Joanna Young What is the Effect of Gender on Career Progression in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Joanna Young

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What is the Effect of Gender on Career Progression in the Police Service?

Joanna Young MBA July 2007

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National Picture v Police Service

National – United Kingdom 49% of employees are women 34% of managerial positions are held by women Police Nationally – England and Wales 22% of police officers in E & W are women 10% at Chief Inspector and above In both progress remains slow

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Research Aims and Questions

• To develop an understanding of why women are under

represented at senior levels in the Police Service. 1.Are the factors that encourage senior officers to apply for promotion different across genders? 2.Are the factors that deter senior officers from applying for promotion different across genders? 3.Is there a gender difference in the factors identified by senior officers as generally a) helping and b) hindering, career progression in the Police Service? 4.Are senior women discriminated against in promotion selection processes?

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Scope and Limitations

• Does not cover recruitment or retention
• Focus on Inspectors to Chief Superintendents
• Predominantly in the Positivistic paradigm -

quantitative data

• Some phenomenological – qualitative data
• Insider study by a female senior officer in the

force being studied – did not complete questionnaire

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Three possible explanations for under representation at senior levels

• Capability and Leadership
• Organisational Culture
• Gender and Values

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Capability and Leadership is NOT the issue

• Kanter 1977 – pioneering work on gender differences in leadership & management
• ‘There are gender differences’ – Rosener 1990, Alimo-Metcalf 1995, Eagly &

Johannesen-Schmidt 2001 and Gillick 2001.

• ‘There are no or very few differences in leadership and management styles

between genders’ - Grant 1988, Bass 1990, and Bass and Stogdill 1990, 1991.

• More recently Klerks and Brown (2004) qualitative study of senior police officers

found more similarities than differences in styles.

• Differences but equally effective – Kabacoff & Peters 1998, Goleman 1996 &

1999.

• Women potentially more effective – Beck 2002; Mano-Negrin & Sheaffer 2004 -

Israeli execs - crisis situations; and Ryan and Haslam 2005 – women appointed to senior positions in failing companies.

• No evidence of women being unsuitable or incapable, or feminine style being

ineffective.

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Organisational Culture – Traditionally Masculine

• Generally - Coe 1992, Maddock 1999, Rutherford 2001, Arkin 2004, and Klerks

& Brown 2004, all found that: Organisational Culture excludes women through - ‘men’s club’ – internal networks undervaluing by men of women’s skills in the work place requirement to work long hours

• Police Organisational Culture – Martin & Junk 1996, Silvestri 1998, Brown

1998, Scott 1999, Cooper and Ingram 2004 found that: ‘Men’s club’, informal networks that exclude women – eg sport ‘problematic masculine occupational culture’ Under valuing women’s skills ‘informal practices and policies that work in ways that disadvantage women’ ‘Hostile to women’ So Culture may be the issue or one of the issues

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Values and Belief

• Do women choose not to compete due to their values and beliefs? Moir

1998, Gillick 2001, Nussbaum & Sen 2003, Cornelius & Skinner 2005 all found that: Men value/rate more highly; status higher pay, job security and are willing to work longer hours to achieve this Women value/rate more highly; Quality of life – thus may not be willing to make the same sacrifices as men re long hours

• Police specific - Gaston & Alexander 1997, Holdaway & Parker 1998,

Klerks and Brown 2004 all found that: Women seem less confident in their own abilities -will wait until they are sure they meet competencies before applying for promotion. Women get less support than men from Line managers ‘Commitment’ – is an issue (but what does this mean?) Men rate more highly; higher pay and job security Women rate more highly; opportunity for advancement and challenging work

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Holdaway and Parker (1998) study of a ‘failing’ northern constabulary concluded that: “Indeed, our data indicate that in these respects men and women officers worked in very different environments within the one constabulary, with internal and external factors combining to create a highly differential engendered structure of employment.” (p53)

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This Research

Quantitative Secondary Data from: Home Office Statistics 2006/07 Kent Police Human Resources – Data from September 2003 to May 2007 Primary Data from: Survey of all Inspector to Chief Superintendents in Kent Police – conducted January/February 2007 Three focus groups – men only, women only and mixed – April 2007.

