Female Talent Research Articles

The effects of gender diversity in boards of directors on the number of female managers promoted

PurposeThis study elaborates on the process through which gender-diverse boards of directors increase representation of females in management positions. This study draws on the gender spillover effect to examine whether gender diversity on boards of directors significantly influences the number of women promoted to managerial positions. The authors also employ implicit quota theory to examine the interaction effects of female board directors and their related strategies to target female customers as a source of female talent on the promotion numbers of female managers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw from female manager panel data surveyed and gathered by the Korean Women Development Institute (KWDI), a Korean government-sponsored research institution, for the period 2008–2014. The total sample, comprising 5 biannual waves, includes 906 Korean companies across four wage rates. The authors apply zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses to examine the effects of gender diversity on board director positions and its interactions with strategies targeting female markets on the number of female managerial promotions.FindingsThe authors find that gender diversity on boards of directors is positively related to the number of female managers promoted. Furthermore, in corporations where gender is not relevant to firms' strategy and decision-making, broader gender diversity increases the number of female managers promoted at lower- but not higher-level positions.Originality/valueThe current study demonstrates the complex role of gender diversity in board director positions in initiating and promoting the career development of female managers. On the one hand, gender diversity in board director positions has spillover effects on women's representation in management positions. On the other hand, female board directors impede the career progress of senior female managers to maintain their status in quotas when the female market is not critical to firms' competitiveness. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate two different concepts about gender diversity—the gender spillover effect and implicit quota theory—that elaborate on the effects of gender diversity in board director positions on female manager promotion numbers.

A Place Where Women Thrived: UK Social Survey Official Statistics

Abstract Women had a strong presence in the workforce of UK Social Survey Official Statistics from its inception. Joy Dobbs was part of a cohort of women recruited in the 1970s and 1980s as government survey statistics expanded. This cohort joined and enhanced an environment and culture that nurtured and developed female talent, including two women who became National Statistician

Female participation or "feminization" of medicine.

More and more women chose medicine as their profession. Female students and graduates outnumber their male colleagues in Austria and the EU. However, the career paths of men and women differ after a certain point, and more and more female talent is lost along the career stages. Women hold only 30% of professor positions at state medical universities in Austria and only 11.9% of all chief physicians are female. Motherhood and related absence is the main career obstacle, but gender bias and missing role models are also factors hindering women to thrive. Improved working conditions would be beneficial for all members of the medical profession. Future generations (Generation Y, Generation Z) will likely expedite changes toward a better work-life balance and claim the right to find fulfillment besides work. Compatibility of family and work and the chance to individualize career paths could be important factors for employers to find and bind their employees. Additionally, (gender) diverse teams improve the group process and collective intelligence. Therefore, patient care and innovation can only benefit from a diverse medical workforce.

In search of factors that hinder the career advancement of women to senior leadership positions

Orientation: Despite promising legislative frameworks and policies to eradicate gender imbalances in the workplace, women have yet to earn their rightful place as senior business leaders.Research purpose: The primary goal of this study was to investigate the factors that prevent women from advancing to senior leadership positions in a variety of South African business contexts.Motivation for the study: More research is required to understand the unique challenges that senior women leaders experience in various South African business contexts.Research approach/design and method: This research followed a qualitative approach. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews with nine women (n = 9) who made significant inroads in their respective professions. Theme analyses were applied to analyse the data.Main findings: The findings revealed six factors that hinder the career advancement of women to senior leadership positions: societal perceptions and stereotypes, a lack of mentorship, masculine corporate cultures, leadership identity distortions, inadequate training and development and poor work-life balance.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations are encouraged to create more feminine workplace cultures that allow women to realise their full potential and establish their identity as senior leaders. Mentoring, networking, and professional development opportunities can all assist women in advancing their careers. Senior female leaders play an essential role in fostering workplace cultures that promote equal opportunity and combat unfair discrimination on various grounds. They pave the way for younger, upcoming female talent to move into senior management positions more quickly.Contribution/value-add: This study fills important gaps in the global understanding of the factors limiting women’s career advancement to senior leadership positions. The findings of this study emphasise the importance of recognising and embracing women’s leadership competence in the modern workplace.

