Employers Must Fix Their Bias On The Job Potential Of Women

Managers over-emphasize potential and favour men over women

- SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL

According to a report by McKinsey and LeanIn.org, young women are and young men, but they are not getting promoted to managerial roles at the same rate. The discrepancy persists at every level of management. By the middle and senior management levels, the lack of women is painfully obvious. For every 100 men promoted to management, only 87 women are. Among African-American women, that number falls to a dismal 54. The report underlines that the typical excuses given for a gender imbalance-that women have lower aspirations or less confidence, or take time off for kids-aren't the biggest hurdle women face. The big one is that women tend to get promoted on their past performance while men get promoted on perceived potential. That makes it easier for men to get the nod more quickly.

The findings in the report are stark, but they shouldn't surprise anyone who has been paying attention. Other studies have identified similar patterns. A recent paper by researchers at University of Minnesota, Yale and MIT found that managers in a large retail chain saw women as having less leadership potential even though their performance reviews were better, on average, than those of their male peers.