Last year when I was writing my most recent book on The Future of Work, I shared some ideas with my wife (Blake Morgan) around topics that I wanted to include and she said, “You know, you really should write something about women and management.” My immediate response was, “Huh? Why would I do that?” I was a bit naive when it came to anything related to women in the workplace. I always heard about the issues and challenges that women are faced with in the corporate world but I really didn’t know much about them. My wife has dealt with many of these first hand and she encouraged me to do my own exploration. I was shocked by the information I found and the things I learned and perhaps most shocked by the things that I didn’t know! I feel a lot of people are in this same “I don’t know” boat.
I spent a considerable amount of time researching this and as a result have included a whole section in the book around women in management. I also wanted to share an infographic that I have been working on which I believe paints a good picture of what we are seeing. The infographic is broken down into a four parts:
- The state of women in management
- 10 reasons why there aren’t more women in management
- Why we should have more women in management
- Steps we can take to get more women in management
The infographic follows the education process that I took to learn about this important topic and so I hope it will help others, both men and women, learn about why we need more women in management. I’m still learning quite a bit about workplace diversity, the challenges that women are faced with in the corporate world, and the dramatic impact that they can have on our organizations around the world. I certainly know more about this issue than I did a few years ago so I’m very proud of that.
I’d love to hear from women (and men) who have thoughts on this topic, I’m debating interviewing women for a follow up or perhaps even doing a survey around this so let me know what you think in the comments and if this is something you would be interested in being a part of.
Hi Mr.Jacob,
My name is Sundara Rajan, working for Hero MotoCorp Limited, New Delhi, India.
Thanks for sharing your writings.
Very interesting to read your article on The State of Women in Management.
While 40% jobs world over hold by Women, just 24% are in Senior Management.
Surprising to know the fact on US status and even more surprising the fact in China. While we presume, US must be very open to Women employment, China the other way around, China scoring better here.
I agree with your many points on the top 10 reasons.
I strongly believe that Women Empowerment would be successful only if every parent is promoting, encouraging their daughters towards that direction. Instead of treating Girl Child with Soft Feminine approach, protecting more , every Girl child would be given with opportunity to pursue their interest and should have adequate opportunity to excel in their field of interest.
Education curriculum also should promote the Girl Child appropriately.
My, the above, view point may be with respect to the Sub Continental point of view. I’m not sure about the Culture in West.
Thanks once again