The Distribution of Nonwage Benefits: Maternity Benefits and Gender Diversity

Abstract Why do firms offer nonwage compensation instead of the equivalent amount in financial compensation? We argue that firms use nonwage benefits, specifically female-friendly benefits, such as maternity leave, to increase gender diversity by efficiently attracting women. Using Glassdoor data, we show that firms offer higher-quality maternity leave benefits in labor markets in which female talent is relatively scarce. This result also holds more generally when examining all female-friendly nonwage benefits and is not present when looking at gender-neutral benefits. Moreover, using staggered adoption of state laws, we show that voluntary provision of these benefits can increase firm value. Wei Jiang. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online

Viewpoint. Creating a healthy workplace – supporting and retaining female talent

Margaret Cooke considers what the structural engineering profession can learn from other sectors to create a culture where women and men can flourish equally at work.

A remote mentorship model for empowering students to undertake electrocardiology research: Effects on gender equity

Over the past years, there has been increasing awareness on female representation in cardiology, in particular senior academic ranks. Given the gender disparity in cardiology, female talents in cardiovascular academic medicine are significantly under-represented. In addition, whilst women have a slightly higher frequency of earning first authorships, it has been reported that women are 50% less likely to hold a senior authorship position. The drop in female representation in senior ranks of academic medicine may be contributed by a lack of female talent engagement, particularly during their early-career advancement, in high-impact journals and leadership roles. We present a remote, accessible-distributed research team model to help raise the female representation and tackle the challenges faced by female academics in the field of cardiovascular medicine. The group celebrates accessibility through open communication and collaboration, where mentees can seek research advice and ideas virtually from senior members and principal investigators. The decentralized system allows easy access for research guidance and inspirationand break down barriers in the lack of mentorship for early-career female talents. Students are empowered to lead their projects, and be involved in all phases- from the generation of study ideas to publication. The early development of holistic independent research skills equips students to become principal investigators and leaders in the future. The distributive element of the group is demonstrated through the decentralized research approach employed. Authorship is allocated based on intellectual contribution rather than on the acquisition of funding or seniority level.

When Paid Work Gives in to Unpaid Care Work: Evidence from the Hedge Fund Industry Under COVID-19

We examine how childcare inequalities in the home affect the work productivity of female talent, using unique data on the family structures of hedge fund managers and the exogenous shock from school closures during the early COVID-19 pandemic response. We find that female managers’ ability to generate abnormal returns is curbed by 9% on average in the shock-month of school closures, providing a direct measure of the cost of unpaid care work. This effect is driven by mothers and especially mothers with young children. With increasing calls for more female representation in all layers of the economy and the efforts exerted toward that goal, there is reason for concern that these efforts might not factor in as the pandemic has uncovered how women in general and mothers in particular bear both the burden of unpaid care work and the subsequent cost to their paid work. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance.

Retaining Women in Male-Dominated Occupations across Cultures: The Role of Supervisor Support and Psychological Safety

ABSTRACT Despite the efforts to increase female representation in male-dominated occupations, many organizations are still challenged by a female talent shortage and high turnover in such jobs. We look at perceived supervisor support (PSS) as one factor that may reduce turnover intentions of female employees in male-dominated occupations via enhanced perceptions of psychological safety. Further, we integrate social exchange and social identity theories, with research on cross-cultural management, to develop and test a moderated mediation model in which the relationship between PSS and employee turnover intentions via psychological safety is conditional on employee gender and national levels of gender equality, utilizing a sample of 5,578 R&D employees across 24 countries. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for retaining female employees in male-dominated occupations across the globe.

