Women still under-represented in decision-making bodies in traditionally male South Eastern Europe countries

 March 07, 2016

Women are under-represented in many aspects of decision-making in the economy. This is especially evident at the level of top management teams and boards where, as a new research shows, the majority of companies especially in the South Eastern Europe (SEE), still have no or few women in leadership positions. This is not only a social concern but also a serious matter for businesses and their competitiveness since research has shown how gender diversity on boards can positively impact company performance.

SEE still has predominantly male boards

In the last decades, we have witnessed much progress in improving gender equality in the European Union. Female employment rates have increased from 54.8% in 2003 to 58.8% in 2013, and almost 60% of university graduates are female. Yet, women continue to be under-represented in leadership positions. This is especially evident in boardrooms where, on average in large listed companies, women hold only about 20% of board positions[1]

New GEMA survey results[2] show the under-representation of women on boards of directors in SEE countries. 35% of responding companies had male-only boards (13% female-only boards). Only 19% of responding companies would currently meet the European Commission’s recommendation to have at least 40% representation of each gender on their boards. As far as top management teams are concerned, the data show more gender diversity at this level of decision-making team.  14% of responding companies had male-only TMTs (11% female-only TMTs), and 35% had a female CEO. 

Trapped under the glass ceiling or in the glass labyrinth?

GEMA research disclosed that main barriers to achieve gender balance are organisational cultures and practices, women`s views of themselves, lack of importance attached to the topic, gender stereotypes, multiple roles and work-life balance and also patriarchal social norms.

Respondents agreed that barriers to gender diversity in boards and top management teams are complex and multi-faceted, ranging from deeply ingrained social norms, to individuals’ attitudes and behaviours, to gender-biased organisational cultures and practices.

Glass Labyrinth is a metaphor proposed by Alice Eagly and Linda Carli in 2007. They argue that the existing Glass Ceiling[3] description of an invisible barrier on woman`s climbing up the corporate ladder can be mis-leading because it implies a single obstacle at one point in women’s career paths while the metaphor of a Glass Labyrinth symbolises the complexity of barriers to succeed, in GEMA research findings evidented as:

1. A high-level theme that emerged from the GEMA research data was that traditional social norms and values create a powerful impediment to women progressing to leadership positions. Even though equal opportunity legislation exists in all the countries, these deep-seated traditions about gender roles shape the discourse and behaviour in both public and private domains.
2. A second high-level theme from our data is how women view themselves and their career paths. Strongly linked with wider socialisation into gender roles, our respondents noted that many women may not wish to put themselves in the limelight, under-estimate their own abilities or simply do not have enough role models to follow.
3. These views are reinforced through discourses that stereotype female leaders, which are often associated with their perceived femininity, or lack of feminine qualities. Several respondents noted that this form of stereotyping creates a Catch 22 scenario that serves as a barrier to women putting themselves forward for high profile positions.
4. Finally, there are also barriers at the organisational level. First and foremost, respondents stressed that gender diversity in decision-making teams is not on the agenda of many companies, and if it is, it tends to have a low priority compared to other initiatives.

Why can balanced teams work better?

Based on the evidence from surveys, interviews and good practice case studies, results show that:

(1) more gender-diverse boards are strongly associated with strategic task performance, and a higher proportion of females on board is associated with higher levels of service task performance,

(2) talented staff can and do progress,

(3) women constitute an important consumer group thus there`s a need to capture their voice in top decision-teams,

(4) improving gender diversity is important for social justice reasons, but there is also a persuasive business case. Gender diversity in boardrooms and management teams is associated with better team dynamics and team outcomes which ultimately affect companies’ financial and social performance.

GEMA Objectives, Results and Outputs

Main purpose of the GEMA project is to generate knowledge and raise awareness of gender balance in teams at the apex of organisation, to be implemented through research and awareness campaigns and dissemination(workshops, conferences, newsletters, newspaper reports, scientific articles and Women’s day 2016 campaign). Target groups are social partners from SEE countries and EU, EU states’ economic and social councils, companies in SEE region and general public. The main project result and output will be raised awareness among the target groups and knowledge transferred in project activities. In addition to the campaigns targeted at social partners, companies and the general public in participating countries, the project materials will be disseminated to EU social partners via other employers’ associations and to the general public through a Women’s Day 2016 campaign.

The project is based on a creative partnership between employer associations in the 4 South East Europe countries and an academic institution in the UK (University of Wolverhampton) which allows for a synergy of competences and experiences. The core involvement of four employer associations from Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bulgaria presents a unique opportunity to translate research into practice.  Consortium of 6 organisations from 5 countries:

• ZDS - Association of Employers of Slovenia (coordinator),
• CEA – Croatian Employers’ Association,
• BCM – Business Confederation of Macedonia,
• BIA – Bulgarian Industrial Association,
• UoW – University of Wolverhampton from United Kingdom and
• EuroCoop – Institute for European Research and Development from Slovenia