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“Women are pioneering the economic and social shift in today's society”, the Hon. Anna Bligh told a CEDA audience in Melbourne.
27/08/2014
“Women moving out of the domestic sphere is changing everything – economy, workplaces, election debates.”
At the event, part of CEDA’s Women in Leadership series, Ms Bligh discussed the headway women are making – from a time “when Parliament House had no female restrooms” to today.
“Every time we leave the house to go to work … we are pioneering”, she said.
This event asked the question: Is women’s underrepresentation in leadership positions a symptom of gender role stereotyping?
“Eighty six per cent of leaders unconsciously believe women are less competent and assertive than men”, Founder and Director, Psynapse Psychometrics, Dr Jennifer Whelan said.
Dr Whelan pointed out four unconscious beliefs that serve as barriers for women:
These perceptions aren’t true, Dr Whelan said. In fact, “the difference in leadership styles between genders is so small you'd need a magnifying glass to see it”.
Company Director, Catherine Walter AM, illustrated how unconscious stereotyping works when she discussed two groups of people being given the same information about the career of a successful entrepreneur. One group was told the entrepreneur was a man, and one group was told the entrepreneur was a woman.
The male was voted higher “hands down on likeability, whether he’d make a better employee and what type of team member he’d be”, she said.
The female was voted much higher as “power-hungry and disingenuous”.
The best leaders are those open to change, Dell Managing Director Australia and New Zealand, Angela Fox has told a CEDA event in Brisbane.
Read more Leadership | Diversity | Inclusion November 17, 2011Despite progress “we still have difficulties with women in leadership and we still have a very significant problem with the gender pay gap”. Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Director, Helen Conway told a CEDA Queensland audience.
Read more Leadership | Diversity | Inclusion September 26, 2011A new CEDA publication that examines unconscious bias against women in the workplace will be launched today in Melbourne by Federal Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Kate Ellis MP.
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