Women share common ground with men, but jobs at the top still harder to get, survey says
October 30 2019 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Women and men share common ground at work when it comes to
understanding what it takes to win top jobs, yet women still
contend with bias-related barriers to advancement more often than
men, according to a recent poll released today from ASCEND and
Morning Consult sponsored by Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:
PRU).
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Caroline Feeney, CEO of Individual
Solutions (Photo: Business Wire)
The research is part of ASCEND’s Financial Services Solutions
Series, which highlights challenges within the industry and seeks
input from industry leaders to find ways to strengthen the pipeline
of women to leadership positions.
To earn top positions in the workplace, most men (52%) and women
(54%) acknowledge that they need to make sacrifices to succeed. And
roughly an equal number of them (46% of men; 49% of women) agree
that becoming a top leader requires overcoming more professional
barriers than they’d want to.
But that’s where the similarities end. Women surveyed say they
still face barriers that have nothing to do with the quality of
their work, including: work/family trade-offs; men often being more
comfortable promoting each other; being steered toward support
roles; more difficulty recovering from mistakes; and a lack of
guidance from superiors. Women and men continue to disagree on
whether these factors remain a myth, or reality:
- 57% of women say it’s a reality that women are often steered
toward roles that do not lead to top leadership positions, while
only 40% of men agree.
- 56% of women say it’s harder for female leaders to recover
professionally from a mistake than for men, while only 34% of men
agree.
- 64% of women say that men are more comfortable promoting men to
leadership roles, while 47% of men agree that’s a business
reality.
- 41% of women even say that women often start their own
businesses to avoid the barriers to top leadership within
established companies.
Mentorship can be a key stepping stone for advancement and
overcoming the common ground that masks the significant divides
women still face in the workplace. When it comes to mentoring, most
professionals don’t foster mentor relationships across gender, the
survey found. Notably, women are about as likely as men to say
their mentor is the same gender (69% vs. 61%).
“More than half of those surveyed say mentors or sponsors have
helped further their careers. Overcoming barriers that continue to
divide genders will help create more powerful relationships and
ensure companies are able to leverage a wealth of different
perspectives,” said Caroline Feeney, CEO of Individual Solutions at
Prudential. “Toward that end, men and women should increasingly
become mentors to and advocates for each other. That’s one of the
best ways to understand each other and close the opportunity
gap.”
The new research shows that mentor relationships could also help
overcome biases women face following a leave of absence.
Forty-three percent of women say taking time off has affected their
careers, and 73% of women say they are more likely than men to
sacrifice career advancement for their families. Only 56% of men
share that opinion.
“Many men still think that most of the real barriers to
advancement faced by women in business are myths, and that is of
acute concern when men still control the levers to advancement in
most American companies,” said Ken Stern, co-chair of ASCEND.
Said Feeney, “Gender parity is possible, especially as more men
become advocates who can help women navigate the challenges they
face, enabling them to bring their unique insights and strengths to
the workplace.”
METHODOLOGY:
This poll was conducted from September 18 to 22, 2019, among a
national sample of 2,201 U.S. adults. The interviews were conducted
online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of
adults based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, educational
attainment, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin
of error of +/- 2 percentage points.
About Morning Consult
Named one of the fastest growing technology companies in North
America by Deloitte, Morning Consult is revolutionizing ways to
collect, organize, and share survey research data globally to
transform how leaders in business and government make decisions.
Morning Consult provides survey research, data technology, and news
for hundreds of the world's largest companies and industry
associations. Additionally, Morning Consult conducts regular
surveys for major media organizations including POLITICO, The
Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. Learn more:
morningconsult.com.
About ASCEND
ASCEND is a new initiative that seeks to identify and promote
evidence-based strategies to advance women to the C-suite and
boardroom and to help foster specific commitments for action from
leading companies and institutions. Learn more:
ascendcommitment.com.
About Prudential
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness
leader and premier active global investment manager with more than
$1 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2019, has
operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help to make lives
better by creating financial opportunity for more people.
Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability,
expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more
information, please visit news.prudential.com.
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MEDIA: Sheila Dixon 973-802-6852
sheila.dixon@prudential.com
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