On a global scale, women are not receiving an equal amount of education, and are not employed at equal rates as their male counterparts. This affects their experience level. According to a report by the European Commission (2012), in the European Union, as of beginning 2012, women constituted only 13.7% of board seats. Even more dissatisfactory, women constitute only 3.4% of chairs and presidents within the European Union. Other parts of the world see the same trends. Although the US sees a slightly better figure (15.7%), Australia and Canada both see female board representation of around 10%. India’s boardrooms only constitute less than 5% women (European Commission, 2012). Moreover, in 2010, for the Asia-Pacific region, women comprise only …show more content…
Eagly (2003) explained that this is the reason why the majority of men consider themselves more capable than their female co-workers. In an environment where the behaviours expected are still male dominated, female experiences can still be interpreted negatively. Lyness and Heilman (2006) posited that women do experience a strong gender bias when being evaluated for promotions on both their level of performance, experience as well as their potential impact. Research within professional group’s show that women have to significantly work harder to be perceived as equally competent as men (Eagly, 2003). Research by DDI (Development Dimensions International, 2009) shows that women do not excel sufficiently in their career due to assumptions on women’s’ ambitions such as women having less ambition and a lesser company commitment due to family responsibility. Yet, women and men hardly differ in terms of their experiences on the job. As a matter of fact, Catalyst (2004) showed that there is hardly a difference between senior men and women when aspiring for the highest roles in an organization. Ely, Ibarra, and Kolb (2011) affirmed that women struggle with so-called second generation gender biases, which are “powerful yet often invisible barriers to women’s advancement that arise from cultural beliefs about gender, as well as workplace structures, practices, and patterns of interactions that inadvertently favour