Where the glass ceiling is still thick

Ingrained attitudes make it difficult for women to reach top positions in companies

The journey to the corner office has never been easy for women anywhere in the world. It is even slower and harder for African women.

The boardroom is still a strange place for them, because of the proverbial glass ceiling. The term refers to the unseen, yet virtually unbreakable barrier that keeps high-achieving minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.

The East African corporate sector, led by Kenya, is a vibrant, multitrillion shilling sector that impacts every person's life, yet most of it is owned and controlled by male-dominated companies.

In Kenya, the situation is so dire that only three women hold the position of chief executive officer in publicly listed companies.

The role of women in African boardrooms is dismally below global standards, standing at less than 15 per cent of board positions, even as women's contributions amount to more than 50 percent to most countries' economies.

We need to define the glass ceiling in the African context - it is a barrier so transparent, so deliberate and so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate ladder. From their vantage point on the corporate ladder, women can see the high-level corporate positions but are kept from reaching the top.

The reasons that block women from reaching and breaking through the glass ceiling are many. The "old-boy network" is one of the biggest barriers to women, and consists of a bunch of guys sitting together around a table making all the decisions. They make those decisions in the corporate executive suites and the men-only clubs, from where they decide whom to promote into management, and 97 percent of the time that's other men who are usually former colleagues and schoolmates. This is also manifested in more exclusion of women from top meetings, traveling on business as frequently as men, or having the power to hire and fire or even the power to control company assets.

Job segregation is another barrier that runs rampant in the corporate world, where women executives are concentrated in certain types of jobs that offer little opportunity for getting to the top. Most women are to be found in personnel and support jobs or other areas that are dead-ends.

The most serious obstacle in women's business careers is not family responsibilities as some might expect but sexual discrimination, including male chauvinism, bad attitudes toward a female boss and slow advancement for women. Simply being a woman is the biggest obstacle, followed by tribalism.

Sexual harassment is another impediment to moving up. It seems to be prevalent in managerial ranks and is an impediment to women's advancement because victims often have to interrupt their career path to look for another job. Sexual harassment "puts a woman in her place", so a corporate environment that tolerates sexual harassment intimidates and demoralizes women executives. Many women hesitate to speak out, fearing it will jeopardize their careers, so they leave.

Last but not least is the glass cliff, which is a description for what happens when a woman reaches the apex. When she is able to succeed in her vision for the company, the fight begins to pull her down. She has to fight to keep her job, especially if she is excellent at solving problems and quelling crises in the company. As women aim for the glass ceiling, they must be prepared to hang on at the glass cliff.

African corporations remain closed to recognizing the importance of having women in the boardroom, at least if numbers are anything to go by.

Yet, it is proven that companies with a high proportion of women board members outperform those with fewer or no female directors, and they score higher than their peers in business longevity, innovation and most importantly, financial performance.

The benefits are ever higher when women perform bigger roles. Families get better nurturing, health and education, and the same are extended to the communities to which they belong.

Many governments, as in Rwanda and Uganda, have been active in pushing for African women to have greater representation in boardrooms, but shareholders do not seem to appreciate the role played by women in top executive positions. Perhaps they need to be given incentives to implement quota systems to end gender inequality.

The writer is the president and CEO of the Kenya Women's Chamber of Commerce.