The glass ceiling is an all too familiar barrier for professional women, particularly those in middle-management trying to advance to the executive ranks of the pharmaceutical industry. What is less apparent, however, is how to most effectively break through the subtle "good old boys network" road blocks to career advancement without jeopardizing your professional reputation and while keeping a healthy work/family life balance.
Although there are no quick fixes to these complex problems, the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association POWER study results, released earlier this month, provide useful insight into the skills women need to be promoted into upper management.
A strong argument could be made that the glass ceiling in the pharmaceutical industry is more like a brick wall with less than 10 percent of executive positions occupied by women, according to the study. And although women have a limited presence in top management positions, 71 percent of men surveyed feel women are successfully cracking the glass ceiling. On the other hand, 47 percent of women feel the climate for advancement is stifling.
The study, conducted by Selya Associates in 1998, is based on 3,730 questionnaires mailed to both male and female upper and middle management executives. The response rate was 10.3 percent and was supplemented by telephone interviews with 33 respondents.
To achieve better executive gender diversity, Alan Heller, CEO of G.D. Searle in Chicago, suggests thrusting gender-based inequities into the open and developing solutions to address them. Heller, who invited HBA to consult with Searle on developing career advancement opportunities for women, also advises companies to conduct their own surveys to identify specific attitudes that block executive access to women. Compared to other pharmaceutical companies, Searle has made impressive strides in equity with women in 30 percent of the company's top leadership positions.
Ultimately, women have to take a more active role in advancing to the executive ranks, says Debra Freire, VP, corporate customers at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. in East Hanover, NJ. While it's important to have executive support for promoting women to the top, it's equally important for women to take initiative by being more confident and assertive, identifying executive role models, volunteering for high-profile assignments and developing strong presentation skills. To strike the right work/family balance, Freire also suggests developing a corporate environment that supports:
- working at home;
- child-care initiatives;
- paid time off; and
- alternative work arrangements.
(HBA, Susan Youdovin, 973/746-8183)
Men, Women Differ on Executive Suite Barriers
Opinions differ between women and men about the factors that limit women's career advancement, according to the HBA POWER Study. The widest disparities include the following beliefs:
| Beliefs | Women | Men |
| Women are not "tapped into" the informal communication networks. | 69% | 31% |
| Women will place domestic matters ahead of professional matters when the two conflict. | 53% | 20% |
| Women are given fewer challenging assignments. | 40% | 26% |
| Source: HBA | ||