Singing off the same hymn sheet? Examining coherence in a talent development pathway (part 2)

ABSTRACT Existing literature highlights the common characteristics of successful talent development environments, notably the need for long-term development, individual athlete attention, communication, alignment, and psycho-behavioural development. Little is known however about the complex talent development environment of an international sport organisation where multiple contexts and various stakeholders exist. Considering the lack of research relating to females in talent development, we examined a female national hockey talent development environment and more specifically the level of coherence that existed within the talent development environment from different stakeholder perspectives. Twenty-seven international female hockey players and fourteen pathway staff members from across the talent development pathway participated in semi-structured focus groups. An inductive–deductive thematic analysis was conducted. Results suggest that the talent development environment provides a long-term development experience supplemented with individual athlete attention at international level. However, a general lack of coherence and systematic development was evident across the talent development environment contexts with varying levels of coherence found within the higher-order themes of appropriate development, not early success, individualised and ongoing development, and wide-ranging coherent messages and support. This highlights a need for improved direction from the National Governing Body if systematic coherence towards talent development is to be achieved.

Two Perspectives on the Gender Gap in Computer Engineering: From Secondary School to Higher Education

In a setting that prioritises the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), sustainable development cannot be achieved without the contribution of female talent. This paper is focused on studying the reasons for the gender gap and the offered strategies to reduce it. The debate on the reasons for the low enrolment rates of girls in technological degrees remains open in the literature. This study investigates the causes of why girls do not choose a computer engineering degree and makes a comparison between ex-ante (secondary school) and ex-post (higher education). Based on a survey of students from both secondary school (229) and higher education (171), a quantitative study on gender differences was performed. The chi-squared test was applied to compute the corresponding p-value. Gender significant differences concerning goals were found (such as, at secondary school, girls preferred to help people, whereas boys preferred to be rich or to have a lot of holidays), and degree preferences (secondary school girls showed great interest in degrees, such as psychology, criminology and medicine, while boys showed great interest in sports sciences and engineering). However, these differences cannot be attributed to the existence of gender stereotypes, to the poor social image of workers in that field, or to the goals to be achieved within this profession. Some proposals are offered to reduce the gap.

The future is female, the future is diverse: perceptions of young female talents on their future in the (German) event industry

ABSTRACT While critical debates around equality have recently increased in industry-led discussions, empirical research on gender-related hurdles in the German event industry remains scarce. At the same time, and due to the COVID-19 crisis, the event industry appears to be losing appeal to young people. Semi-structured interviews with female alumni from an event-related study programme in Germany were conducted to analyse the gender-related hurdles they have encountered since starting to work in the industry. The main challenges pertained to the masculine work culture; the glass ceiling; gendered stereotyping; and the difficulties of combining work and family life. Facilitators were their own motivation; mentoring; role models; and support from others. While COVID-19 heavily affected the German event industry, the interviewees regarded the resulting transformation as a chance. The findings can contribute to an increased understanding of gender-related constraints and to help shape a diverse industry as an attractive field of future employment.

Creating a Gender-Equal Organisation: Headway

This article explains the challenges faced by women employees in the corporate world and how a focused development programme can help organisations foster female talent and make significant progress towards creating a gender inclusive culture. In today’s complex and dynamic age, where technology, processes and business models change rapidly, women struggle to balance their career aspirations with their personal challenges, societal pressures and their own deep-set inhibitions. This leads to a widening gender gap from entry-level positions to senior leadership roles. The situation, therefore, necessitates a seismic shift in the thought process of female employees to help them overcome internal and external challenges, fast-track capability improvement and make deep behavioural impacts to foster career growth. This article highlights the need for a structured development programme to help organisations invest in their women employees in mid-management roles and create a pathway for them to achieve their career goals. All actions are documented in the programme to culminate into actionable insights for participants and deep cognitive insights for L&D and organisations.

Career Advancement for Women in Diabetes-Related Research: Developing and Retaining Female Talent.

