Women In Executive Roles

Emma Little

Judy Wagner

Prof. Wendy Loretto

Women into Executive Roles

Wendy Loretto

ACCA/UoE Panel Discussion

17th September 2013

What can facilitate the path to the top

of the corporation for women?

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DON’T GET OLD!

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Major policy focus on extending working lives and

‘older women’ (over-50s) as untapped potential

Rising proportion of women of all ages in workforce

Little focus on relationships between gender and age

in employment (Biggs, 2004)

Background

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Labour Force Survey figures show modest rise in

employment rates of older women and older men (aged 50+)

But, relative employment rate is still lower for women as

compared to men

Nature of employment also differs

(all data from LFS Apr-Jun 2013, own analysis)

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Proportion of those in employment in each age group who are women

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Of those in employment in each age group, % who are working part-time

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Men

16-

24

Men

25-

49

Men

50+

Wom

en 1

6-24

Wom

en 2

5-49

Wom

en 5

0+

%

Managers

Professional

Associate professional

Admin & Secretarial

Skilled trades

Personal service

Sales

Operatives

Elementary

Occupational categories, by gender and age

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These differences are also related to pay differences

e.g. recent TUC survey showed that women over 50 earned

less than men of the same age and less than younger women

Age versus cohort effects?

Why do we see these age and gender differences?

‘Choices v constraints’ debates have largely ignored the

possible interactions between gender and age

Itzin and Phillipson (1995) – women may never be the ‘right

age’.

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1. Arises mainly from gender discrimination

Dominance of patriarchy – prioritises ‘male’ careers and penalises discontinuity

Devaluation of older women reflects a lifetime of subordination and being less favoured

Gorman and Kmec (2007) – women report their jobs require higher levels of effort – serves to de-motivate them

2. Reasons for disadvantage

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2. Arises mainly from age discrimination

Based on fear of ageing and death

‘….ageism is rooted in an insidious social obsession with youthfulness and results in the assigning of social value, resources, and opportunities based on actual and perceived chronological age.’ (Clarke and Griffin, 2008: 655)

Older women are discriminated against by younger women

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3. Age and gender discrimination are additive

Bipolar distribution of age discrimination among both sexes, but older women more likely than older men to suffer discrimination (Duncan and Loretto, 2004)

Are current cohort of older women particularly vulnerable because of societal norms of working and caring responsibilities?

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4. Age and gender discrimination are mutually reinforcing

Draws upon the notion of sexualising women’s value in youth in a way that is not the case for men.

One senior team member sent an e-mail when I forgot to sign a form….’Tell the dried up old maid to get her teeth in’. On another occasion a Team Leader called us a bunch of “old *******”….a coach asked us which was greater, our team’s combined ages or [Finserv’s] bank balance….to name but a few incidents. (Female, aged 35) (Duncan and Loretto, 2004)

Supported by work in New Zealand (Handy and Davy, 2007)

Walker et al’s (2007) research highlighted paradox of (loss of) attractiveness in professions where ‘successful’ women are those who suppress their feminine nature.

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Miriam O’Reilly – more suited to radio?

3. Invisibility of older women

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Focus on appearance leads to examining the invisibility of older women

Clarke and Griffin (2008) found that older women working in health-related jobs in Canada often felt invisible

Ironically this invisibility was grounded in their visibility

Women associated looking younger with being better employees

Women were aware of the tensions

Retired women spoke of the luxury of having appearance pressures lifted

Tensions also reported by Granleese and Sayer (2006) in their research among female academics

Walker et al (2007) – processes of self-denial and self-separation differentiate gendered ageism from the other isms

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Gendered ageism is a ‘less visible’ gendered mechanism

(Gorman and Kmec, 2007)

4. Concluding comments

Key research and policy questions arising:

1. What are the drivers of gendered ageism? Is it all

about appearance?

(i) Health?

Older women are less healthy than older men

Lower relative employment for older women with

health-limiting conditions

Payne and Doyal (2010) – important to differentiate between

biology (sex) and gender

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(ii) Skills?

Taylor’s work in call centres has shown that older women

play a key role in mentoring younger workers/new recruits

But, they are also chastised for a lower performance in

terms of motor skills

(iv) Stereotypes?

Krings et al (2011) focus on two core dimensions in social

judgement:

Older workers are perceived to be higher in warmth (F) and

lower in competency (M) than are younger workers

Competence more valued in employment

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2. What are the implications for older women in top

roles?

Bring gender into extending working lives debates

Recognise challenges posed by increased (elder) care

Challenge invisibility of older women

~ questioning ‘neutral’ HR practices

~ support from law? (dual discrimination)

Caution in attributing too much to ‘cohort effects’

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THANK-YOU!

If you’d like more information on any of these issues,

please contact me:

W.Loretto@ed.ac.uk

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References

S. Biggs ‘Age, gender, narratives, and masquerades’, Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 1 (2004) 45-58

L. Hurd Clarke and M. Griffin, ‘Visible and invisible ageing: beauty work as a response to ageism’, Ageing & Society, 28, 5 (2008) 653-674

C. Duncan and W. Loretto, ‘Never the right age? Gender and age-based discrimination in employment, Gender, Work and Organisation, 11, 1 (2004) 95-115.

E. H. Gorman and J. A. Kmec, ‘We (Have to) Try Harder: Gender and Required Work Effort in Britain and the United States’, Gender & Society, 21, 6 (2007) 828-856

J. Granleese and G. Sayer, ‘Gendered ageism and 'lookism': a triple jeopardy for female academics’, Women in Management Review, 21, 6 (2006) 500-517

J. Handy and D. Davy, ‘Gendered ageism: Older women's experiences of employment agency practices’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 45, 1 (2007) 85-99

C. Itzin and C. Phillipson, ‘Gendered ageism: a double jeopardy for women in organisations, in C. Itzin and J. Newman (eds) Gender, Culture and Organizational Change: Putting Theory into Practice (London: Routledge, 1995).

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F. Krings, S. Sczesny and A. Kluge, Stereotypical Inferences as Mediators of Age Discrimination: The role of competence and warmth, British Journal of Management, 22, 2, (2011), 187-201.

S. Payne and L. Doyal, ‘Older Women, Work and Health, Occupational Medicine, 60, (2010), 172-177.

H. Walker, D. Grant , M. Meadows and I. Cook, ‘Women's Experiences and Perceptions of Age Discrimination in Employment: Implications for Research and Policy’, Published Online January 4 2007