaders up to a higher standard
• End the stigmatisation of men who share childcare
• Update the outdated business leadership stereotype
Make a top-level commitment to support women leaders
Design leadership positions to be more attractive
Invest in mentoring and sponsorship programmes
•
•
• • Consider mandating quotas for women on boards
• Facilitate shared parental leave
• Build the necessary infrastructure and legislation
We outline 12 recommendations to help
smooth the path for women into business
leadership roles:
Business leadership today
(p. 4-9)
Recommendations (p. 15-18)
The path to promotion
(p. 10-14)
Government Business
Women
Put your hand up for stretch assignments
Push yourself out of your comfort zone
Challenge your organisation to tackle gender bias
Parenthood and family
care require women to
make more sacrifices
Women are twice as likely
to cite gender bias as
a barrier
Women are more likely
to work their way up
to management
support positions
Men and women
network differently
Society
Four key trends emerge from our research into the career paths
of men and women who have reached the top:
•
•
•

Women in business: the path to leadership 3
Introduction
To put it simply: when women thrive,
businesses thrive. If an economy is only
using half of its most talented people then
it immediately cuts its growth potential.
And economies cannot simply throw
more (male) labour at the problem: a
recent McKinsey report1
showed how
ageing populations and lower birth
rates in many advanced economies are
weighing on productivity growth.
Interestingly, two of the economies sitting
on a ticking demographic time bomb
highlighted in the McKinsey report -
Germany and Japan - rank bottom of
our index for the proportion of senior
leadership roles held by women. Getting
more women into the workforce will not
solve the looming productivity crisis but
it would be a step in the right direction.
More broadly businesses need to think
about how they access different skillsets.
We are all aware of the danger of
‘groupthink’; diversity simply leads
to better decisions in all walks of life.
Business growth comes from diversity
of opinion; from thinking and acting
differently from the competition.
1
“Can long-term global growth be saved?” - McKinsey Global Institute (2015)
Francesca Lagerberg
Global leader for tax services
and sponsor on people and culture issues
Grant Thornton
For over a decade Grant Thornton has published the proportion of business leadership
roles held by women. Every year the result disappoints. So, why do we do it?
Why do we, as advisors to dynamic businesses, care?
As my colleague Sacha Romanovitch
puts it, businesses need to create “a bigger
map of the world” by broadening their
horizons and opening themselves up to
new thinking. Gender is just one strand
of diversity, but it is a major and grossly
under-used one according to our findings.
There is also a moral issue here.
Are women being given the same
opportunities as men? Do women
hold fewer leadership roles out of
choice? Or are there cultural or social
barriers to their advancement that we
should not accept in the 21st century?
So what does this report
add to the debate?
Last year’s report (From classroom
to boardroom) found that an increasing
number of female graduates has not yet
translated into increasing participation in
the upper echelons of the business world.
So this year we decided to focus on career
paths to better understand the barriers to
women’s progress into leadership roles.
Drawing on 5,404 interviews in
35 economies conducted through our
International Business Report and 20
in-depth interviews with senior business
leaders, this report finds that women’s
advancement is being constrained by a
number of factors, from entrenched social
norms and gender bias to parenthood and
archaic business practices. Clearly there
is no silver bullet to combat such a
broad range of barriers, but the research
offers insight into the actions society,
governments, businesses and women
themselves can take to begin the
process of change. By following our
recommendations each group would
be unlocking its own potential
for growth, by raising diversity and
boosting productivity. Ignoring them
is quite simply a colossal waste.

4 Women in business: the path to leadership
Before we look in detail at career paths, it is worth considering how little has changed in the world since we started
tracking gender diversity in business leadership back in 2004. There has been much debate and discussion over
the intervening 11 years. Countries such as Norway have successfully introduced quotas, Sheryl Sandberg,
COO of Facebook, has sparked debate about whether the lack of progress is a matter of women needing to
“lean in”, and a number of countries including Brazil, Germany and Thailand have elected female heads of state.
However, over that time, the proportion
of the top jobs in business held by women
has barely changed, increasing from 19%
in 2004 to 22% today, and never reaching
higher than 24% over the intervening
period. Slightly more encouragingly, the
proportion of businesses with no women
in their leadership teams has dropped from
38% to 32%. This figure drops further,
to 26% for the most dynamic (or high-
growth) businesses in our survey, perhaps
an indication of the benefits greater
leadership diversity brings.
There are other pockets of optimism in
the results. Eastern Europe stands out as a
consistently good performer with 35% of
senior roles held by women. The top six
economies in our rankings are from the
region where just 16% of businesses
have no women in their leadership teams.
Business leadership today
The drivers of this relative success are
drawn from history, culture and
demographics. Women were promoted
into new service industries under the
old Soviet Union, which was keen to
show that ‘equality of opportunity’ under
communism included equality between
genders. Barbara Stocking, President of
Murray Edwards college Cambridge, says
“equality of education was very important
in the communist era. We have a lot of
Eastern European students doing maths
and engineering which are much more
unusual for girls in the UK.” Gender
ratios also play their part: Russia has
approximately 120 women for every
100 men, partially driven by the huge
number of people who died in Russia
(and the wider region) during WWII,
and also by higher male mortality rates.
Women in senior management
40
35
30
25
20
2004 20092007 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Proportion of senior
management roles
held by women
Percentage of businesses
with no women in senior
management

