Women fear 'family friendly' jobs will bar career success
By Kathy Marks
WOMEN are failing to take advantage of "family friendly" working arrangements offered by employers because they fear that they will be seen as lacking career commitment, says the Opportunity 2000 campaign.
The campaign, which aims to increase the number of women in senior positions, marked its third anniversary yesterday.
It reported that more of its members were introducing flexible working policies.
Seventy-one per cent of members offer maternity leave above the statutory minimum, for example, compared with 60 per cent a year ago. Sixty-seven per cent offer paternity leave, compared with 58 per cent last year.
Job sharing is available in 58 per cent, up from 33 per cent last year. Twenty-five per cent of members offer school term contracts, compared with 12 per cent last year.
But the response to such schemes had been disappointing, the campaign said. In more than 80 per cent of organisations which responded to a survey, less than 10 per cent of eligible women accepted the option of working at home. In more than half, schemes to bridge gaps between junior and senior jobs had been taken up by less than 10 per cent.
Lady Howe, chairman of Opportunity 2000, said that a cultural change was needed to improve the response. "Women are often not confident or comfortable enough to take up the opportunities," she said. "Part-time work, for instance, may be seen as a risky option for a career-minded manager."
She sounded a generally confident note on the campaign's progress, despite a report from the Institute of Management that the number of women managers in the workforce had fallen for the first time in 20 years.
The campaign now has 275 members employing more than a quarter of the United Kingdom workforce.
Women now hold 25 per cent of all managerial positions in Opportunity 2000 workplaces, compared with an estimated 9.5 per cent in leading companies as a whole. At director level women account for eight per cent of posts in member companies, compared with 2.8 per cent overall.
Lady Howe said that many challenges remained. Women still feared accusations that they had been promoted because of gender rather than ability; the "working all hours" culture remained a major concern; and line managers found it difficult to reconcile equal opportunity policies with their business objectives.
"This is a long-term campaign," Lady Howe said. "We are not lookingfor a quick fix. We are seeking to change the culture of organisations, which takes time."
Specific examples of progress in the past year have included the adoption by a board member of responsibility for equal opportunities at Abbey National and W H Smith.
A new sabbaticals policy at Ogilvy & Mather has been taken up by senior managers and this has encouraged other employees to follow suit without worrying that it might show a lack of commitment.
Women now hold 50 per cent of board level posts at Reed Executive, while Coopers & Lybrand has elected the first female chairman of its council of partners.
Rank Xerox has introduced five days' paid leave a year for emergencies and the Law Society operates paternity leave.
British Airways has a part-time general manager, while Sainsbury has a store manager who works on Sundays only.
At Abbey National women branch managers have increased from 2.5 per cent in 1984 to 48 per cent.