To change the future you need a firm grip on history. Successful implementation of strategies to catalyze evolution of gender parity requires a coherent plan with clear deliverables. The article by Dunne et al. (1,2), simultaneously published in Diabetes and Diabetes Care , provides a much-needed foundation that defines the scope of the problem within the field of diabetes, documents stagnated progress over recent years, and offers suggestions for intervention. We applaud the authors and are encouraged that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) leadership is fully invested in being part of an effective solution. As nationally funded and internationally recognized women leaders in diabetes research, we are compelled to initiate the process of addressing the inequities brought to light by Dunne et al. to enhance the development and retention of female talent in our field. To intiate that process, here we discuss the observations by Dunne et al. and propose a set of concrete measures for achieving gender equity within diabetes-related professions. Dunne et al. observe that almost half (43%) of the attendees of the annual ADA Scientific Sessions national conference are women, demonstrating strong active participation of women. Women are also well represented in education-focused leadership positions comprising 83% of the then Vice Presidents and now Presidents of Health Care and Education over the last five decades and 89% and 49% of the editorial boards for Diabetes Spectrum and Clinical Diabetes , respectively. In striking contrast, in the last 20 years, only 9% of ADA Presidents of Medicine and Science have been women (1,2), and since the inception of the ADA, only 5 of 81 ADA Presidents of Medicine and Science have been women. Further, women represent one-third or fewer of editorial board members for the highest-impact diabetes journals ( Diabetes Care, Diabetes , and Diabetologia …

Career Advancement for Women in Diabetes-Related Research: Developing and Retaining Female Talent.

To change the future you need a firm grip on history. Successful implementation of strategies to catalyze evolution of gender parity requires a coherent plan with clear deliverables. The article by Dunne et al. (1,2), simultaneously published in Diabetes and Diabetes Care , provides a much-needed foundation that defines the scope of the problem within the field of diabetes, documents stagnated progress over recent years, and offers suggestions for intervention. We applaud the authors and are encouraged that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) leadership is fully invested in being part of an effective solution. As nationally funded and internationally recognized women leaders in diabetes research, we are compelled to initiate the process of addressing the inequities brought to light by Dunne et al. to enhance the development and retention of female talent in our field. To intiate that process, here we discuss the observations by Dunne et al. and propose a set of concrete measures for achieving gender equity within diabetes-related professions. Dunne et al. observe that almost half (43%) of the attendees of the annual ADA Scientific Sessions national conference are women, demonstrating strong active participation of women. Women are also well represented in education-focused leadership positions comprising 83% of the then Vice Presidents and now Presidents of Health Care and Education over the last five decades and 89% and 49% of the editorial boards for Diabetes Spectrum and Clinical Diabetes , respectively. In striking contrast, in the last 20 years, only 9% of ADA Presidents of Medicine and Science have been women (1,2), and since the inception of the ADA, only 5 of 81 ADA Presidents of Medicine and Science have been women. Further, women represent one-third or fewer of editorial board members for the highest-impact diabetes journals ( Diabetes Care, Diabetes , and Diabetologia …

Fostering collaborative approaches to gender equality interventions in higher education and research: the case of transnational and multi-institutional communities of practice

ABSTRACT Higher education and research and innovation in Europe continue to suffer from an indefensible waste of female talent and gender inequality. The European Commission recommends that these organizations adopt gender equality plans (GEPs) and other initiatives for institutional change. However, the levels of readiness, expertise, and experience with such interventions are wide-ranging across institutions and member states, thus collaborative approaches might be particularly valuable. Drawing on the experiences of transnational and multi-institutional communities of practice (CoPs) for gender equality (GE), we illuminate how the CoP approach supported change agents, who leveraged CoP membership to respond to challenges in promoting GE initiatives. Being part of collaborative, co-designed CoPs for learning, knowledge sharing, and institutional change provided external support to the change agents’ activism and allowed them to build legitimacy around GE work. CoP members leveraged this support through learning opportunities, knowledge transfer, sharing practice, political support, and solidarity from the CoP stakeholders. Findings also show that when CoPs were transnational, multi-institutional, and interdisciplinary, their heterogeneity did raise some challenges in relation to the divergence of members’ contexts and geopolitical idiosyncrasies and that this should be considered when designing CoPs which transcend national and institutional boundaries.