There has been progress in Europe.
Across the European Union (EU) 26%
of top jobs are now held by women,
compared with just 17% in 2004. In 2013,
the European Parliament voted in favour
of a proposed law on mandatory quotas
(although it does not yet have sufficient
support from national parliaments to
become EU law). Countries that have
made the most progress over this period
include Spain (increasing from 14% to
26%), and France (21% to 33%) - which
have introduced their own national quotas
- and Sweden (18% to 28%). The UK by
contrast has made relatively little progress
(18% to 22%) and Germany has gone
backwards (16% to 14%).
This highlights how difficult it will be for
German listed businesses to meet the 30%
target set by the government for non-
executive supervisory board seats by this
time next year despite the clear need which
Christina Busch, a partner at Warth &
Klein Grant Thornton highlights:
“We have an ageing society so we need to
get well-qualified women back into work.”
Little has changed in North America
since 2004 with neither Canada (25%)
nor the US (21%) showing significant
progress, although the proportion of
businesses with no female leaders has
dropped from 30% in 2012 to 22% in
2015. Worryingly, Latin America seems
to have reversed, with senior roles falling
from 28% in 2009 to 18% today, while
those with no women has risen from 34%
to 53%. Maria Cunha Matos, a managing
associate at Linklaters in Brazil, says:
“We need to see major social changes
in Latin America ; I’m often the only
woman in the room at meetings, and
it’s rare that wives work.”
Proportion of senior managment roles held by women (top and bottom ten)
40%
38% 37% 36% 35%
Russia Georgia
Indonesia
Poland Latvia Estonia Lithuania France
Brazil India Germany Japan
Armenia Sweden South Africa
New Zealand Netherlands Botswana Argentina
“We have an ageing society so we need to get well-qualified women back into work.”
Christina Busch | Partner | Warth & Klein Grant Thornton
There has been significant progress in
Western Europe where 26% of senior
roles are now held by women
Nigeria
33% 33% 29% 28% 27%
20% 19% 18% 16% 16% 15% 15% 14%
8%
21%

THE PROPORTION OF SENIOR ROLES HELD
BY WOMEN IN ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIES
20%
66% 4OF JAPANESE BUSINESSES O
A
A
HAVE NO WOMEN IN
THEIR SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS
“Asian culture hasn’t matured enough to accept the fact that women can hold a job and also have a family.”
Ellen Teo | CEO | Union Energy in Singapore
In Asia-Pacific, there has been some
retrenchment with the proportion of
senior roles held by women falling from
25% in 2009 to 20% today. The figure
drops to just 13% in the region’s advanced
economies, driven by Japan (8%) which
has remained steadfastly at the bottom of
the table since 2004 despite Shinzo Abe’s
pledge to raise the number of women in
the workforce and reduce the gender pay
gap. A staggering 66% of Japanese
businesses have no women in the senior
leadership teams. The figure in Australia
(22%) has not moved from a decade ago,
although the proportion of businesses
with no women (28%) is below the
global average. Ellen Teo, CEO of
Union Energy in Singapore, says Asian
culture “hasn’t matured enough to accept
the fact that women can hold a job and
also have a family”.
Historically, emerging Asia-Pacific
economies (23%) perform better in
this area. In previous reports we
have highlighted the cheap childcare
infrastructure (specifically relatives living
nearby) that is more prevalent before
countries urbanise and families separate
into more ‘nuclear’ units that are common
in the West. However, mass urbanisation
is starting to erode these support
structures as well as raising aspirations
and increasing job opportunities for
women, meaning many choose to
have children later in life (if at all). In
China women now hold 25% of senior
roles, down from 32% in 2007. However,
we have also seen significant volatility in
the results over this period (the figure in
China rose to 39% in 2013 and to 45%
in Thailand in 2011, compared with 27%
in 2015) suggesting that businesses are
far from homogeneous2
.
Rapid urbanisation in emerging
economies has led to the breakdown
of traditional family support models.
2
Methodological note: c.40% of the respondents are repeat interviewees

