Women in Leadership: A European Business Imperative
Catalyst and The Conference Board Europe partnered for this study of the perceptions and attitudes of top-level women and men executives in large corporations and professional firms across 20 countries in Europe. This study replicates the methodology of three studies of women in leadership in the United States, Canada, and the U.K.
Impetus: Strategic organizations are beginning to realize that capitalizing on the talents of women is a business imperative. Many European business leaders know that the proportion of women in leadership does not reflect the number of women entering their companies. This study examines the views of both women and men managers and professionals and their experiences at work. The findings provide insight about how to recruit, retain, and advance women.
Methodology:
- Advisory board convened with seven senior-level women in Europe.
- Surveys received from 500 senior women and 132 senior men in large corporations and professional firms across the following 20 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
- Interviews conducted with 29 senior women and 5 senior men to design research and hone interpretation of the data.
- Interviews conducted with 19 companies to identify examples of programs for advancing and developing women in business.
Findings: The barriers to women’s advancement are remarkably similar across Europe. Women report that stereotypes and preconceptions about women’s roles and abilities are the number one barrier to advancement, closely followed by lack of role models, lack of general management experience, commitment to family and personal responsibilities, and lack of mentoring. The men do not seem to see the same barriers to women’s advancement as the women. Contrary to common wisdom, the women want to reach the top—one-third of the European women respondents and one-quarter of the men aspire to senior most leadership. In addition, many of the women in this study have ascended the career ladder while managing personal responsibilities: 75 percent are married, 73 percent of those married have full-time working partners, and 63 percent have children. Women view formal options such as leaves, flexible work arrangements, and career path flexibility as detrimental to their careers. Finally, few women and men respondents consider the opportunities for women’s advancement to have improved greatly over the last five years (11 percent and 18 percent, respectively).
Sponsors: Accenture, BP p.l.c., IBM Europe; Sponsored by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer Inc, Royal Dutch Shell, UBS Warburg; with assistance from Ernst & Young, ExxonMobil Foundation, General Electric, ING, Novo Nordisk, Rabobank Nederland
