Special Report - Business’s great gender divide

Women in business are often referred to as a homogeneous group, struggling with the same obstacles in the workplace and grappling with the issue of career versus family.

Yet Western Australia’s pioneering female business leaders are as diverse as their male colleagues – in their backgrounds, their career tracks and the decisions they’ve made along the way.

But, Perth being Perth, there are some common refrains among the stand-out performers in what is clearly the first generation of Western Australian women to match it on the terrace with the blokes.

By their own admission they are a tightly knit group. Most bemoan the poor networking skills of females in business, yet many of WA’s leading businesswomen are good friends who keep in close contact with each other.

Another familiar theme in discussions with WA’s top business women was encouragement from John Poynton, a Western Australian business leader who appears equally at home with traditional Perth business elite as he does mixing with the latest generation of entrepreneurs.

But these similarities reflect the relatively recent arrival of women at the top end of life in corporate WA.

The figures record the same.

WA sits well behind the leading States when it comes to the percentage of boards that have women – just 34 per cent compared to NSW’s 43 per cent and New Zealand’s 55 per cent.

The consensus among those interviewed for this feature is that there exists a large pool of talented professionals in WA. But there’s also acknowledgment that one of the biggest weaknesses facing these women is their lack of networking and self-promotion skills.

Chairman of Azure Capital, Mr Poynton said there should not be any impediments for women achieving what they want, and that he genuinely wanted to support that.

“Maybe I have been able to help show others the potential or talent some women have, but I think it is a logical thing and that it makes good business sense to have those people involved because they are very good at what they do,” he said.

“At the most fundamental level, though, biology has a lot to do with numbers of women with careers, and I believe it is very difficult to have a career and children.

“Excluding that caveat though, my fundamental premise is that if 50 per cent of the population is female, why wouldn’t they be represented?”

Mr Poynton said getting more women in the senior ranks of management could take time, and that although change might appear slow, in retrospect, it would be seen as rapid.

“We all experience prejudice in one form or another, and it is a mistake to rail against it; instead people should try to let their talents and personality shine through without letting gender override things,” he said.

Professor Leonie Still is the director for the Centre of Women and Business (part of the Graduate school of Management at UWA). She said a more proactive approach was needed to address the dearth of women in higher-ranking positions.

“The process of time alone won’t rectify the problem, and there is no magic answer on what needs to be done,” Professor Still said.

“There are certainly many more women in management than there were 20 years ago, but there are still very few in executive level management.

“Women have to understand what is implied in having a career – a job is not a career – there are endless things you have to do if you want a career, like joining professional associations, committees, and networking. That is the game and that is the expectation.

“The next generation is demanding more choice, and both men and women want more balance, and this is becoming more and more a management issue.”

Director of Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), Anna McPhee, said there was a whole range of barriers to women advancing in their careers, including management reluctance, negative assumptions about women, a lack of mentoring, exclusion from informal networks and the undeniable commitment that families required.

The Commonwealth Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act was introduced in 1986 (reviewed in 1999) and requires all organisations with more than 100 employees to implement a workplace program that promotes equal opportunity and to make an annual report to EOWA on its effectiveness.

“The act has seen an increase in actions taken and made an impact on organisations where women are working,” Ms McPhee said.

“There are a range of businesses that comply because they have to and others which recognise the real benefits for their business.

“Some would say that change has moved too slowly, but a real cultural shift in organisations is occurring as issues associated with an ageing workforce and the demands of generations X and Y become more prominent.

“A lot of organisations are looking at their customer profiles as well as diversity issues – it becomes a sustainability issue.”

The search for information on this demographic change is reflected in a study by The Centre for Women and Business, part of The University of Western Australia’s Graduate School of Management, which is currently seeking male and female volunteers aged between 24 and 39 to help with a study looking at the careers and life experiences of Generation X.

Women on Boards national committee member Claire Braund said her organisation would be hosting a major networking and mentoring event in Perth in February.

“We aim to build networks at the top end of town because networking is a major way of getting on boards,” she told WA Business News.

“Almost everyone in the business community has recognised the issue and been willing to come on board.

“Boards need to reflect diversity, and represent their shareholders, clients and the wider community, and without women you have to question if they can do that.”