Russian Business Women Try To Break Through Glass Ceiling

Women have always earned less than men throughout history because of a combination of reasons, but now in modern times where women have a choice between career or marriage and family why is there still a difference in pay? Especially when women are just as ambitious about their careers as men?

According to some research reports, female MBAs expect that they will be paid 30 percent less than men. Some feel it is because of self-esteem, a lack of confidence, especially with Eastern European women. They can not see themselves rising to the top in their field. Statistics have shown that women with MBAs seek work in lower paying fields, such as Retail, Media and Consumer Products more than men, 38 percent to 27 percent. 22 percent of women seek work in the Non-Profit and Public Sectors compared to 14 percent of men. Fewer women look for work in Consulting, Financial Services or Industry & Engineering which is higher paying.

Women also tend to work shorter hours than men and choose jobs where they can have some sort of life outside the office. They also like to combine having a job and having a family. In the Western world, this is less of an issue, but in Russia a woman can not leave the work environment for 6 months to have a baby without potentially upsetting her chances for advancement.

In Russia the business organizational models tends to have women in line positions, middle management is a mix of men and women and top management positions are usually filled by men, thus creating a difficult glass ceiling for Russian ladies to break through. Some job descriptions state “man required” which would never happen in the United States or Europe.

While some Russian ladies may find it hard to break through the glass ceiling, with hard work and dedication it can be done. Hopefully in the future they can do so without feeling that they are giving up the opportunity to marry and become beautiful Russian brides as well as being successful businesswomen.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 5:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.