The FINANCIAL — According to the recent research carried out by the FINANCIAL about businesswomen, from 645 companies and organizations in Georgia only 100 are ruled by women, with titles such as Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The FINANCIAL — According to research carried out by the FINANCIAL about Georgian women CEOs working in Georgia from 645 companies and organizations in Georgia only 100 are ruled by women, with titles such as Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
According to the research the presence of female CEOs was highest in the health care sector (37%), followed by the consumer service sector (23%), non-governmental and consumer discretionary sector (17%), transportation and consumer staples sector (16%), commercial services (14%), international and local businesses (10%), capital goods sector (8%), financial and energy sector (6%), telecommunication sector (0%).
“At present the case that there are few women CEOs in Georgia is more a cultural problem; stereotypes prevent women from having ambitions for higher posts. Though I see high potential in women, they actually have no demand for higher professions,” says Tinatin Rukhadze, CEO of ACT Research, marketing research and consultancy company.
“I think this is a problem of women’s mentality. Many are afraid of competition. But if you start doing something and really want to be successful, with a clear goal and moving towards this goal, you will be able to achieve whatever you want,” says Nino Absandze, CEO of Presto Ltd., real estate brokerage.
“At present few women have posts in high positions. As it seems women do not have much ambition, otherwise if a person (regardless of gender) wants to achieve something, they will achieve it,” says Natalia Zueva, Director of PRoffice.Ge
Women CEOs say they have not felt any inequality while communicating with their male colleagues; even recalling some advantages.
“The only advantage is that they might give you a seat,” says Rusudan Chergoleishvili, CEO of ArtX.
“As for the advantages, I am confident in the power of a smile and charm. Moreover, the advantage for women is in flexibility and elasticity. A female boss in parallel with her natural characteristics can combine male characteristics and be principled, rigorous and inaccessible,” says Zueva.
“However I would like to underline one minus, since I have achieved success in business, financial stability and recognition, the number of men around me filled with envy and irritation has increased,” she adds.
While recruiting staff Rukhadze and Zueva prefer to create a gender balance in their workforce.
“I always try to balance management, and create a balance in terms of the gender of our staff. So as at present more women are employed at our company, to create a balance in gender we will recruit more men. However this does not mean that we will neglect suitable female candidates,” says Rukhadze.
“The best case is when there is an equal number of both genders. However when recruiting new staff members more attention is paid to experience and personal characters than gender,” says Zueva.
“It is a fact that when there is an open position women candidates are much more competitive nowadays,” says Absandze.
“When recruiting people what’s more important is the candidate meeting all requirements set for the position they are applying for than their actual sex,” she adds.
Chergoleishvili says that when hiring staff as well as knowledge and experience she would consider other skills like communication skill, how they are dressed, if they can be reached after working hours, but still for a personal assistant she would prefer a woman.
Chergoleishvili and Zueva have both experienced cases when the choice for appointing them as director was between them and a man.
“I faced a situation like that, when the company I was employed at was opening a daughter company. Though I spent a great deal of time and energy in setting up this company, a man was assigned the position of director, and I was told that this decision was made because I was a woman and they did not believe a woman could manage a staff comprised mainly of men. That’s why I left that job the moment I heard the news,” recalls Absandze.
In the case of Rukhadze the facts were to the contrary. “I was in the position of being voted for by the male partners of my company instead of my male competitor for the post,” says Rukhadze.
“I had sufficient skills, educational background in the sphere, personal qualities, authority and trust from my colleagues,” she adds.
Out of the executives of Fortuna 500 companies, those with titles such as Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Operating Officer (COO), only 6% are women.
According to EMA Partners International, one of the world’s leading executive search firms, nearly 25% of the executives in Germany, 30% in Britain, 35% in France, and 11% in India, are women.
A study by Darden professor Erica James, reported in Strategic Management Journal, found that stock in a company drops after the announcement of a female CEO, but not after that of a male CEO.
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