Boston Consulting: corporate culture, not motherhood, bar to women

A woman’s ambition to advance her career is not affected by motherhood, but by corporate cultures.

Anna Green leads the Women@BCG initiative for Boston Consulting Group in the Asia-Pacific.

A Boston Consulting Group report finds a woman’s ambition to advance her career is not affected by motherhood, but by corporate cultures that fail to embrace diversity.

The report found women are just as ambitious as men at the start of their careers but over time, particularly after 30, ambition in women declines faster than men.

Anna Green, leader of the Women@BCG initiative in the Asia Pacific, says the idea women are less ambitious than men is false. “Ambition can be fostered or damaged through experience. Organisations need to set the right environments to nurture and encourage ambition,” Green says.

The BCG report suggests four ways companies can close the ambition gap between men and women, including: building a gender-diverse leadership team to show management is a realistic prospect for both genders; ensuring informal interactions with staff are not plagued by gender stereotypes; offer more flexible work options for women and men; and tracking progress and linking diversity efforts to outcomes.

CHINA JOBS GROWTH

Job availability has increased across the Asia-Pacific because of China’s soaring financial services market, says Morgan McKinley Asia Pacific’s chief operations officer, Richie Holliday.

Morgan McKinley’s APAC Employment Monitor has found mainland China has seen a 105 per cent increase in available jobs in 2017, while Hong Kong and Singapore have seen job gains in the financial services sector and Australia remains steady with a 1 per cent increase. Japan was the only country with a job decrease in the first quarter of this year, down 13 per cent.

“China has an opportunity to take advantage of the slowing of confidence in the West and is seizing that opportunity with both hands,” Holliday says.

“Where large multinational institutions are holding back, waiting to see how Brexit plays out and what mark US President Donald Trump will make on the industry, China is sweeping in to invest and grow its financial services market share.”

SKILLS FOR SUCCESS

Global education thought leader Charles Fadel will be headlining the Australian Learning Lecture, speaking about what qualities and skills children need to succeed in the 21st century.

Fadel, who advises the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development about education and promotes skills ahead of scores, will encourage debate surrounding the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy and the Program for International Student Assessment.

He will discuss what 21st century skills are, the mismatch between life and work skills, and how change can be implemented in a deliberate, caring and thoughtful way. The event is on Thursday (May 11) at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

RETHINK ON YOUTH

With youth underemployment at a four-decade high, the Career Development Association of Australia is calling for a change in the way young people are educated on how to find work.

A Brotherhood of St Laurence report has found underemployment has become an entrenched feature of the youth labour market.

CDAA spokeswoman Carolyn Alchin says the digital age is having a negative effect on young people’s ability to find work, as most are exclusively applying for jobs online.

“While 60 per cent of jobs are found through social connectedness, university graduates are doing 90 per cent of their applications online — this is an issue,” Alchin says.