35% 35%
16%
23% 28%
36%
13% 15%
53%
21% 20%
22%
26% 22%
36%
23% 28%
29%
18% 23%
53%
Significant volatility in year-on-year
results suggests businesses in the
region are far from homogenous,
but downwards trend in female
participation accelerated over past
12 months, especially in China,
Indonesia and perhaps less
surprisingly Thailand given its
political situation. India remains in
the bottom three globally.
Emerging APAC
Senior roles held by women
Global snapshot
Africa
Very little change in South Africa in terms of senior
roles held by women since 2004 (+1pp); Botswana
showed a surprising (and unexplained) dip in 2015.
This is the first year we have interviewed in Nigeria.
Women’s overall participation in the labour force
remains low in Japan, dragging down the regional
average. Japan has averaged just 8% of roles being held
by women over the past decade. Both Australia and
Singapore sit level with the global average but have
seen no improvement since 2004.
Developed APAC
Despite the strong presence of female political leaders,
the region has gone backwards (-10pp) since 2009,
driven by Brazil which this year ranks fourth bottom
globally (57% of businesses have no female leaders).
Recession in Argentina may have pushed its result
down 3pp on its long-run average. The situation in
Mexico has been stable over the past decade,
marginally above the global average.
Latin America
Seven economies placed in the top
eight for women in senior
management. Russia and Poland
have the fewest businesses with no
women in senior management.
No significant changes seen over
past decade apart from Turkey
(+6pp) but Russia (39%) and
Poland (34%) long-run averages
are the highest in the world.
Eastern Europe
The result for North America in
2015 is in-line with the long-run
average suggesting little change
over the past decade, although
Canada (25%) has been tracking
higher than the US. The
proportion of businesses with
no female leaders has dropped
steadily from 30% in 2012
to 22% in 2015.
North America
Big improvement since 2004 (+9pp)
in senior roles held by women
driven by France, Spain (which have
both introduced legislation) and
Sweden, although businesses with
no women remains fairly consistent.
Little change in the UK over the
past decade and Germany remains
the big laggard: 59% of businesses
have no female leaders.
European Union
2015 Long-run average No women in
senior management

WOMEN ARE UNDERREPRESENTED ON
COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSES GLOBALLY.
66% 41% 1OF JAPANESE BUSINESSES OF SENIOR EDUCATION
AND HEALTHCARE ROLES
ARE HELD BY WOMEN
HAVE NO WOMEN IN
The proportion of senior roles held by women varies enormously by industry. Women tend to be over-represented
in service industries such as education, healthcare and hospitality, while the leadership teams of more traditional,
primary industries such as manufacturing, transport, construction & real estate, mining & quarrying are
overwhelmingly made up of men.
Women are most likely to lead
education and social services and
healthcare businesses (41%). Our survey
only covers private businesses but these
industries are tied closely to the public
sector, an early adopter of flexible working
practices and lengthy application processes
which create a ‘level playing field’. Close
to half of business leaders in education
& social services across Asia-Pacific
are women (48%). In Europe, more
than half of healthcare senior managers
are female (53%).
Both hospitality (33%) and food &
beverage (27%) also sit well above the
global average, perhaps conscious of the
need to appeal to women who make the
bulk of the day-to-day buying decisions
in a typical household. For hospitality,
this rises to 39% in North America and
37% in Europe; and for food & beverage
to 45% in Eastern Europe.
At the other end of the spectrum, sit
a group of industries that tend to involve
men selling to other men. Mining &
quarrying (12%) is the prime example,
but construction & real estate (18%),
manufacturing and transport (both 19%)
also sit below the global average. Eastern
Europe has a much higher proportion of
women in senior leadership in construction
& real estate (30%), but manufacturing
is low across the globe, from Europe
and Asia-Pacific (both 18%) to
North America (20%).
Industries such as technology (19%)
and cleantech (20%) are slight anomalies
in that they are associated with young,
dynamic people where you might expect
traditional barriers to female advancement
to be lower. The proportion of top
technology jobs held by women stands
at just 15% in Europe, rising slightly to
17% in Asia-Pacific and 20% in North
America. This is largely explained by
the continuing under-representation of
women on computer science courses:
from 2000 to 2011, the proportion of
undergraduates in the US actually
dropped from 28% to 18%3
.
3
“Fostering women leaders: A fitness test for your top team” - McKinsey Quarterly (2015)
The industry perspective

