Women still seen as not ‘best man for the job’
Women working for large enterprises may be missing out on promotions as only a fifth of female workers are receiving overseas postings.
Research conducted by Deakin University found a comparable four out of five men received overseas postings, which critically affected promotion prospects for women. Dr Jane Menzies, from the Deakin Business School, said that, despite equal opportunity legislation, more men were given lucrative foreign assignments than women.
Dr Menzies said that, for her PhD, she interviewed 50 international repatriates and 20 human resources managers responsible for international assignments. "Women still face a number of barriers when seeking international assignments,'' Dr Menzies said.
She said "boys' networks'' in multinational enterprises were still alive and well and contributing to the problem. "In these groups, men prefer to select people for the international assignments who are similar to themselves,'' Dr Menzies said. "Not all organisations have formal selection processes, making it difficult to apply through an open and transparent process.
"Without this process, managers are not constrained to select the best person for the job, regardless of gender. "Organisations need to ensure they develop and have formal processes for these critical assignments,'' she said. Dr Menzies said that an under-representation of women in male-dominated industries affected their ability to get selected with only a small talent pool from which to select.
She said culture also played a part with managers perceiving women to be unsuccessful in certain environments. Of the organisations researched, women represented 18 per cent of international assignees sent from Australia.
"International experience and exposure is used for future leadership positions in multinational enterprises,'' Dr Menzies said. "If women are excluded from international assignments then they will be excluded from leadership positions down the track. "Not using them represents an un-utilised source of talent for organisations,'' she said.
The Courier-Mail, March 10, 2007.
