No surprises!
A recent OECD report showed not unsurprisingly that women in OECD countries earn 18% less than men and only around one-third of managerial positions are held by women. This data won’t surprise too many but it does make you wonder what data is needed before we actually start to see concerted efforts to close the gender pay gap and to increase the number of women in senior decision making roles. It is clear that the data on its own doesn’t create a compelling case for change. The report is available at this link.
Closing the gender pay gap
Another case of sex discrimination – maybe we need more cases like this one to address the gender pay gap!!!
Around 50 female workers at Birmingham City Council in the UK (the UK’s largest local authority) have been told by the Employment Tribunal that their claims of discrimination are valid – but over 4000 more women could be affected by the ruling. The cases relate to bonuses or rather the lack of bonuses paid to the women. Men who were on the same pay grade had earned bonuses up to 160% of their basic pay - the women didn’t get bonuses! It could cost the Council 600 million pounds in back pay. Now that would be money well spent!!!
Some interesting reports this week
Goldman Sachs and JB Were have recently released a report titled Australia’s Hidden Resource: the Economic Case for Increasing Female Participation. The report highlights (again!) that women are an underutilised and undervalued resource in the Australian labour market and are overrepresented in the caring professions and underrepresented in science and technology. The report also comments on the persistence of the gender pay gap across a range of industry sectors. To download the full report, click here.
Our colleague Therese alerted us to the Productivity Commission (2005), “Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia, Research Report”, Canberra which reached similar conclusions. The full report can be downloaded from the Productivity Commission site. Again it’s a case of the data is there (and has been for some time) but change isn’t happening!!! So if the business case doesn’t appear to be winning the hearts and minds of those in senior decision making roles – what will? We are interested in your thoughts of what is needed now to make change happen. Please feel free to leave a comment or drop us a line: mbc@gsb.curtin.edu.au
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Classrooms and Class actions
Our colleague Troy at the Graduate School of Business has sent through a couple of really interesting stories that we thought were worth sharing. Thanks Troy!
Why business schools are failing women
Forbes.com has an interesting article on why business schools are failing women. We wrote about the Catalyst report in our first blog which had looked the value or lack of value for women in gaining an MBA when compared to their male counterparts. The Forbes.com article by Selena Rezvani and Sandie Taylor looks at the underrepresentation of women in MBA programs (around 30% in the US) and the lack of action taken by business schools to address this issue. As they point out, having a few women featured on promotional posters isn’t enough to change recruitment practices or to necessarily encourage women to undertake further study when the rewards for doing so can be substantially less than their male counterparts. They also argue for the need for gender specific leadership training to address many of the issues that women will face both in their course and in the business world.
Sex Discrimination – Class action
The second article that captured our attention was the sex discrimination case against the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The Novartis class action covers 5600 women employed at Novartis. The claims included that the women were:
- being promoted less often,
- being encouraged by their male managers not to get pregnant, and
- earning less.
Also included in the case was exposure to:
- gender hostility,
- a hostile work environment, and
- sexual harassment and retaliation.
There are also allegations of sexual assault, being exposed to pornography in the workplace and lack of action by HR staff when complaints were made by the women. This is pretty amazing given the company had been listed regularly by Working Women Magazine as one of the best places for women to work.
I think the Novartis case raises some very interesting issues. Organisations can and do have great policies in place and can be recognised as great places for women to work. Yet there can be a major disconnect between the policies and the practice. This maybe only in parts of the organisation but that is enough particularly when it means that it creates an unsafe working environment. Much more needs to be done to make sure that the practice throughout organisations mirrors good policy and that when complaints are made they are dealt with effectively regardless of who the complaint is against!
Another American class action lawsuit, this time against Walmart – the largest lawsuit in US history - is also getting some attention. The case was first lodged in 2001 by one woman employee Betty Dukes and the recent court decision means that more than a million current and former Walmart employees can be considered together in the claims of discrimination against women (less pay, fewer promotions, gender stereotyping and discrimination). Regardless of the final outcome of the case its an amazing story of one woman’s courage and what can happen when women work together to bring about change. You can read more at about this case here.
If you have stories that you would like to share with us - please leave a comment or drop us a line by e-mail.
Why business schools are failing women
Forbes.com has an interesting article on why business schools are failing women. We wrote about the Catalyst report in our first blog which had looked the value or lack of value for women in gaining an MBA when compared to their male counterparts. The Forbes.com article by Selena Rezvani and Sandie Taylor looks at the underrepresentation of women in MBA programs (around 30% in the US) and the lack of action taken by business schools to address this issue. As they point out, having a few women featured on promotional posters isn’t enough to change recruitment practices or to necessarily encourage women to undertake further study when the rewards for doing so can be substantially less than their male counterparts. They also argue for the need for gender specific leadership training to address many of the issues that women will face both in their course and in the business world.
Sex Discrimination – Class action
The second article that captured our attention was the sex discrimination case against the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The Novartis class action covers 5600 women employed at Novartis. The claims included that the women were:
- being promoted less often,
- being encouraged by their male managers not to get pregnant, and
- earning less.
Also included in the case was exposure to:
- gender hostility,
- a hostile work environment, and
- sexual harassment and retaliation.
There are also allegations of sexual assault, being exposed to pornography in the workplace and lack of action by HR staff when complaints were made by the women. This is pretty amazing given the company had been listed regularly by Working Women Magazine as one of the best places for women to work.
I think the Novartis case raises some very interesting issues. Organisations can and do have great policies in place and can be recognised as great places for women to work. Yet there can be a major disconnect between the policies and the practice. This maybe only in parts of the organisation but that is enough particularly when it means that it creates an unsafe working environment. Much more needs to be done to make sure that the practice throughout organisations mirrors good policy and that when complaints are made they are dealt with effectively regardless of who the complaint is against!
Another American class action lawsuit, this time against Walmart – the largest lawsuit in US history - is also getting some attention. The case was first lodged in 2001 by one woman employee Betty Dukes and the recent court decision means that more than a million current and former Walmart employees can be considered together in the claims of discrimination against women (less pay, fewer promotions, gender stereotyping and discrimination). Regardless of the final outcome of the case its an amazing story of one woman’s courage and what can happen when women work together to bring about change. You can read more at about this case here.
If you have stories that you would like to share with us - please leave a comment or drop us a line by e-mail.
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