'Being a woman' often a hindrance to go up career path?

BANGALORE, INDIA: TeamLease Services, India’s largest staffing company, today released the survey “Gender Preferences in Bosses” to understand perceived gender preferences among bosses across major cities in India as well as its implications at the workplace.

This is the fifth survey commissioned by TeamLease in a series to understand “India’s new world of work”.

Across all the cities where the survey was commissioned, the common trend was that most respondents had male bosses than female bosses.

There was almost an equal split in the respondents’ gender and the average age was around 28 years.

Says Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, General Manager, Permanent Staffing, TeamLease Services, ‘The increased role for women in the workplace today seems to reflect a pragmatic but sometimes reluctant change in attitudes, objectivity and aptitudes. Women are seen as bringing different skills but despite equal competence continue to battle unfair and dated perception issues."

Key findings of the survey

* ‘Walk the walk and talk the talk’. Two thirds of the surveyed workforce across cities agree to women being more expressive about their emotions with only the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune disagreeing to this.

* Constraints of the fairer sex? Seventy five percent of the respondents say ‘being a woman’ is reason enough not to take up senior level opportunities.

* Liberal thinking? More than half of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata respondents prefer to have bosses of the opposite gender.

* Pune’s focus is work and not the gender of the boss! ‘Really, it does not matter’, say over 70 percent  of Pune workers when asked about gender preference for their boss.

* This vote goes to Women bosses …with over 80 percent of Ahmedabad  respondents favouring women for better Administrative, People Management and Target Aggression skills.

* ‘Feminine power re-surfaces again’ in Hyderabad with over 80 percent  giving five-stars to women bosses for Time Management, Administrative and Mentoring skills.

* ‘Thumbs down’ to women bosses in New Delhi (above 65 percent) for Decision making, Administrative and Target aggression skills.

Surabhi Mathur adds, “Women embody the power of multi-tasking with a stronger understanding of the complexities of emotions and relationships in the workplace. These skills can be particularly valuable in tough times like today and workplaces who do not recognize this are handicapped relative to equal opportunity and gender blind workforces”

A structured questionnaire was administered by global research firm Synovate for TeamLease using a mix of telephonic and computer-aided-telephonic-interviewing (CATI) technology to working adults across eight major cities (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune) for a total sample size of 407.

CITY HIGHLIGHTS



Ahmedabad

* 50% of city’s respondents feel men make better bosses to 40% saying women do

* Over 80% of the city’s workers feel women posses better capability in Administrative, People Management and Target Aggression skills

* 82% of workers feel women tend to show more emotions at work

* 100% of respondents feel that being a woman constrains her to take up senior level opportunity

Bangalore

* 100% of respondents feel that being a woman constrains her to take up senior level opportunity

* 50% of city’s workers disagree that women tend to show more emotions at work

* 87% of Bangalore respondents find women better in Administrative skills with only 13% voting for men on the same

* Only 12% feels women make better bosses compared to 48% are of the opinion men are better

Chennai

* 58% of Chennai feel men have a better chance of getting ahead at the workplace

* 74% feel women tend to show more emotions at work

* Only 5% of Chennai workers feel that being a woman constrains an individual to take up a senior level opportunity

* 58% of respondents prefer their boss to be of opposite gender

New Delhi

* 69% of city’s respondents say women tend to show more emotions at work

* Delhi does not feel that being a woman constrains an individual to take up senior level opportunity

* 65% of respondents feel women do not possess decision making skills

* 36% of workers have an opinion that males make a better boss

Hyderabad

* 84% of respondents have reported to a manager of the opposite gender

* Only 8% prefer female bosses compared to 32% preferring male bosses

* 72% of female respondents  are more neutral to the question ‘who makes a better boss

* Over 80% of the city’s workers feel women posses better capability in Administrative, Time Management and Mentoring skills

Kolkata

* 62% of Kolkata’s respondents have reported to male bosses

* 50% of office-goers prefer their bosses to be of the opposite gender· Only 20% feel women make better bosses

* 84% of the city’s workers feel women are not capable of better business planning

* 80% feel women tend to show more emotion at workplace

Mumbai

* City has higher number of female bosses when compared to other cities

* 50:50 Mumbai sees an equal split between the genders of the bosses they have reported to

* 60% of Mumbai would not prefer their boss to be of opposite gender

* 54% of city’s respondents say men have a better chance of getting ahead at the workplace

Pune

* Majority of Pune respondents do not have any particular gender preference for their boss

* More than 50% of the city office-goers feel males make better bosses

* Women workers in Pune are more flexible and do not show any particular gender bias

* 42% of Pune feel disagree that women tend to show more emotions at work