The need for leadership to redress inequalities

When we look at the state of women leadership in our sector, one could be forgiven then for thinking that we have some laurels to be resting on. 46% of Chief Executives in the voluntary sector are women, compared with 29% of civil service top managers, 22% of MPs, and just 14% of FTSE 100 Directors. Our sector has surged ahead in gender equality where other sectors have squandered or regressed! The glass ceiling, so prevalent in private and public sectors, has been all but shattered in the sector that champions social justice. The fight is won!

One could be forgiven for thinking that... but you would be wrong.

Rowena Lewis, 2010 Clore Social Fellow and Leadership 20:20 Commissioner, released the findings of her research into women leadership in the voluntary sector a few days ago. Her research has highlighted the very definite presence of a glass ceiling in the sector, above which very few women have passed. For organisations with turnovers of below £10m there is a fairly even divide between male and female leaders, however once you tip over the £10m threshold there are three times as many men as women.

The injustice here is not just the lack of a 50/50 split in leaders, but that with nearly 70% of the voluntary sector workforce being women, so few have made it to be senior leaders. As Lewis says;

“The harsh reality is that voluntary sector women are simply not making it into leadership in the numbers we would expect. The voluntary sector prides itself on its commitment to pursuing social justice and tackling inequality, but it is failing its women.”

It is failing most starkly in pay. A female Chief Executive can expect to be paid 16% less than their male counterparts.

Read that again.

Now read it again.

Now smash your forehead into your keyboard.

How can this be allowed to continue! If we are the sector that truly works for social justice, then we are staggeringly hypocritical. Lewis’s overall message has been repeated often, that more must be done to address the imbalance. Because it is repeated so often people can develop the aural equivalent of poster-blindness. But we at the Leadership 20:20 Commission couldn’t agree more, which is why we have recommended opening up pathways into civil society leadership in order to address inequalities. In the next few months we will be securing a Champion Organisation to lead on this issue, and thanks to Lewis’s research they will have more ammunition for the fight.

At the launch of Lewis's research there were some questions raised about appointing a champion. There are always concerns about what would happen if things faltered or failed, but we believe that leadership is needed on issues as important as opening up pathways, redressing inequalities, and supporting emerging leaders. Without leadership, and the action inspired by it. the status quo will continue - and too much is at stake for inaction.

What would we recommend to emerging women leaders then? Well we, like Lewis, will leave the last word to a woman leader;

“Just be yourself. You are different, but use it to your advantage, you don’t need to be masculine and testosterone-driven. Just model the behaviour you’d expect from other people and use your natural strengths... Don’t let anything stop you.”

You can read Lewis’s report here; http://www.cloresocialleadership.org.uk/rowena-lewis

Richard Doughty