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Representation of Women Comparison between National figures and Kent Police 2006/07 Rank National Kent Difference All Ranks 22% 24% + 2 Constable 25% 26% + 1 Sergeant 14% 17% + 3 Inspector 12% 15% + 3 C/ Insp 11% 18% + 7 Supt 9% 17% + 8 C/Supt 8% 8% ACPO 12% 0%

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Annual Representation of Police Women in Kent

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Percentage of Rank Sergeant Inspector C/Inspector Superintendent C/Superintendent Supt +C/Supt

2003 2004 2005 2006

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Parametric Test applied to test relationship between gender and

• ther factor
• Chi Squared was used to test for

relationships between gender and factors to 95% confidence level.

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Rate of Application by year – no relationship between gender and rate

• f application by year

Year Female % - Rate of Application Male % - Rate of Application 2003/04 12.24 11.67 2004/05 9.26 11.86 2005/06 7.38 14.24 2006/07 8.87 7.31

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Rate of application by rank – no relationship between gender and rate

• f application by rank

Rank Applied for Female Rate of App Male Rate of App Inspector 26.85 31.00 Chief Inspector 59.54 75.73 Superintendent 61.90 79.91 Chief Superintendent 100.00 81.43

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Success rate by year – There is a strong relationship between gender and yearly success rate

Year Females Successful % Males Successful % 2003/04 41.67% 44.29% 2004/05 60% 50% 2005/06 11.11% 41.38% 2006/07 45.45% 56.52% Total as % of all attendees. 40.48% 46.9%

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Success rate by rank – no relationship between gender and success rate by rank

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % Success Rate PS to Inspector Inspector to C/Inspector C/Inspector to Superintendent Superintendent to C/Superintendent Superintending ranks combined Males Females

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Length of Service on Promotion

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 100.00

% Frequency by Gender F e m a l e I n s p M a l e I n s p F e m a l e C / I n s p M a l e C / I n s p F e m a l e S u p t M a l e S u p t F e m a l e C / S u p t M a l e C / S u p t F e m a l e S u p t c

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b i n e d M a l e S u p t C

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b i n e d

Gender and Rank 0-10yrs 11-15yrs 16-20yrs 21-25yrs 26+

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Length of Service on Promotion Summary

• 46.71% of male inspectors reached inspector with less than

16 years service as apposed to 39.29% of women

• 50% of female chief inspectors had reached the rank with

less than 16 years service as apposed to only 16.33% of male chief inspectors

• No women were promoted to superintendent with less than

21 years service in contrast to 25% of men.

• No relationship between gender and length of service at

95% confidence levels.

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Survey of all Inspector to chief Superintendents in Kent Police

• 272 questionnaires sent out via email -231 male, 41 female
• Return via email or internal post for anonymity
• 138 males and 32 females replied– 62.5%
• Two unsuitable for analysis due to high error rate – so 168

returns analysed – 61.76%

• Representing 59% of all men and 78% of all women in

Kent Police of Insp to C/Supt

• Overall 81% of returns were from men and 19% from

women

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Survey Returns Analysed

Rank Number of Male returns Number of Female returns Total: Female + Male at each rank Inspector 96 22 118 Chief Inspector 22 7 29 Superintendent & C/Supt 18 3 21 Total 136 32 168

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Rank and Gender with Children

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % Frequency Inspector Chief Inspector Superintending Ranks Total Females With Children Males With Children

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Intention to apply for promotion

Rank % of Females Who Intend to Apply for Promotion % of Males Who Intend to Apply for Promotion Inspectors 67% 40% Chief Inspectors 29% 86% Superintending Ranks 0% 33% Overall % 52% 47%

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Hours worked by rank Strong relationship between rank and hours worked

10 20 30 40 50 60 % Frequency Inspectors Chief Inspectors Superintending Ranks 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 60+

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Hours worked by Gender – No relationship between gender and hours worked

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 % Frequency Female Male 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 60+

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Top three factors that encourage you to apply for promotion.

