Avia Collinder, Sunday Gleaner Writer
A recent study confirms the continued domination of men at senior levels of governance and leadership in Jamaica.
NEW RESEARCH has pin-pointed the persistence of "entrenched male hegemony" within Jamaica's boardrooms and raises the question as to why - with higher levels of education among women - they have not been 'rewarded' with more substantial leadership positions.
Claiming that the educational standards needed for males to succeed in the Jamaican society are lower than those required by females, the recently completed study, entitled 'Gender and Governance: Implications for Women's Participation on Boards and Commissions in Jamaica,' notes that "a higher percentage of women than men (in boardrooms) reported having non-degree postgraduate education.
domination
"This included persons who are chartered accountants, professional auditors, attorneys-at-law and other areas which require specific qualifications from professional associations."
The study, pursued between November 2007 and March 2008, was done locally under the direction of a project steering committee composed of representatives of associations of women's organi-sations in Jamaica: the Jamaica Women's Political Caucus, the Bureau of Women's Affairs, the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, the Jamaica Business-women's Association, the Joint Trade Union Development Centre, and the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC).
The findings were shared at a workshop convened by WROC at the Courtleigh Hotel, Knuts-ford Boulevard, in New Kings-ton last week.
The study confirmed "the con-tinued domination of men at senior levels of governance and leadership in Jamaica". Men accounted for 71 per cent of the overall sample and were even more dominant in the private sector, with only 16 per cent of places on corporate boards of publicly listed companies in the sample being occupied by women.
Only five of the 40 organisations surveyed had a woman as chair-person of the board. The study also noted that where women served on more than one board, the functions were often closely related to their job function or role.
Only in one case was a woman serving on the board of more than four organisations in both the public and private sectors.
exclusive male preserve
Consultant researcher, Carol Watson-Williams, noted that organisations which had a preponderance of women in the directorship "reflected traditional biases about women's interests and areas in which they can be expected to make the best contribution. These include early-childhood education, training institutions" or the service sector, such as tourism.
According to Watson-Williams, women were markedly absent on boards in the sample which dealt with financial management and investment, both in the public and private sectors.
"Few women were found on major corporate boards or in traditionally male-dominated fields, such as transportation and agriculture. Senior management of trade unions remains an almost exclusive male preserve, with only a couple of women identified in such positions for the unions in the sample."
no age limit on men
Using a stratified random-sampling approach, 44 organisations were randomly chosen to participate in the study. Thirty public-sector agencies, along with 10 publicly listed private-sector companies and four trade unions were included.
Over 80 per cent of the respondents were from public-sector organisations, with 15 per cent from the private sector.
According to research findings, there appeared to be no age limit on men who were appointed to boards, but the peak age for female participation was between 40-54, with 73.7 per cent falling in that range.
Women made up a higher percentage of younger directors (those less than 45 years old) than men. Almost one third of the women in the sample were younger than 45 years, compared to only 17.6 per cent of men. Approximately 48 per cent of the men were older than 55 years old, while for women, this cohort represented only 15.8 per cent of the sample.
The data from the WROC report also indicate that women were more likely than men to be single or divorced. Approximately 32 per cent of the women interviewed reported being single or separated/divorced, compared to 17.5 per cent of their male counterparts.
One successful female en-trepreneur, twice divorced with two adult children, was quoted as saying: "Marriages have to be managed or they can get in the way of achievement. Women need both space and support in order to be successful. I don't want to have to mother a husband. I am as free as a bird."
The WROC report shows that almost two thirds of the female board members were employed with the Government, compared with 42.8 per cent of the male members.
Watson-Williams stated that "this may be reflective of the instances where persons who occupy certain public-sector positions are required by law to sit on prescribed boards which fall in their portfolio, and the dominance of women in managerial areas in the public sector would imply that in such cases, these positions are filled by women".
Just over 17 per cent of female respondents were employers, as against 11.4 per cent of men. Watson-Williams concludes that this can be seen as giving further support for the fact that the bar for participation at this level is higher for women than men.
multiple Boards
The research notes that a higher percentage of men (64.1) reported serving on multiple boards than women (42.3). There were approximately 25 per cent of men who reported serving on more than five boards, mostly in the private sector.
One male respondent listed membership in 10 organisations, only one of which was a public-sector body. Highly accomplished in his field and holding an influential position in the public sector, he served on the boards of seven public sector bodies, one professional organisation and one large private sector company.
The chief researcher noted that "while policymakers have attempted to address gender disparities through increased access to educational opportunities for females, these changes have not resulted in a fair share of power for women in decision-making in Jamaica."
avia.ustanny@gleanerjm.com