Healthcare
Hospitality
Foodandbeverage
Financialservices
Professionalservices
Otherbusinessservices
Retail
Agriculture,hunting,
forestryandfishing
Cleantech
Technology
Manufacturing
Transport
Construction
andrealestate
Electricity,gasand
watersupply/utlities
Miningand
quarrying
41%
33%
27%
25% 24%
22% 22%
20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 19% 18%
12%
Educationandsocialservices
41%
66% 41% 19%OF JAPANESE BUSINESSES OF SENIOR EDUCATION
OF SENIOR TECHNOLOGY
ROLES ARE HELD BY WOMEN
AND HEALTHCARE ROLES
ARE HELD BY WOMEN
HAVE NO WOMEN IN
Big tech companies are clearly aware
of the problem. Google has introduced
all manner of workplace amenities such
as ‘sleep pods’, running tracks and canteens
that are open around the clock to allow
its people to work flexibly. Apple
and Facebook last year announced
controversial plans to pay for female
employees to freeze their eggs, ostensibly
allowing them to work longer before
having children. It is too early to tell
if such schemes are making tech courses
and careers more attractive to women.
For mid-sized businesses in the sector,
without the financial clout to invest in
their workspaces and benefits systems,
it remains a challenge.
Proportion of senior management roles held by women - by industry
“In the food & beverage industry, there’s often a clear disconnect between industry leadership (predominantly men) and the end consumers who influence
the buying decision (mainly women). Businesses need a more diverse balance and mix of skills, capabilities, and experience at a leadership level
to maximise growth opportunities.”
Ciara Jackson | National leader - Food and beverage | Grant Thornton Ireland

In light of the broad stagnation of women taking senior leadership roles globally, this section focuses on how and why women’s
career paths diverge from those of men. Splitting respondents by gender (1,477 women; 3,927 men) produces some fascinating insight
into perceptions of what has helped and hindered leaders along the road to senior management. Four highlights are discussed below.
Parenthood and family care require women to make more sacrifices
And whether mothers or not, many
women have other significant family
responsibilities - 24% of our female
respondents cited these as a barrier to
advancement. Some have to juggle care
of young children and elderly parents.
Interestingly, women do not start their
careers expecting to be restricted by
children and families. A recent study
of its alumni by the Harvard Business
School4
found that women still wanted
high-achieving careers even after starting
The path to promotion
families, but that they suffered from
mismatched expectations with their male
partners. Half the women interviewed
expected to do the majority of childcare
but almost three-quarters actually ended
up doing so. Less than a quarter expected
their partner’s career to take precedence,
but this happened 40% of the time.
By contrast, the expectations of men
in the study were exceeded.
Sian Sinclair, partner at Grant Thornton
Australia, says that often women pull back
from the workforce when they become
parents because it becomes “difficult
juggling a career and family commitments”
and that “every couple has to decide who
will make the career sacrifices and more
often than not, it’s the woman”.
For Madeleine Blankenstein, a partner
at Grant Thornton Brazil, there are very
practical problems for women in Brazil:
“Poor infrastructure makes travel lengthy
It is something of a cliché that
the advancement of women into
senior leadership is hampered by
the pressures of child-rearing but
parenthood is still viewed as a major
barrier to female advancement into
senior roles by women themselves
(28%), a view supported by
relatively fewer men (21%).
4
“Rethink what you know about high achieving women” - Harvard Business School (2014)
Percentage of respondents who cite the following as a barrier to women
entering senior management in their organisation
28%
17%
24%
17%
20%
11%
19%
7%
21%
14%
20%
20%
23%
15%
10%
4%
Parenthood
Insufficient support
structures for women
A lack of female candidates
putting themselves forward
for promotion
A lack of female
role models
Other family
obligations/ pressures
A lack of skilled candidates
Gender bias
Legal/company conditions
and unpredictable – which makes it really
tricky for women with children, adds to
the cost of childcare and makes it difficult
to plan.” Changes in traditional family
structures in countries like Singapore also
pose problems. “My mother has friends
who had high positions in their companies
because they had older relatives to help
with the children…but nowadays the
support is really not there,” says Ellen Teo.
Women Men

29%OF HR DIRECTORS ARE WOMEN
BUT JUST 9% OF CEOS
30%
22%
44%
38%
21%
31%
5%
27%
18%
14%
12%
10%
9%
9%
4%
9%
Women are more likely to work their way up to management support positions
While women make up 22% of senior
management globally, they continue to
be concentrated in management support
functions rather than in leadership roles
at the core of a business, suggesting a
bottleneck for women upon reaching the
management level. The most popular
leadership role for women globally is
Human Resources Director (27%);
women are only a third as likely to be
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Chief
Operating Officers (COO) globally
(both 9%). However, 18% of Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) and 14% of
corporate controller roles are held by
women. Rose Zhou, partner at
Grant Thornton China, explains that
“there is a pronounced tradition in many
emerging markets of women running
household budgets [while] traits typically
associated with women – such a more
rational, level-headed approach – lend
themselves well to finance roles”.
A pervasive belief is that not enough
women put themselves forward for
promotion or for the ‘stretch assignments’
that will give them the experience and
visibility necessary for advancement to
senior leadership, a view shared by 20%
of the women (and 23% of the men)
we surveyed. Linda Wirth, a gender
expert with the International Labour
Organization (ILO) says: “A lot of the
stories you hear are that the women don’t
‘lean in’. But there are just as many stories
of women who say that they’ve done
everything to climb, but [have] ultimately
been frustrated because they do not get
appointed by the men around. This is
one of the reasons why women leave
the corporate world to start their
own businesses”.
Other leaders we spoke to attribute the
gap to women needing to be encouraged
more to put themselves forward for
positions that might facilitate faster career
progression. Sacha Romanovitch, CEO
elect of Grant Thornton UK, says she
Senior female leaders are more likely to have worked as a more junior member of staff at their current company compared with their
male counterparts. Almost three-quarters of women (74%) joined their company as a graduate or as an experienced hire - rising to 78%
in Latin America and North America, and 83% in Asia Pacific. This compares with 60% of men, who are more likely to have been
hired into a senior management role (31%) or to have founded the business (9%).
often needs to approach junior female
colleagues to take on stretch assignments,
whereas their male peers will put their
hands up even if they are under qualified;
“these women just don’t know how good
they are,” she says.
Proportion of businesses where a woman holds role
Human Resource Director
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Corporate Controller
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Sales Director
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief Information Officer (CIO)

