“…organisationalperformance increases sharply once a threshold of at least 3 women on management committees, with an average membership of 10 people, is reached. Below this threshold, no significant difference in organisational performance was observed.” (Zalevski and Kirkup, 2007/2008)1
this Affects Women’s Empowerment
Evidence from various studies earlier suggests there is a strong link between the positive effects of having a diverse Board and the importance of ‘critical mass’ of women in any organisation. A number of studies examining the performance of British as well as European top companies by the McKinsey management consulting firm in 2007& 2008 revealed that,
Table 6. British context
There has also been a recent debate whether organisations are facing acute problems during recession if they are primarily headed by men. Questions as to if more women were in top decision making positions the situation could have been better is also on the rise. For instance, in Iceland, where the only solvent Bank headed by two women, Kristin Petursdottir and Halla To — masdottir raised everyone’s eyebrow as this has significantly increased the support for Johanna
Strongly agreed (Likert scores between 4-5)
Strongly disagreed (Likert scores 1-2)
Majority women occupy administrative positions in SECT profession
Education and entry in SECT profession is very competitive
Women and men are offered equal access in terms of career advancement
The starting salaries in the SECT sector is excellent
Part-time employees are not valued as full-time employees
Physical strength is very important in SECT profession
Women are bullied, harassed and discriminated in the workplace
Appointments and promotions are not influenced by one’s gender
Equal pay reviews Regular job appraisals
Effective networking and socialising skills would contribute to career progression
Sigurdardottir in an election for a new Prime Minister of Iceland2. Men’s social behaviour at work as it has been pointed out has an effect on this situation, while women’s behaviours and actions have a much soothing and positive effect. Another study by Singh and Vinnicombe (2005) reported that organisations with more women directors had more transparency, was better managed overall in terms of organisational excellence in accountability, internal policies and most likely to score higher than other organisations with less women on top.
However, despite evidence showing the need for more women in Board level, in reality women are heavily under-represented in decision making positions, which in turn have an effect on the glass ceiling, faced by women in middle and lower positions of the employment structure. According to Sealy, Vinnicombe and Singh’s report (The Female FTSE Report 2008) 3 women held only 11.7% of all directorships and 4.8% of executive directorships in the FTSE 100 companies, while men in senior positions still occupied 22.0% of the companies.
Even during the times of Voltaire (i. e. 18th century), women luminaries have graced the fields ranging from literature to physics, e. g. Voltaire paid a glowing but perhaps insensitive tribute to his friend, collaborator and lover, the Marquise Emilie du Chatelet, a leading advocate of Newtonian physics, ‘Never was a woman so learned as she. She was a great man whose only fault was in being the woman’ (cited in Noble, 1992: p. 199). Du Chatelet wrote to Frederick of Prussia, ‘Do not look upon me as a mere appendage. I am in my own right a whole person, responsible to myself alone for all that I am, all that I say, all that I do’ (Rowbotham, 2005)
Women holding high political offices represent a milestone. Western democracies have seen women in top (Angela Merkel in Germany now, Margaret Thatcher in UK in the past). South Asian politics has been consistently dominated by strong women leaders (Indira Gandhi in the past, Sonia Gandhi now in India; Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh; Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan; Siri — mavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumartunga in Sri Lanka). Assessment of how these women political leaders have shaped the prevailing gender debate in their respective countries’ calls is critical to understand the impact of women political leaderships on gender segregation.
The process of reaching equal representation of women in political institutions and parliament has taken a longer time in the Nordic countries while in other countries the transition to democracy has contributed to a more rapid development. The overall change in society has opened and increased opportunity to promote women’s participation in political life. But in both contexts, the struggle to reach a higher representation of women in parliament and to let the women elected make a greater impact has met stiff resistance. A strong group of women negotiating for their rights as equal members of the society is required even in countries led by strong woman. There has been some progress though. The average number of women in parliament worldwide has increased from 11.8 percent in 1998 to nearly 16 percent in 20054. If we look at the data of the total number of MP’s in the UK, we will see that in total there is 19% female representation; Labour 27% female (lead by a man); Conservative 9% female (led by a man) and the cabinet comprises of 7 out of 31 women (22.5%) representation.
In India, ifwe look at the Trinomool Congress, led by the current Railway minister, Mamata Bannerjee and the Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati, the number of women in parliament is twice the national average. It is most likely because it is headed by women leaders who built these political parties and is still in charge of the overall political affairs. On the other hand, the Conservatives in The UK have considerably less number of women MP’s compared to Labour, but there is a conscious effort to tackle this problem through women only shortlists for parliamentary seats in the 2010 elections.
The cause of gender empowerment is often blocked by poor implementation. For example, the first Commission on the Status of Women in India, established in 1972, recommended the constitution of statutory all-women panchayats (village councils) at the village level to promote the welfare of women, although this recommendation was not implemented by most provincial governments. The National Perspective Plan for Women (1988-2000) recommended the reservation of at least 30 percent of the total seats for women in the local government institutions. The provision of reserved seats in local government for women under the 73 rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution was a key initiative during this phase. The Women’s National Commission was established in 1995 and has overseen the expansion of the quota system in India. More recently the Indian Govt has elected its first ever