Job Segregation Runs Rampant
Just as the overall labor market remains sharply segregated by sex,
women executives are concentrated into certain types of jobs - mostly
staff and support jobs - that offer little opportunity for getting to
the top. A 1986 Wall Street Journal survey found "The highest
ranking women in most industries are in non-operating areas such as
personnel, public relations, or, occasionally, finance specialties that
seldom lead to the most powerful top-management posts." Women are locked
out of jobs in the "business mainstream," the route taken
by CEOs and presidents. But even when women can get a line job, it is
not likely to be "in a crucial part of the business" or the type
of job that can "mark them as leaders."
Old-Boy Network Still Strong
According to one executive recruiter, the biggest barrier to women
in top management levels is the "bunch of guys sitting together around
a table" making all the decisions. In short, when deciding who to promote
into management, male corporate leaders tend to select people as much
like themselves as possible - so it is no surprise that women are frequently
not even considered at promotion time. Instead, the men at the top look
to former colleagues and old school ties; in both areas, women have
been virtually absent.
Women executives are frequently excluded from social activities and
often describe the "clubbiness" among the men that exists at the top.
The corporate executive suites are "the ultimate boys' clubs."
Even on a more formal level, women report there are "certain kinds
of meetings" they don't get invited to because they are not seen as
policy makers. Corporate women don't travel on business as frequently
as men, according to surveys by Korn/Ferry Intemational (1982) and
Wall Street Joumal/Gallup (1984). Studies confirm these differences
in status and the different treatment of women. One study found that
among executives at the same level, men "managed greater numbers of
people, had more freedom to hire and fire, and had more direct control
of the company's assets" than women (Harlan and Weiss).
Sex Discrimination Is Pervasive
In the Wall Street Journal/Gallup survey, women managers were
asked what they consider to be the most serious obstacle in their business
careers. Only 3% cited "family responsibilities," but half named
reasons related to their gender, including: "male chauvinism, attitudes
toward a female boss, slow advancement for women, and the simple
fact of being a woman." In the survey by Korn/Ferry International,
executive women were asked to name the greatest obstacle they had to
overcome to achieve success; the most frequent response was simply "being
a woman" (40%). In a recent poll of 12,000 workers by the Los
Angeles Times, two-thirds reported sex discrimination; 60% saw signs
of racism.
More than 80% of the executive women in the Wall Street Journal/Gallup
study said they believe there are disadvantages to being a woman in
the business world. Men, they say, "don't take them seriously."
In the same survey, 61% of the women executives reported having been
mistaken for a secretary at a business meeting; 25% said they had been
thwarted on their way up the ladder by male attitudes toward women.
A significant majority - 70% - believed they are paid less than men
of equal ability.
Sexual Harassment Is Widespread
Sexual harassment remains a serious problem for women in the managerial
ranks. In a 1988 survey of Fortune 500 executives by Working Woman
magazine, 90% of large corporations reported sexual harassment complaints
by women employees. The survey found that "more than a third of the
companies had been sued by victims, a quarter had been sued repeatedly."
But, according to the same study, only 20% of offenders lose their jobs;
4 in 5 are merely reprimanded.
Sexual harassment "puts a woman in her place," so a corporate
environment that tolerates sexual harassment intimidates and demoralizes
women executives. Many women hesitate to speak out, fearing it will
jeopardize their careers.
Enforcement of Anti-Discrimination Laws Is Lax
The Reagan and Bush Administrations have gutted the federal government's
commitment to affirmative action. As a result, equality has dropped
off the corporate agenda. A 1983 survey of 800 business leaders by Sirota
& Alpen Associates found that out of 25 human resource priorities,
affirmative action for women and minorities ranked 23rd.
With an increasingly conservative majority, the Supreme Court has
issued a series of seven decisions on equal employment opportunity laws
that make it harder for women and minorities to successfully wage discrimination
lawsuits. Collectively, these decisions represent a major shift in employment
laws put in place during the past 25 years. According to the Civil
Rights Monitor, the Court!s latest decisions "make it harder for
women and minorities to prove discrimination, make it easier for those
opposed to civil rights consent decrees to challenge them, narrow the
coverage of civil rights statutes, and limit the award of attorney's
fees" (Civil Rights Monitor).
Finally, men in corporate management tend not to perceive discrimination
as a real problem, thereby making it virtually impossible to implement
effective remedies. According to an exhaustive study by John P. Fernandez,
white men consistently ranked problems encountered by women executives
as insignificant compared to how women ranked them. So without constant
pressure from the outside and strong legal remedies, the very real problems
of race and sex discrimination in the executive suite may never be adequately
addressed.
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