WOMEN TEND TO APPLY FOR PROMOTION ONLY
WHEN THEY MEET 100% OF THE ROLE CRITERIA
30%
22%
44%
38%
21%
31%
5%
27%
18%
14%
12%
10%
9%
9%
9%
Hewlett-Packard discovered something
similar when the company was trying to
address the paucity of women in its senior
ranks. Analysis of its personnel records
found women applied for promotion only
when they believed they met 100% of the
criteria; for men the figure dropped to just
60%. And research by Manchester
Business School found women believe they
deserve around 20% less in terms of salary
compared with men for the same roles.5
However, there is also a question mark
around how attractive these senior roles
really are. Research shows that upward of
half of women at the peak of their careers
in the US, UK and Germany believe that
the drawbacks of leadership positions
outweigh the benefits.6
Francesca Lagerberg says that people
are “positively opting out of the way up
the greasy pole, because they’re making
different decisions about quality of life.”
Sacha Romanovitch says it’s a fallacy that
there is “a long queue of people knocking
on the door to get into senior leadership”
and that both men and women are
“choosing to do different things, as the
sacrifices you have to make to become a
business leader aren’t that attractive”.
5
“The confidence gap” - The Atlantic (2014)
6
“Women Want Five Things” - Centre for Talent Innovation (2014)
“People are positively opting out of the way up the greasy pole, because they’re making different decisions about quality of life.”
Francesca Lagerberg | Global leader for tax services and sponsor on people and cultural issues | Grant Thornton
Women
Men
Level respondent entered their current business
School/university graduate
Experienced hire (below senior management)
Directly into senior management
Business founder
There is a big question mark around
how attractive business leadership
roles really are.

Women are twice as likely to cite gender bias
Women in Africa are by far the most likely
to cite gender bias (44%), followed by
peers in the EU (25%) and North America
(21%). Men in Africa are most likely to
recognise gender bias (21%), with those
in Asia Pacific (5%) and Eastern Europe
(4%) the least likely. However, Africa
(23pp) is also where the biggest gaps
between male and female perception of
this issue are found in Africa, followed
by Europe (15pp) and Asia-Pacific (12pp).
According to Linda Wirth, gender bias
can range from the questions asked in
interviews and men presenting women’s
ideas as their own in meetings, to making
sexist remarks or subtly undermining
women’s abilities by calling them ‘girls’.
“Bias is subtle at the beginning of a career,
but causes a clear separation of career
paths,” she says. In a recent study of its
alumnae by Murray Edwards college
Cambridge, far more women (38%)
cited an ‘unsupportive work environment’
as their biggest career challenge, than
anything else which, Barbara Stocking,
says, amounts to “covert gender bias.”
The power of stereotypes and gender bias is highlighted as a significant barrier on the path to leadership. The women we interviewed
were almost twice as likely to cite gender bias as their male peers (19% vs. 10%), although there is significant variation between regions.
Gender bias is particularly important
with respect to hiring processes and
womens’ ability to move along the path
into senior roles given long-held masculine
stereotypes of leadership. “Style, gravitas,
all of the subjective leadership qualities
that we don’t tend to define still exist as
biases against women today,” says Mark
McLane, global head of diversity and
inclusion at Barclays.7
Maria Cunha Matos agrees that the
macho, male-dominated culture in Brazil
makes it tough for women to progress. She
recalls walking into her first meeting to
find herself as the only woman in a room
of 17 and says that it’s “hard for senior
women to meet each other.” Matias Ortiz,
General Manager of Distrifar says that
“macho culture exists in Argentina”
where there is no labour law against
sex discrimination but that it has slowly
been changing in recent years.
Other women mentioned specific
ways in which gender bias pervades the
business world. A few female interviewees
mentioned that they had made a certain
point during a meeting, only to see a male
peer raise the same issue later and get a
better reception. In Nigeria, Onyeka
Udegbunam, founder of NGO Hope
Givers, says that women who rise quickly
are often slandered so “women don’t want
to assert themselves for fear of what will be
Percentage of respondents citing gender bias as a barrier to female advancement
7
“Are women in the West being left behind on leadership?” - The Guardian (2013)
said about them.” Jill Krueger, CEO
of Symbria in the US, explains that she
and other female peers had to put up
with sexual harassment in the past and
would “not necessarily feel comfortable
talking to a male peer about a boss
making advances at work.”
21% 44%
Africa
17%5%
APAC
19%10%
Global
19%13%
Latin America
8%4%
Eastern Europe
21%13%
North America
10% 25%
EU
Women
Men

