Women in Australia have more employment opportunities and are more educated than ever before, however gender equality at senior levels in the workplace has yet to be achieved, a new report says.
The Australian Social Trends report from ABS says there are many barriers to success for women in workplace but puts it down to one major roadblock – some women just don't have the confidence to become boss.
Related: 'Please Sheryl Sandberg, please don't speak on behalf of working women'
''Some women are seen to have a lack of confidence in their abilities and are less likely to put their hands up for promotion. Whereas men are willing to put their hand up for a role where they may not tick some or all of the boxes, some women may only apply for the job if they feel confident they are a good fit for the job,” the report says.
The report also says workplace “glass ceiling” is also a major barrier. “The glass ceiling is a term that is often applied to women being unable to progress from middle to senior management. One reason for this may be due to unconscious bias towards leaders of a certain age, gender and race,” it says.
In the same vein, the report also suggests that female politicians are drawn to the Senate because they are not as ambitious as the lower house parliamentarians who form the government or aim to become prime ministers.
Related: Small business women way ahead of big businesses
“This may be due to people regarding upper house seats in the Senate as less desirable than seats in the House of Representatives, particularly ambitious people who aim their careers towards working in the House of Representatives where government is formed,” the ABS report says.
The ABS report also shows that working mothers still spend twice the time as working dads in looking after the kids when they get home.
“A woman in full-time work spends an average of six hours and 39 minutes each day taking care of kids - compared to three hours and 43 minutes a day for a man,” says the report.
The world's most fascinating women
Yahoo!7 Finance Calculators:
20 Comments
''Some women are seen to have a lack of confidence in their abilities and are less likely to put their hands up for promotion." - note the use of the word "some" and "The report also says workplace “glass ceiling” is also a major barrier. One reason for this may be due to unconscious bias towards leaders of a certain age, gender and race,” -note the use of the phrase "major barrier" but Yahoo7 decided to run with the headline "Women don't have the confidence to be the boss: ABS report" Is that an unconscious bias or just blatent misrepresentation of the report for a shocking headline?
Reply"Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know." Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a truly extraordinary woman.
ReplyAbbott for Pm!
Replyyes perhaps men are cocky and arrogant - but cocky and arrogant wins; women take the back seat...
2 RepliesAn average of 6 hours and 39 minutes. That's pretty exact for an average.
Reply