Why are there so few senior female international managers? That's the question posed by Dr Margaret Linehan, of the Cork Institute of Technology, in her new book, Senior Female International Managers - Why so Few.
Dr Linehan specialises in management and is attached to the department of adult and continuing education at the institute. As part of her research, she interviewed 50 senior woman managers in Ireland, England, Germany and Belgium.
This was the first such study of woman managers. Previously, work in the field concentrated on their male counterparts.
The time has come for the old order to change, said Dr Linehan. She has discovered, for instance, that less than 5 per cent of senior managers are women and only 3 per cent of international managers are women. It was obvious, she added, that the stereotype of the white, male manager still existed.
Most of the woman managers interviewed said they were very conscious of their gender in a largely male-dominated world. Woman managers also experience additional stress in attempting to balance their careers with family life, often without much support from their partners.
Dr Linehan also argues that networking as we know it has not been developed by women to the same extent as men. Difficulties in accessing male-dominated networks continued to be a significant barrier to advancement.
And despite legislation on sexual harassment almost everywhere nowadays, 12 of those interviewed reported some form during their careers, ranging from mild to severe.
The study found that women engaged in less career planning than their male counterparts because they were often discriminated against by organisational career policies. A lack of female role models was another factor.
Women on the lower rungs of the career ladder will find something of interest here, but things are unlikely to change unless male managers read it also.
The book is published by Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Hampshire.