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 % Frequency by Gender D e s i r e t

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Factors that encourage officers to apply for promotion

• Top two factors the same for both genders
• Support from line manager – 24.26% men

9.38% women

• Support from partner/family – 23.53% men

12.5% women

• Increase in pay 29.41% men

12.5% women

• Supports Holdaway & Parkers research
• There is a relationship between gender and factors

that encourage officers to apply for promotion i.e. it differs between gender

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Top three factors that deter you from applying for promotion.

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 % Frequency by Gender W

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s i b i l i t y Factor Male Female

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Factors that deter officers from applying for promotion

• Work life balance most frequently cited
• Second for men was promotion process itself at

51% (25% women)

• 31.25% of women cited ‘do not feel have the

relevant skills and experience’ (11.76% men)

• 15.63% of women cited ‘Lack of support from line

manager’ and ‘don’t feel I can meet all the competencies’ as apposed to 8% of men

• No relationship between gender and factors that

deter.

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Top three factors that you believe generally help police officers to progress

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 % Frequency by Gender Determination to succeed Ability and competence Having the right line manager Showing commitment to the Service Being associated with/connected to/a particular group Having a mentor Meeting performance targets Not Having Primary carer responsibilities Working long hours Other - please specify Attending specific courses Being a man Being a woman Mentoring others Undertaking a particular CADRE function Factor Male Female

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Factors that officers believe help police

• fficers to progress
• Top three the same but in different order
• 75% of women felt ‘Having the right line manager’ is the top factor

(47% of men)

• 21.32% of men felt ‘having a mentor’ made a difference (6.25% of

women)

• ‘showing commitment to the Police Service’ 26.47% men, 15.63%

women

• ‘Having primary caring responsibilities’ – 21.88% women and 6.62%

men

• Over 20 of both genders cited ‘being associated with or connected to a

particular group or sport’

• Strong relationship between gender and factors

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Top three factors that you believe generally hinder police officers to progress

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 % Frequesncy by Gender Promotion process itself Lack of ability and competence Lack of ambition Lack of support from others Lack of relevant experience Having primary carer responsibilities Fail to demonstrate commitment to Service Working long hours Other - Please specify Not having a mentor Not meeting performance targets Being a woman Being associated with/connected to a particular group Undertaking a particular CADRE role Being a man Factor Male Female

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Factors that officers believe hinder police officers to progress

• Top factor for both genders was ‘promotion

process itself’

• 31.25% of women cited ‘having primary caring

responsibilities’ compared to 9.56% of men

• 15.63% of women cited ‘being a women’ (2.12%

men)

• 11% of men cited’ not having a mentor’ (3.13%

women)

• Relationship between gender and factors

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Qualitative Data – Free Text

• 36 men and 7 women added additional comments
• Internal networks cited by both men and women–

women ‘I feel Kent has a jobs for the boys culture’; men ‘its about who you know and being in favoured roles’

• Nearly 20% of comments made by men were

negative about the promotion process.

• Four men felt that not ‘fitting the cultural norm’

excluded them.

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Qualitative Data – Focus Groups Women

• Hold back until feel they have the skills
• Desire to make a positive difference,
• Feel culture is male dominated and excludes

women with and without children

• Some felt have to make difficult family choices
• Have to prove oneself to be better than men in
• rder to get on
• Perception that men are arrogant and macho
• Old boys network is not transparent
• Lack of support and encouragement from line

managers

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Qualitative Data – Focus Groups Men

• More focus on finance & providing for the family
• Need a push from others to go for promotion
• Will attempt promotion regardless of skills,‘give it

a go’

• Internal networks exclude men too – especially at

Supt rank and above, KNOW is exclusionary.

• Want good WLB too
• Feel discriminated in favour of minority groups
• Questioned if women really had the skills
• Feeling that someone's got to look after the

children

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Summary

If the police service wants to harness the talents of ALL officers it needs to address:

• Organisational culture- particularly

– Undervaluing of women’s skills – The long hours culture. – The internal male dominated networks – Support those who ‘don’t fit the cultural norm’.

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What can we do?

• Value ourselves – don’t play small
• Value and Support each other –

– those with children v those without. – Set up female networks that are supportive

• Stand up and believe YOU can make a

difference.

– Remember how fabulous, brilliant and talented YOU ARE.