Wouldn’t it be nice to think in these modern times that gender is no longer an issue when looking to get into the majority of professions?
Women have proven themselves to be just as competent, intelligent and organised as their male counterparts and the career progression of many notable females does not seem to have been limited by their sex- Margaret Thatcher, Oprah Winfrey, JK Rowling, I could go on. However, as an insightful if concerning FT report recently explored, women are still under represented at senior levels.
It cites the fact that in Fortune 500 companies, women make up only 3% of chief executive positions. Across Europe, a mere 10% of board directors are female and the numbers are even lower in Asia. This report goes on to challenge the logic of this given research providing strong evidence that a gender balance has a positive impact on results. According to studies by Catalyst and McKinsey in the US and Europe financial outperformance is most apparent when there is a “critical mass” of women – 30% or more. Furthermore, Nick Wilson of Leeds University Business School found that having women on the board can reduce a company’s risk of bankruptcy by 20%.
Having read this, I was surprised that such an archaic term as ‘glass ceiling’ still seems relevant in today’s high level positions for women and when it comes to the top positions in pharma jobs and it would seem that men also continue to dominate here. According to a recent tweet from Silja Chouquet, in European pharma companies less than 16% of senior positions are held by women. Whilst this is higher than the 10% quoted earlier, it is still critically low when we look at gender distribution as a whole.
The top 50 women in world business list, published by FT only featured one woman from ‘pharmaceuticals & biotechnology’ this being Kiran Mazundar Shaw of Biocon India who ranked at number 47. A couple of others were described as ‘ones to watch’ – Carrie Cox of Schering Plough and Deidre Connelly of GSK, but generally pharma’s powerful women seemed sparse given the fact that it is the 2nd biggest worldwide industry in terms of profitability.
So why is this?
Are pharma companies still in the era where the ‘old boys club’ make sure that the adage ‘its not what you know but who you know’ prevails? Is it because many women eventually want some kind of career break to have children or push for unmanageable flexible working options if they attempt to juggle family with career? Are not enough women good enough to reach the top? Perhaps it is a combination of all of these, and perhaps a better question to ask is what are pharma doing about it?
A great example of a proactive response to this problem comes from. HBA (Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association). The organisation was created in 1977 with a mission to further the advancement and impact of women in healthcare worldwide. A white paper they commissioned alongside Booz, Allen, Hamilton called the E.D.G.E. in Leadership study sought to develop a ‘best practice’ approach in the healthcare world in ensuring that women had equal opportunity and skill sets to take on these top level, senior roles. Sponsors for the paper included Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, Wyeth, J&J, Astra Zeneca, Merck, Abbot and Celgene showing a clear will from the industry to address this problem.
The report offers key guidance for pharma organisations in how they can improve their gender balance at the top. The findings advise that strong senior level support to the culture change, programmes supporting women in developing their skills, performance based pay to ensure a salary based on merit not gender and constant appraisal to ensure that the objective to advance more women is being met is essential in any programme to shift women to more prominence in pharma jobs.
Also, an understanding and provision of flexible working options such as job share, home working, and on site day care is a must in retaining critical talent.
Women themselves need to work hard at developing their leadership qualities, finding themselves a good mentor and also being a mentor to their team and also to network, network, network.
Female graduates looking to enter the pharma arena should not be put off by the current statistics therefore and should view the current imbalance at the top as an opportunity rather than a threat. Yes, pharma has a long way to go before it reaches the Norwegian business structure where 40% of senior positions are held by women, but with big pharma becoming involved in such investigative studies as E.D.G.E. the tide is clearly changing.
It is up to the new blood entering the industry to take advantage of this and bring senior management into the 21st century.
By Alexandra Kisby
Do you think the pharma jobs arena is behind the times?
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