Percentage of respondents who used networking method
to help secure their current position
49%
30%
42%
27%
20% 20% 23%
51%
Formal business
meeetings
Networking
events/
conferences
Cultural or
sporting events
Social/online
networks
Breakfast/ lunch
catch-up
Drinks
after work
Men and women network differently
Madeleine Blankenstein, says, “Attending
events remains the most powerful tool for
networking and progressing careers, but
I like the broad outreach and flexibility
offered by social networks, which allow
you to augment and build on discussions
started face-to-face.” Maria Cunha Matos
agrees that after-work commitments can
be tricky for professional women to juggle
so she organises professional womens’
networking breakfasts every other month
but “in the mornings, which means no
time away from personal priorities.”
Online networking is even more popular
in Africa (38%) and Asia-Pacific (36%)
and business leaders in these markets
explain that some networking channels
are simply closed to women. Onyeka
Udegbunam says that women “don’t
have as many opportunities to network
Formal business meetings are still overwhelmingly the principal means by which senior leaders, both men (51%) and women
(49%), achieved their current role. However while 42% of men used networking events or conferences, only 30% of women did.
Meanwhile 27% of women used their social or online networks compared with just 20% of men.
as men” because “resources are still
concentrated at the hands of men.”
Ong Seng Sze, COO of Techsap, says
that “in Malaysian culture there are
certain networking opportunities that
are dominated by men, like golf.”
However this trend worries some: Jill
Krueger says: “social media can never be
nearly as valuable as face-to-face contact”
because “60% of our revenues are a result
of informal networking.”
Women are also slightly less likely to
attend after-work drinks or go to events
compared with men according to our
research, something many of the leaders
we spoke to identified with. Maravic
Espano, CEO and Chair of P&A
Grant Thornton (Philippines), prefers
“more professional, business networking
events rather than informal drinks after
work”. As a married CEO, she says:
“when my day is done I prefer to go
home and be with my kids” while it is
“perhaps easier for men to stay out and
have cocktails.” Erica O’Malley, partner
at Grant Thornton US, said she built her
network through “lots of lunches, coffee
during working hours” but “not many
evening drinks” especially with male
clients as this could be “socially awkward.”
19% 18% 19% 22%
Women
Men

Many of the female leaders we spoke
with wanted to be known not as female
business leaders, but simply as business
leaders; successful in their own right, not
because they happen to be women. They
were grateful for the mentoring and
sponsorship opportunities they had
received, and are now happy to return
the favour. But, many are concerned that
women try too hard to be perfect in a
world where female leaders are under
greater scrutiny than their male peers, not
only in terms of how they act and dress,
but also in terms of their performance.
Indeed, research8
has shown that women’s
leadership styles and mistakes are judged
more harshly than men’s by their peers.
The female leaders with children that
we spoke with stressed how important
the support of their husbands/partners
has been allowing them to forge a career
path. However, some of these men faced
social and workplace stigma that made it
difficult for them to take time off, despite
it being official business policy. Making it
easier for women to move up the career
ladder means making it easier for men to
be flexible too. Many governments around
the world are following the Scandinavian
model of allowing parents to share
paternity leave, meaning that a father
could, in theory, take on the burden of
early childcare while the mother goes back
to work. However, many couples do not
take the opportunity because of the social
stigmatisation of men who choose to stay
at home or share childcare.
Recommendations
Society
1. Stop holding female leaders
up to a higher standard
2. End the stigmatisation
of men who share childcare
Social norms are rules or standards of behaviour shared by members of a social group. At their best they provide
order in society but some of the social norms governing the role of women in business are deeply engrained, and
are distinctly unhelpful to female progression. Sacha Romanovitch puts it succinctly: “If you’re a senior female
leader in business then you’re already working against the norms of what society expects of you.”
The vast majority of businesses still
operate in a very antiquated manner with
meetings held and managed in much the
same way as 100 years ago. But in the
meantime, peoples’ priorities have
changed. Many parents want a more active
role in their children’s upbringing and the
quality of life afforded by a job is
increasingly becoming a deciding factor.
Days on the road, early meetings and late
nights are not as acceptable as they once
3. Update the outdated
leadership stereotype
might have been. The workplace needs to
be more energising and aspirational if the
demands of future generations of female
leaders are to be realised. Moreover, old
stereotypes of aggressive and hierarchal
leadership no longer fit our world and the
challenges we face. In fact, leaders who use
skills such as collaboration, empathy, and
flexibility, which are often stereotyped as
female traits, may be best placed to drive
future economic growth.
8
“Hard won and easily lost” Harvard Kennedy School (2010)
“If this report could do one thing, it would be to alter the perception that men
have to be the primary breadwinners.”
Jill Kruger | CEO of Symbria

