Читать книгу Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets - Sylvia Ann Hewlett - Страница 19

Since becoming the HR director for the Brazilian operations of a multinational pharmaceuticals firm, Andrea has become accustomed to feeling that she's always on trial.

My male colleagues test me a lot. They ask questions or try to test your knowledge or how self-confident you are on the issue under discussion. It's different from the way they interact with their male peers. They try to go deeper and deeper into the details. I think it's not just because I'm the first woman to hold this job but a combination of being a woman and being younger than they are. There's a sense of “Let me test this little girl to see if she really deserves to be in this place.”

What I've learned from this is that I always have to be 150 percent prepared. Before having an interaction with them, I try to think about all of the questions and all of the resistance that might come up during the conversation. It's like I have to prove myself twice as much as if I were a man.

The subtle forms of discrimination faced by women in the workplace have been the topic of much scrutiny, particularly in the United States, and courses on “microtriggers” or “microinequities” are the cornerstone of cutting-edge corporate diversity curricula. On top of the unconscious biases that no doubt exist in workplaces the world over, professional women in the BRIC countries and the UAE face overt and explicit prejudice. In India and China, more than one-third of our respondents—both women and men—believe women are treated unfairly in the workplace owing to their gender. In India, the number is a whopping 45 percent for both sexes.

More than half of educated women in India, nearly half of their counterparts in China, and 40 percent of Brazilian women have encountered bias severe enough to make them consider scaling back their career goals or quitting altogether. Russia is the exception, in part owing to a Communist legacy that integrated women into the workplace better than elsewhere in emerging markets (see figure 2-3).

FIGURE 2-3

Percentage of women who say bias is strong enough to push them out of the workplace

Workplace biases in emerging markets appear in a range of “flavors” that vary by cultural context. In China, for example, business discussions and decisions are often negotiated in informal settings—over drinks after work, during cigarette breaks in the course of the day, or at extracurricular sports events—settings that are difficult for women to participate in as equals. An accounting professional based in Hong Kong laments, “It's hard for women to develop clients in China, because a lot of business involves drinking after hours,” something working mothers typically avoid in order to cherish their scant hours of family time.

Similarly, vodka is a time-honored business lubricant in Russia, a key ingredient in nurturing the trusted partnerships that were the only way to do business under Communism. Even in today's open market, business relationships in traditionally male-dominated industries like manufacturing, engineering, and mining are still built in the banya, or sauna, and sealed with vigorous drinking. “That's where the decisions are made, in that close male community,” says Galina, an executive whose multinational employer operates in those fields. She notes, “It's just not appropriate for a woman to go into the sauna with ten men.”

In India and the Middle East, where traditional gender boundaries remain entrenched, women also need to exercise caution to maintain their reputations. Participating in activities such as smoking or socializing in predominantly male environments, especially in the evening, is frowned upon. “I don't stay beyond 8:30 p.m. when the men go out,” says one female executive in India.

Beyond general gender bias rooted in cultural and social practices, our survey results also reveal specific workplace biases confronted by BRIC and UAE women. More than 40 percent of our participants have faced bias associated with executive presence and communication style. This can take a number of forms, from demeaning or personal comments from male colleagues and clients about their appearance to assumptions about women's ability to be effective in a business setting (see figure 2-4).

FIGURE 2-4

Most commonly experienced biases in the workplace

Women also contend with conflicting social and professional expectations of proper behavior. In India and China, for example, women are often expected to be submissive and reticent, attributes that penalize high-performing women at work. Many women in our research felt crippled by this cultural bind, struggling to achieve self-confidence and the ability to demonstrate authority in the face of societal opprobrium. “As a woman brought up in India, you have to be likeable, you have to be liked. You have to be soft, you have to be polite, you have to listen to other people, you have to hold back a little,” observed Padma, an Indian finance professional. “And none of this works in the corporate world.” Others in her focus group agreed, with one participant noting, “We may be a square peg, but we will have to fit into that round hole.”

This sense of not fitting in is pervasive among ambitious BRIC and UAE women. It's also pernicious. Several women in a focus group of Chinese managers felt a lack of confidence in their ability to be as convincing or have as much impact as their male colleagues.

Anjali Hazarika speaks for the majority of educated, ambitious BRIC and UAE women in our study when she describes her own experience in the push-me-pull-you quest to find a happy medium: “If I acted out of the stereotype, I was not a good woman, and if I colluded with the stereotype, I became invisible.” Between the constant challenging and critiquing, whether subtle or explicit, perceived or self-inflicted, women are trapped in a no-win situation.

Workplace biases across the BRIC countries and the UAE escalate with motherhood. Working mothers find their commitment and potential under constant scrutiny. In India, women told us of returning from maternity leave to less-challenging projects or roles, or being given a lower performance rating. A Brazilian woman recounted the case of a colleague who was fired upon returning from maternity leave when she was overheard mentioning that she planned to have another child. In the UAE, female candidates in job interviews may be asked questions that would be considered illegal in developed countries: are you single or married? Are you planning to have children? “I've heard some real horror stories about women who were asked to take a pregnancy test when they were applying for a job, and if they were pregnant, they would only get a temporary contract,” reports a woman in Dubai.