Equal doesn’t mean the same

RECENTLY, more nuanced views have arrived to help reflect on the relative lack of women in boardrooms and senior management, according to Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean of Henley Business School Africa

Referring to 2012 research by EY with 1000 women leaders in the UK, he says four barriers emerged - age, lack of role models, motherhood, and qualifications and experience.

Aviation is a prime example of the motherhood aspect. A pilot needs to build flying hours, to have current experience, to maintain high skill levels and to stay on the seniority ladder.

He elaborates, “Statutory maternity leave can be up to a year.

“During this absence, no flying hours are built up, skills and flying currency is lost, and there is a good chance of slipping back on the career ladder and losing the chance of becoming a captain.”

Whilst the barriers clearly aren’t exclusive to women, the EY research showed that employers need to do a lot more to help them.

“It’s not so much any particular person’s attitude where the problem lies, it’s more in the implicit structures, practices and assumptions.

“One of the biggest mistakes is to confuse same with equal. Women are different and the modern workplace needs to take this into consideration.”