Ecology mechanism of female talents social mobility

Purpose With the development of social economy, the problem of female labor force and talent ecology mechanism has become increasingly prominent. They do not assign jobs according to their abilities, but decide their duties according to their interpersonal relationships. The uneven distribution of human resources makes the difference, the impact of the female talent social mobility tends to solidify and the social strata between the contradictions are deepening. Design/methodology/approach This paper mainly investigates the current situation of female talents social mobility to solve the problem of the social mobility of female talent, and evaluates the main factors that affect female talents social mobility by analyzing the flow of ordinary female labor, enterprise female talents and educational female talents. Findings Society should pay attention to the social mobility of female talent, carry out comprehensive ecology mechanism in time, take different methods to the management of female talents in different industries, remove the obstacles that affect the social mobility of female talents and create a good ecology mechanism of female talent. Originality/value This paper provides corresponding suggestions and countermeasures on the ecology mechanism of female talents social mobility.

Does gender matter? Gender talent migration and its implication for talent management

PurposeThe growing trends in talent migration, which in the extreme lead to brain drain, in step with an increasing female participation in labor markets and migration flows, set challenges for both business and governments managing these processes. In this vein, it is proposed that macro talent management (MTM) is effective in managing the above-mentioned macro-level issues. The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the determinants of talent migration with respect to gender and to analyze the role that talent management (TM) practices may play in the migration of diverse talent groups (male and female) within the Russian context.Design/methodology/approachAnticipating the possible differences in talent migration determinants between men and women and using data from 557 Russian graduates, considered to be high-potential talents, the authors found that these determinants converge.FindingsMale and female talent migration intentions in Russia are influenced by the same industry and individual push factors as well as family reasons, confirming that women are acting as independent economic migrants rather than tied movers. Moreover, the authors identified that talents in our sample evaluate highly the possibility of TM practices to change their migration intentions, and that female talents are more sensitive and responsive in this regard. Therefore, the TM system in the emerging economies' context, in particular Russia, is important for increasing the share of women in the workforce, in particular in leadership positions.Originality/valueThe study's results are important as they provide evidence on the gendered dimension of talent migration in particular in terms of the gendered assessment of talent migration determinants. Moreover, the study shows the positive role of TM in managing talent flows at the country level, in particular the ability of TM practices to attract talents to local organizations and, hence, retain them in a country.

The Impact of HR Practices on Perceived Gender Sensitivity and Gender Bias: A Multilevel Analysis of Hotel Industry

Gender sensitivity aids as a probable solution for facilitating female talent in an organization. This study measures gender sensitivity by applying multilevel modeling in hotel industry with a twofold objective: to identify explanatory predictors at the organizational level as well as to check whether insensitivity is the result of inherent bias in the industry at the individual level. Primary data were obtained from 355 employees and 10 HR (human resource) managers of both five and four-star hotels of Udaipur, India. Since 19.132% of the variation in gender sensitivity lies among the hotels and variation at the individual level is 8.731%, the data is analyzed through hierarchical linear modeling. Perceived gender bias (PGB) and human resource policies and practices (HRP) were found to be both significant and enough to explain variation in gender sensitivity among hotels. Also, an inverse and significant relationship between perceived gender bias (PGB) and perceived gender sensitivity (PGS) and a positive and significant relationship between PGS and HRP were identified.

기업 내 여성 대표성 증진에 영향을 미치는 조직적 요인 탐색 ─ 여성인재 파이프라인의 성공적 가동 요인을 중심으로

기업 내 여성 대표성 증진에 영향을 미치는 조직적 요인 탐색 ─ 여성인재 파이프라인의 성공적 가동 요인을 중심으로