I was talking to a senior colleague about why there was once again no women within the senior management of my division (an electronic engineering firm). His answer rendered me somewhat speechless, so I would like to solicit your views on the topic.
It was his expereince that there is a findamental difference in the way that men and women (of the same experience) view job applications. He felt that on reading a role requirement specification a women will disregard it as unsuitable if they don't already posess all of the skills required; men however will apply on the off-chance, even if they have major skills gaps! If this really is the case, then I can see that in a male dominated workplace, most of the role descriptions will be listing more skills than are really required, so that the employer will get applications (from men) with at leasr some of what is required. Women then won't be applying for the roles that they could be applying for, giving an impression of a lack of interest/motivation for advancement.
If anyone has either any research/evidence that this gender difference is the case, I would be very interested in reading it. Also do any of you lovely ladies have experience of successfully applying for new roles with increased responsibility, where you didn't have all of the required skills/capabilities?
Many thanks,
Lois
