GENDER BALANCE

Future Of Gender Balance In Multinational Companies

Back ground3

Research problem3

Objectives4

Literature Review5

Method9

Sample10

Questionnaire10

Data Analysis10

Findings16

Conclusions17

References19

Appendices20

Future Of Gender Balance In Multinational Companies

Back ground

The number of women securing jobs as senior managers and directors has risen sharply in the past decade, according to research released today. The number of women securing jobs as senior managers and directors has risen sharply in the past decade, according to research released today. Many women executives are now the main breadwinner at home, the report for the Institute of Management said. But while the "old boy's network" is in decline, nearly half of all women still encounter serious discrimination at work. Women now hold 25 per cent of all management jobs, compared with only 9 per cent at the start of the 1990s. Women fill 10 per cent of boardroom posts, which is five times more than a decade ago. The rise of women means that 41 per cent of female executives living with a partner, now bring home the main salary, and a further 33 per cent are joint breadwinners. But one-third of women believe their organisation pays female managers less than men and 47 per cent of women managers think their company discriminates against women in promoting staff.

Research problem

Several studies have linked greater gender diversity in senior posts with financial success. European firms with the highest proportion of women in power saw their stock value climb by 64 percent over two years, compared with an average of 47 percent, according to a 2012 study by the consulting firm McKinsey and Company. Measured as a percent of revenues, profits at Fortune 500 firms that most aggressively promoted women were 34 percent higher than industry medians, a 2001 Pepperdine University study showed. And, just recently, a French business professor found that the share prices of companies with more female managers declined less than average on the French stock market in 2008.

This mounting body of evidence represents an important twist in the debate over women in business. For decades, women's advancement has been seen as an issue of fairness and equality. Now some researchers are saying it should also be seen in another way: as a smart way to make money.

Whilst the gender gap in enterprise has been part of the economic development discourse for over twenty years and whilst evidence in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2012) showed a growth in UK total entrepreneurial activity, there has as yet been significant change in the position of women who are still around half as likely to be involved in business start-up activity as men. Independent start-up activity in 2011 was 3.74% of the female adult population compared with 6.17% amongst men.

Women's earnings are estimated to be on average 18% less than men and this is despite the fact that women are overtaking men in their levels of education and qualifications. The government believes that this has a significant impact on the economy and without action, the education and skills of women will be a wasted ...