The Sunday Mail
Women & Leadership
Maggie Mzumara
EVEN against a background of there being less women than men in executive positions in both the private and public sectors; and there being repeated outcries by women and others concerned around the exclusion of women from high tables of real influence, there are leadership opportunities open to women which they, themselves, are not pursuing, even when such openings are on offer.
This is both concerning and baffling.
Gender composition at higher executive officer grades in Zimbabwe’s civil service, as in other sectors, continues to be an issue of concern.
The Public Service Commission (PSC), like other arms of Government, is seized with gender composition and is actively addressing it.
Despite making up the higher percentage of serving members, women continue to be under-represented at the top echelons of civil service management, with only 24 percent making it to principal director level and 34 percent being in the director tier. Other sectors also have comparable patterns and trends.
The PSC, for its part, has put in place measures to ensure that women candidates are not passed over on career advancement opportunities, but are facilitated to level out this discrepancy and to guarantee that by 2030, females are no longer found in the minority in power stratums.
Going forward, and as outlined in the National Development Strategy (NDS) 1, the Government will be implementing the following strategies to achieve gender mainstreaming:
Women Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity for All Programmes; Promoting Women Into Positions of Influence; Promoting Equality At All levels of Society: Advancing Women Political representation; Youth and Women Advocacy Initiatives; and Enhancing Access to Financing for Women in Business.
NDS1 provisions
While the historical marginalisation of women can neither be denied nor downplayed, it emerges as true that for their own part, women are not as aggressive in taking advantage of availed opportunities.
Although indeed there is need to push for the objectives and aims, such as provided for in the NDS1, in line with Constitutional provisions and other guiding statutes and blueprints, a considerable amount of the onus lies in women themselves.
Contrary to the outcries and complaints of marginalisation of women, trends in Zimbabwe as well as the world over have shown that many times, women do not apply as much as men for high level positions.
Yet there are pockets of possibilities of high level positions that exist that women would do well to pursue and take advantage of.
Reasons for this are several.
For one, there is a popular claim that while men apply for positions when they meet just 60 percent of the requirements, women only apply if they meet 100 percent of them.
Although no quantitative data has been used to generate this “fact”, there are concerns on the issue of women being less confident than men in pursuing opportunities.
Of course, needless to point out, this highlights the male bravado, in comparison to women’s demure and measured approach to similar situations.
As one Forbes magazine article put it, “Men are confident about their ability at 60 percent, but women don’t feel confident until they have checked off each item on the list.”
Women apply less
Proven research does confirm that there are differences between men and women’s job searches.
Some evidence exists to suggest that women are more selective when applying for jobs.
For instance, in 2018, Linked-In, in a study, examined the job search behaviour of their users in great detail.
They found that despite viewing the same number of jobs as male users on the platform, women were:
Less likely to apply for positions they had viewed on the website
Less likely to apply for positions that were more senior than their current position (what Linked-In call ‘stretch roles’)
More likely to be hired when compared to men applying for the same position as them
In other words, Linked-In’s research revealed that women on average apply for fewer positions, and in particular for less senior positions.
So it may be that women are just applying for positions that are safer bets for them.
Women’s leadership coach Tara Sophia Mohr says women do not apply for jobs because they fear failure.
Almost one in four women that participated in some survey quoted by Mohr said their top reason for not going after the job was: “I didn’t think they would hire me since I didn’t meet the qualifications and I didn’t want to put myself out there if I was likely to fail.”
Only 13 percent of men said this.
The other big gender difference Mohr found is that, in a job hunt, women are more likely than men to play by the rules.
While 15 percent of women said the main reason they didn’t apply was because “I was following the guidelines,” only 8 percent of men said so.
Apply Anyway
Mohr and others of the same school of thought advise women to apply for jobs even if they don’t have all the qualifications.
“If the job is something they feel excited about, they should,” she said.
“Sometimes, listed qualifications are truly required. But often, they reflect more of ‘wish list’ or reflect the teams’ initial thinking on desired qualifications. By the end of the interviewing process, that thinking may have evolved.
“Take whatever opportunities you have — the cover letter, a short phone call or the interview itself — to explain why your work experience is relevant to the job,” she told me.
Biases continue to exist
It is likely that due to bias in some work environments, women do need to meet more of the qualifications to be hired than do their male counterparts.
For instance, a McKinsey report found that men are often hired or promoted based on their potential while for women, it is their experience and track record.
Additionally, experts note that girls are strongly socialised to follow the rules and in school are rewarded, again and again for doing so.
In part, girls’ greater success in school, unlike that of boys, tend to arguably be attributed to their adherence to rules.
That rule-following habit has real costs, including when it comes to adhering to the guidelines about “who should apply.”
However, above all, after all is said and done, women need to have more faith in themselves and throw their hats in the ring, even for top jobs. After all, most of them have what it takes to deliver.
Maggie Mzumara is a communication, media and leadership strategist with a passion for leadership for women. This article is written in her personal capacity. She can be reached on [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @magsmzumara
