Advancing Women's Careers - Essay Example

Changes have taken place due to globalization and more women are entering the work field but still the glass ceiling effect persists. Women have always faced gender discrimination in any career that they have tried to pursue. Be it as a teacher or a nurse, as corporate managers or scientists, or the hospitality sector, the reasons remain the same for all women. Women definitely have a dual role to play (taking care of the family and the work place) and to avoid the role conflict and reduce the anxiety and stress, women prefer business or flexible schedules and refrain from accepting higher responsibilities at work. The hospitality sector is particularly demanding because of irregular hours of work. Employers have a significant role to play in resolving the issues faced by women in the hospitality industry and enable women to progress into senior management. There are three types of transitions impacting working women at their work places – career-focused transitions, life-cycle induced transitions and workplace or market-induced transitions (Womenomics, 2006). Women change jobs twice as often as men, which is a reason for concern and warrant research. They even switch jobs between sectors and prefer a job where they can make a difference. They prefer jobs which offer facility for skill development to increase their employability. For this, they are even willing to work at low pay. Studies suggest that when women do get access to functional roles in their current employment, they either stall in their career advancement or move to other employers. Hence retention is a major issue in the hospitality industry. Worldwide tourism is an important sector for women who make up to 46% of the tourism labor force (Vargas & Aguilar, 2002). There is a significant vertical and horizontal gender segregation of the labor market. Women all over the world have always faced discrimination in terms of management positions and levels of pay. Cobb & Dunlop (1999) agree that the gender gap still exists in the area of promotions and the women are at a disadvantage (cited by Zhong, 2006). While the scene is gradually changing, the pace of change is ‘painfully slow’ (BBC, 2007) as Zhong (2006) also observes that women represented 20% to 40% of management positions in about 60 countries (ILO) but they continue to be underrepresented in management positions compared to their overall employment. Burke and Vinnicombe (2006) contend that aging workforce and fewer new entrants has resulted in shortage of qualified leaders, forcing organizations to utilize and develop talents of all its employees. Under the circumstances they cannot afford to artificially limit the career possibilities of women. This itself implies that women are capable but are being denied the opportunities. A survey conducted by The Caterer revealed that women are not entering the managerial posts but are opting for traditionally female roles (FHRAI, 2002). The Restaurant Association claims that they do not employ based on gender but on merit and they feel there is significant advancement for women to rise up the ladder in managerial positions. The employers need to change their outlook. The issue of diversity can lend sustainability and the organizations have to go beyond discrimination. Organizations benefit in different ways like culture, change and learning based engagement with managing inequality and difference as there is enough evidence to prove that organizational culture is a major impediment to women’s progress into senior management (Mann, 1995). This change in culture has to be evident in day to day practices in encouraging women in their jobs. Ninety percent of the people employed as chambermaids, flight attendants, sales personnel and cleaners are women (Vargas & Aguilar, 2002). The abundance of full-time, part-time, seasonal, temporary and casual work available in the tourism sector is a key attraction by women, and is preferred mostly by mothers of young children carers, semi-retired women and students (LDA, 2003). They preferred the workplace flexibility and the positive impact it has on family life. Women tend to value the joy, contentment and happiness derived from being with the family, which gives them sense of fulfillment and positively affects their professional lives as well. Fulfillment relates to learning and growing which provides sense of confidence. The fact that women prefer part-time work is corroborated by the statistics of the first three months of 2002 which shows that men in full time employment were double the number of women, while women as part-time workers were four times that of men engaged in part-time employment (Grundy & Jamieson, 2002). Zong however finds that women lack the education, skills and work experience necessary to be an executive or a manager. Management diversity is defined as the proportion of women among the highest-ranking CEOs in firms and on boards of directors (Smith, Smith & Verner, 2006). Female managers are supposed to be best qualified in terms of education for top management posts and to be on the board of directors. Women have a better understanding of certain segments and this could lend creativity and innovation to the work place. Women on board of directors have positive impact on firm performance. There are other suggestions that women differ from men in their aspirations and expectations in career; they also differ in the definition of success. Women have also been blamed for being emotional as there are differences in the expectations and acceptance of emotional expression (Zhong, 2007). Some researchers observe that women change their life choices after reaching middle management level (Cornelius & Skinner, 2006). These observations basically stem from men and employers as a means to discourage women from aspiring for the senior level management positions. The typical ‘gender pyramid’ is prevalent – lower levels and occupations with few career development opportunities available to women (Vargas & Aguilar, 2002) while a report in HRMID (2006) confirms that women are victims of discrimination is evident from the fact women have filed high profile suits successfully against their employer for discrimination based on their gender. Women definitely have a dual role to play but this can be overcome by creating more quality part-time roles to increase the number of women in