“I used to be against the idea of quotas - who wants to be the woman who only gets a job due to her gender? However, it may force companies
to readdress the compatibility of having a job and a family, and ultimately create a more positive, flexible working environment.”
Christina Busch | Partner at Warth & Klein Grant Thornton
The business world remains broadly
split on the introduction of quotas: 47%
support the idea (for executive boards
of large listed companies). However this
is up from 37% just two years ago and
there is a growing sense that the under-
representation of women in business
requires an extraordinary solution.
Quotas may not be the correct solution
in every country, but encouraging signs
from Israel, France and Norway suggest
that legislation can create the ‘step
change’ required to facilitate future
female advancement, by forcing business
leadership teams to think about the
relevant barriers. Where nudging has
failed we must now consider a push.
Francesca Lagerberg describes quotas
as a “fairly blunt instrument” but that it
is “not surprising that more people are
seeing it as the best tool we have at this
point in time, given the absence of
progress” on this issue.
And this is not a one-way street: ageing
populations and slowing global growth
means economies need to tap into the
huge swathes of their population which
are currently under or unemployed, if
they are to maintain the quality of life
for their citizens. Christine Lagarde,
managing director of the IMF,
highlighted the benefits of having more
women in boardrooms back in 2010:
“If Lehman Brothers had been ‘Lehman
Sisters’, today’s economic crisis clearly
would look quite different.”
Men and women enter the workplace
with very similar career ambitions and
expectations around childcare
commitments. However, while men’s
expectations are met or exceeded, women
are generally unsatisfied. Biology dictates
that pregnancy is always going to place
a greater burden on mothers, but once
a child is born, fathers can share or take
on extra responsibility, providing the
necessary support structures are in place
to allow them to do so. Most countries
around the world now guarantee paid
maternity leave (the US is a notable
exception) but guaranteed paternity
leave is less widely available. Many of
the women we spoke to, say they could
not have reached the level they have
without their partner making sacrifices.
Governments can facilitate women’s
leadership by building both the legal
and physical infrastructure to help them
prosper. This means taking stock of
whether or not there are laws in place that
protect women from discrimination in the
workplace and reviewing laws that might
treat women differently to men on a range
of issues such as the ability to register
a business, to travel or to open a bank
account. Infrastructure is also critical for
allowing women to participate in work
and advance in equal measure; simply
getting to and from work is highlighted
as a major issue for working mothers in
emerging economies such as Brazil.
Governments should also look at how
to cut nursery costs which are prohibitively
high in many economies and, following
the example of Eastern Europe, encourage
more women to take science courses.
Without such infrastructure in place,
women (and men) will find it hard to
juggle competing priorities.
Government
2. Consider mandating quotas
for women on boards
1. Facilitate shared
parental leave
3. Build the necessary
infrastructure and legislation
Governments around the world can play an important role in getting more women into the upper echelons of the business world,
through the introduction of legislation governing the composition of boards, parental leave or building relevant infrastructure.

