Women on Wall Street report having a harder time climbing the corporate ladder than their Bay street counterparts, and they’re more willing to speak their mind about it, a new report shows.
Although the women surveyed from both countries said they are satisfied with their jobs, they did acknowledge barriers to advancement, and based on the statistics, these barriers have greater impact on American women.
Despite the fact that the women surveyed tend to see the environment in the same way, women in the U.S. were more likely to agree certain obstacles are hampering their progression, said Susan Black, vice-president of Catalyst in Canada, the non-profit organization that prepared the research.
The numbers reveal significant perception gaps across the border. For example, about 70 per cent of U.S. women said lack of mentoring opportunities was a barrier as compared to Canada’s 57 per cent; 62 per cent of U.S. women said senior leadership failed to be accountable for women’s advancement while less than half of Canadians claimed this was an obstacle; and while only 48 per cent of Canadian women believed they were excluded from informal networks, 67 per cent of Americans said this was a problem.
“The studies weren’t designed to be cross-national, and weren’t meant to answer why these gaps exist, so we have to speculate,” Black said.
There are three possible reasons for the discrepancies. The first is the difference in sample size. The survey was designed to mirror the demographics of the workforce and the U.S. sample had more female participants at senior-levels.
The second is cultural climate. The U.S. has a long history of affirmative action and focus on individual rights, so American women have different expectations.
“There have been social movements around change in the U.S. and that’s something Canada doesn’t have, which may be why women in the States are more vocal,” Black said.
And the third: Bay street is just a “kinder, gentler place” to work.
“We can’t tell from this study which reason it is or which combination of reasons, but there are definitely differences in how (both groups of women) are perceiving their environment.”
Catalyst prepared the study for Women in Capital Markets (WCM) — a Toronto-based association supporting women in investment banking — to monitor the trends of women in financial services. Marlene Puffer, past president of WCM, said there’s nothing surprising about the results.
“Even before we conducted this survey we were aware these would likely be the issues, but discussing (the matter) without some hard-core facts holds less water,” Puffer said.
Now that WCM has the proof, some companies are paying attention, she said. Several firms have been going into universities and holding mentoring dinners where women investment dealers talk to female MBA grads about the industry, the opportunities and career planning. Puffer has also met with various senior executives discussing what their next step should be to change their organization. Those are some of the things happening as a direct result of the study, said Puffer.
“There is certainly additional focus by a number of the dealers, and we suspect we’ll have more programs and initiatives coming out over the next six months to a year in response to all of this.”
While Puffer is instigating change in the investment dealers industry, Doreen McKenzie-Sanders, retired editor of the University of Western Ontario’s business journal, is trying to get more women in Canadian corporate boardrooms. McKenzie-Sanders took the issue by the reins and decided to solicit and vet more than 400 resumes — with the help of three other women — for a directory highlighting 313 women across Canada who want a seat on a board.
She began organizing the 421-page directory, Women in the Lead, after a heated roundtable discussion with some high-profile CEOs, where they talked about the dismal representation of women on boards. According to a recent study on corporate governance, less than one-third of 322 Canadian public companies has a woman on their board.
“The problem with that is there has been no change over the course of nine years,” said Patrick O’Callaghan, managing partner of the Vancouver-based firm that published this study.
O’Callaghan applauds the Women in the Lead directory and said it’s a step in the right direction.
“There are outstanding women out there even though they may not have the profile that other (men) have for boards, they do have the experience,” he said.
The directory, funded by the HSBC Bank of Canada, made its debut the first week of March at the Women in Management conference held in Toronto by the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. McKenzie-Sanders said after the challenge of completing the directory, she’s curious to see if corporations will make good use of the book.
“Now of course in my opinion, the measure of success will be how many of those women listed actually get on boards in the coming years. I think it will take 18 months to see the ripple effect.”
For more information on the Women in the Lead directory, check out their Web site at www.womeninthelead.ca.
Although the women surveyed from both countries said they are satisfied with their jobs, they did acknowledge barriers to advancement, and based on the statistics, these barriers have greater impact on American women.
Despite the fact that the women surveyed tend to see the environment in the same way, women in the U.S. were more likely to agree certain obstacles are hampering their progression, said Susan Black, vice-president of Catalyst in Canada, the non-profit organization that prepared the research.
The numbers reveal significant perception gaps across the border. For example, about 70 per cent of U.S. women said lack of mentoring opportunities was a barrier as compared to Canada’s 57 per cent; 62 per cent of U.S. women said senior leadership failed to be accountable for women’s advancement while less than half of Canadians claimed this was an obstacle; and while only 48 per cent of Canadian women believed they were excluded from informal networks, 67 per cent of Americans said this was a problem.
“The studies weren’t designed to be cross-national, and weren’t meant to answer why these gaps exist, so we have to speculate,” Black said.
There are three possible reasons for the discrepancies. The first is the difference in sample size. The survey was designed to mirror the demographics of the workforce and the U.S. sample had more female participants at senior-levels.
The second is cultural climate. The U.S. has a long history of affirmative action and focus on individual rights, so American women have different expectations.
“There have been social movements around change in the U.S. and that’s something Canada doesn’t have, which may be why women in the States are more vocal,” Black said.
And the third: Bay street is just a “kinder, gentler place” to work.
“We can’t tell from this study which reason it is or which combination of reasons, but there are definitely differences in how (both groups of women) are perceiving their environment.”
Catalyst prepared the study for Women in Capital Markets (WCM) — a Toronto-based association supporting women in investment banking — to monitor the trends of women in financial services. Marlene Puffer, past president of WCM, said there’s nothing surprising about the results.
“Even before we conducted this survey we were aware these would likely be the issues, but discussing (the matter) without some hard-core facts holds less water,” Puffer said.
Now that WCM has the proof, some companies are paying attention, she said. Several firms have been going into universities and holding mentoring dinners where women investment dealers talk to female MBA grads about the industry, the opportunities and career planning. Puffer has also met with various senior executives discussing what their next step should be to change their organization. Those are some of the things happening as a direct result of the study, said Puffer.
“There is certainly additional focus by a number of the dealers, and we suspect we’ll have more programs and initiatives coming out over the next six months to a year in response to all of this.”
While Puffer is instigating change in the investment dealers industry, Doreen McKenzie-Sanders, retired editor of the University of Western Ontario’s business journal, is trying to get more women in Canadian corporate boardrooms. McKenzie-Sanders took the issue by the reins and decided to solicit and vet more than 400 resumes — with the help of three other women — for a directory highlighting 313 women across Canada who want a seat on a board.
She began organizing the 421-page directory, Women in the Lead, after a heated roundtable discussion with some high-profile CEOs, where they talked about the dismal representation of women on boards. According to a recent study on corporate governance, less than one-third of 322 Canadian public companies has a woman on their board.
“The problem with that is there has been no change over the course of nine years,” said Patrick O’Callaghan, managing partner of the Vancouver-based firm that published this study.
O’Callaghan applauds the Women in the Lead directory and said it’s a step in the right direction.
“There are outstanding women out there even though they may not have the profile that other (men) have for boards, they do have the experience,” he said.
The directory, funded by the HSBC Bank of Canada, made its debut the first week of March at the Women in Management conference held in Toronto by the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. McKenzie-Sanders said after the challenge of completing the directory, she’s curious to see if corporations will make good use of the book.
“Now of course in my opinion, the measure of success will be how many of those women listed actually get on boards in the coming years. I think it will take 18 months to see the ripple effect.”
For more information on the Women in the Lead directory, check out their Web site at www.womeninthelead.ca.