senior roles. This is essential in view of the fact that businesses are disadvantaged by not selecting the best executives from the largest talent pool, reports Treanor (2007) of The Guardian. Companies continue to spend heavy amounts in repeated recruitments and training and they could save on this through reduced attrition. Feyerherm and Vick (2006) suggest that re-examining the corporate culture could enhance values like openness, mutual respect and continuous learning. The culture change should also include work-life effectiveness programs or flexible work options work (Womenomics, 2006). Research also suggests that London relies a great deal on migrant labor and more so in the hospitality sector where the women experience downward social mobility (Evans et al., 2005). Women have been found to be better employees because they make a better team or more suited to ‘people-oriented work’ but the women find that ‘tourism does not offer a livable wage’ in London (LDA, 2003). It may be ‘good for a second income’ and hence more women are found in the sector than men as Evans et al., also confirm that the lowest rates of pay were found in the London’s catering industry. Women tolerate low pay because of flexible working hours and the opportunity for training which would help in career advancement. This shows that women are keen for career progression and hence the pay structure should be revised, eliminating the pay gap. Sexual harassment, including unwanted attention or intimidation of a sexual character is widespread in the hotel, tourism and the catering industry. A study of 502 working women in Luxemburg aged between 16 and 50 years in the hospitality industry were reported to be the sector most affected (Hoel & Einarsen, 2003). In the UK bullying and harassment were reported by 24.2% of the respondents. Waiters were most prone to sexual harassment and the most common acts of harassment were obscene language and jokes, and sexually suggestive comments. Mainly women in junior positions experience sexual harassment which demonstrates that it ahs to do with both gender and power issues. With low levels of education, they are less confident than other employees when dealing with difficult people in positions of power. Apart from this, irregular working hours, night shifts, dress code and a suggestive physical environment also make them prone to sexual harassment. Being exposed to unwanted sexually related attention is considered to be part of the job (Hoel & Einarsen, 2003). A study of British Hotel employees concluded that the hotel is not a rational environment where there is agreement over social norms or acceptable behavior between customers and staff. Women in the hospitality sector lack formal education as they usually start off as chambermaids or cleaners. The employers can provide them with training opportunities which would in turn improve the productivity and result in a better skilled and able workforce. This acts as a prime incentive to remain with the employer. Employers usually prefer investing in full time staff for training but integrating part-time workers can reap equal benefits. Career advancement can be measured in terms of earnings growth and earnings represent human capital. Employers can provide formal education, training and skills development while in paid employment. Human capital accumulates with work experience. In the hospitality industry women are often required to relocate to another site or accept promotion. Women are reluctant to accept such change for fear of disturbing their family life. If employers can identify the talented women and provide mentoring and support, such women can be nurtured and motivated to climb up the progression ladder. Before that, employers have to ensure formal training so that after promotions, women do not face skills gap, reduced productivity and over-burdening of junior staff members. To maintain the work-life balance women prefer part-time work, in which case the employers can integrate these women into the paid labor market and career advancement is the key evidence of integration (Chalmers & Hill, 2005). Integrate will help facilitate income security. At the same time, employers should be willing to accommodate occasional requests for shift change. They should be flexible in swapping shifts, altering rotas, mothers should be offered paid leave in case of their child’s illness. The work schedule should also take into consideration the children’s school schedules and holidays, allowing mothers to work from home. Women should be encouraged to arrange for formal childcare. The hospitality industry and particularly the hotels can provide for child care center within the premises. This would even encourage women to change from part-time employment to full time employment if they are able to get some time off to spend with their children during the day. Thus the employer-supported childcare would go a long way in alleviating the frustration of women in taking care of the children. It would also benefit the sector as the hospitality sector is facing shortage of staff. Thus it is seen that barriers to women not being able to progress in their careers in the hospitality sector range from pay discrimination to flexible working hours. They lack educational opportunity and undergo role conflict with the dual responsibility of home and workplace. Nevertheless, the employers can help the industry overcome these shortcomings by integrating part-time women workers into the labor market which ensures career advancement. Their request for occasional shift change should be accepted and holidays scheduled according to the children’s school holidays. Formal training helps women to gain confidence and provide job security while giving improved productivity to the employer. In-house childcare facilities would motivate women to switch over to full time employment and proper mentoring would help to retain women in this profession and climb up the ladder as managers and executives. Wage discrimination should be eliminated and equal opportunities for work and career advancement should be provided. Employers thus have a significant role to play in the career advancement of women in the hospitality industry. References: BBC (2007), No women chiefs in 38% of firms, 15 Nov 2007 Burke, R., & Vinnicombe, S., (2006), Advancing womens careers. 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