Businesses need to recognise that
female advancement is integral to
future prosperity by making a top-level
commitment to facilitate women’s career
paths. An increasing number of companies
of differing sizes are making these
commitments to women’s leadership
and advancement and laying them out in
company policies, including addressing
unconscious gender bias in the workplace
and in hiring practices, and introducing
formal mentoring and sponsorship
programmes. While real change will not
happen overnight, such policies ultimately
provide a baseline to allow businesses to
support and attract the women who will
help them grow.
Moreover, businesses are losing some
of their best people - people they have
invested in and trained to help lead the
company in the future - before they
reach key decision-making roles.
It could also help companies win business.
Barbara Stocking says: “As women
become more engaged in the economic
sphere, businesses realise that clients
don’t want to see all-male teams.”
Meanwhile, a study9
in the US found
that 90% of clients want to see more
women on consulting teams, primarily
because teams led by women are more
likely to deliver on time and to budget.
Many of the ways in which companies
currently do business make leadership
positions unattractive to women. Holding
breakfast and dinner meetings, and
networking events after work, not only
makes life hard for women (and men) with
other commitments, but it puts them off
wanting to join senior leadership in the
first place. Leadership roles that offer
greater flexibility to allow for family
or other obligations are increasingly
attractive, however flexible working
is offered by just 63% of businesses
around the world. As Gillian Saunders,
global industry leader for hospitality and
tourism at Grant Thornton, tells her team,
“it doesn’t matter, and shouldn’t matter,
where or when your work is completed.”
And Sacha Romanovitch adds that we
need to see change in mindset: “the
workplace should be for collaboration,
not somewhere you travel to only to for
hours to sit in front of a screen when
you might as well be at home.”
Most of the senior leaders we spoke to said
they had benefited from the guidance of at
least one mentor or sponsor on their path
to promotion. Businesses that make a
commitment to women’s leadership by
easing barriers and providing support
structures, such as mentoring and
sponsorship programmes, make an
important contribution by helping to
shift perceptions and create role models
both inside their organisations, in their
industries and the wider economy.
As Erica O’Malley says, “We need female
role models of all types - those with no
children, a few children, lots of children;
those who work full-time and those who
work flexibly - to show the full range of
options available.”
Business
1. Make a top-level commitment
to support women leaders
2. Design leadership positions
to be more attractive
3. Invest in mentoring
and build role models
The business world needs more female leaders. Fewer women in senior management means weaker diversity,
which leads to more ‘groupthink’, resulting in poorer decisions.
9
“Women in consulting” - Source (2014)
“We still operate by rules of the game set up hundreds of years ago by men in top hats whilst women with ideas were locked up.”
Sacha Romanovitch | CEO elect of Grant Thornton UK

Those we interviewed agreed that there
is a need for women just below senior
management to take on stretch roles and
assignments that will help to get them
noticed. Too often, women will over
analyse the challenge and shrink away
from the work for fear of failure or the
extra strain it will put on their home life,
whereas men will put their hands up and
be prepared to ‘learn by doing’. Sian
Sinclair notes that early in her career, she
was given “great opportunities to prove
myself,” and, as she progressed, the
process became more structured, providing
her with more “opportunities to step up.
I was being thrown in the deep end –
entrusted with important clients,
high-level jobs.”
Women often self-select out of
opportunities because of their own
perceptions of what is expected of them
or their own comfort levels. And many
of the female senior leaders we spoke to
acknowledged that they have made
sacrifices which would not suit everyone.
But they also encouraged women to
consider networking opportunities that
might be slightly out of their comfort
zones. For example, Jill Krueger says the
one piece of advice she gives to all aspiring
female leaders is: “Learn to play golf and
learn how to go and watch a basketball
game!” Of course, this is more feasible
in some culture than others, but the
broader point is that women should not
let sporting events be the bastion of men,
in the same way that men should not
overlook cultural events.
Tackling gender bias is not the sole
responsibility of women, but our research
clearly shows that men are less likely to see
it as a barrier to female advancement.
We also know that men tend to dominate
business leadership teams so it is important
for women to hold companies to account
in terms of their commitment to workplace
Women
1. Put your hand up for
stretch assignments
2. Push yourself out
of your comfort zone
3. Challenge your organisation
to remove gender bias
There is much for society, governments and companies to do if women are to become better represented in business
leadership around the world. However, some of the onus must fall on ambitious women themselves. It is not enough to
rail against society for norms that have been developed over thousands of years; or to ask governments to force companies
to change the law; or to petition businesses to hire more female managers. Our research clearly shows that anyone
wanting to take the step up into senior business leadership has to be determined and has to make sacrifices.
and leadership diversity. And women
also have to tackle their own gender
assumptions which are manifested in the
subjects they choose to study at school
and university, recruitment, the support
they provide to female peers and the
ideals they hold on what is an acceptable
leadership style.
“Women need to put their hands up for stretch assignments, to give them opportunities to learn and grow
into tasks in areas where they previously had no experience.”
Marivic Espano | CEO and Chair of P&A Grant Thornton

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How Grant Thornton can help
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Accounting Bulletin

© 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd.
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The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) is the world’s leading mid-market business survey, interviewing
approximately 2,500 senior executives every quarter in listed and privately-held companies all over the world. Launched in 1992
in nine European countries, the report now surveys more than 10,000 businesses leaders in 35 economies on an annual basis,
providing insights on the economic and commercial issues affecting the growth prospects of companies globally.
The data in this report are drawn from 5,404 interviews conducted between September and December 2014 with chief executive
officers, managing directors, chairmen and other senior decision-makers from all industry sectors in mid-market businesses in 35
economies. A further 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with business leaders from inside and outside Grant Thornton.
The definition of mid-market varies across the world: in mainland China, we interview businesses with 100-1000 employees;
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