Women Want Equal Progression Opportunities At Work
Does the company you work for promote women at the same rate it promotes male counterparts? If you’re nodding in agreement, you’re among the minority.
That’s because women still only make up 30% of leadership roles in the UK. This is despite an active push by the government to highlight this issue via the FTSE Women Leaders Review, which monitors women’s representation in 24,000 positions on FTSE 350 Boards and in leadership teams of the UK’s biggest companies. That being said, lack of female representation isn’t solely a UK issue. In fact, the UK has made strides to achieve this figure and comes second in the world for female board representation at FTSE 100 level and 10 years ago, this figure was just 12.5%.
Chain reaction
The reasons for lack of representation are manifold. According to a poll of 5,444 people by Ipsos Mori and the charity Business in the Community (BITC), three out of five UK women believe their caring responsibilities prohibit them from applying for a new job or promotion, compared to only one in five men.
Couple this second-generation gender bias which relates to deeply ingrained subconscious assumptions and stereotypes that women are not as committed to their careers as men or are too emotional to be in leadership roles, and you can start to understand why promotion can feel unattainable for so many female professionals.
Additionally, employers which view female employees as a collective group with the same needs and don’t understand that intersectionality (looking at specific groups of women based on their family responsibilities, race or ethnicity, tenure or place in the company) is the only way to foster a more inclusive future, will fail to make progressive and sustainable changes.
What needs to be done?
So what can companies do to ensure they are progressing towards gender equality at all levels?
Bob Sternfels, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, which conducted a 2022 Women in the Workplace report with LeanIn.org, suggests they need to not only promote more women to leadership roles but invest in their professional development to ensure they stay in these jobs. “Setting goals for representation in management and senior leadership, really investing in coaching and sponsorship, and experimenting with effective hybrid working models […] can help companies deliver on the promise of gender equality in their enterprises,” he advises.
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Business Banking FinCrime SME, Monzo, London
Neobank Monzo is seeking a Business Banking FinCrime controller to drive forward the development of its business banking fincrime capabilities. You will support the strategy to deliver improvements to the control, working closely with product and engineering teams to optimise Monzo’s ability to detect, prevent and pursue all aspects of financial crime. You will also be responsible for owning the end-to-end process for control, and writing detailed proposals and requirements for changes to the control. The ideal candidate will have extensive awareness of the financial crime regulatory framework and typologies and expert knowledge in how to develop business banking fincrime systems, rules and models to most effectively detect and prevent all types of financial crime. You can access more information about this opening here.
Business Analyst, ITV Jobs, London
ITV’s Studios Technology team supports the implementation and management of a number of software products and all technology related projects within the ITV Studios business. As a Business Analyst you will provide support in defining and delivering the desired business outcomes to be achieved through changes in business processes and the adoption of new and (re)configured solutions. As such you will be required to develop and translate user needs into detailed requirement specifications including acceptance criteria, enhance understanding of and documentation of the current landscape and identifying duplication, inefficiency and the potential for consolidation or improvement, and assess and understand process and system integrations and the potential for improved data exchange, process flows outlining possibilities and benefits. View more details here.
UX Copywriter, Zilch UK, London
Zilch, the world’s first commerce card, is a UK-headquartered payments technology company and is looking for an experienced writer to join as UX Copywriter. In this role you’ll help create a seamless, engaging and meaningful user experience through the words you choose. You’ll be working alongside product designers, product managers, category managers and developers on short- and long-term projects where collaboration is key. Day-to-day you’ll write precise, smart and on-brand copy for its app interface, work closely with the copy lead to maintain Zilch’s unique brand tone of voice and develop and maintain a strong collaborative relationship with numerous stakeholders. If this sounds like the role for you, check out the full job description here.
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