What are four key features of woman’s attitude in the professional context?

It is crucial to identify the cultural and behavioral impediments that constrain woman’s genuine and steady access to leading positions in Morocco.

From the macro perspective, the absence of genuine commitment to the adopted legal provisions, the fragmentation of involved institutions and their weak capacity along with the persistence of ideological divergence over the designed strategies are the three main structural impediments that constraint women’s access to managerial positions in the public sector in Morocco. (Please refer to the previous article: http://www.theasian.asia/archives/89237). Nevertheless, meso and micro approaches are also required to complete the diagnosis and enlighten on the remaining part of the picture.

Understanding cultural impediments

Despite the ongoing transition, conservative values regarding the role of women are deeply rooted in Morocco and society remains patriarchal. In general, cultural constraints to women’s access to leading positions are essentially related to the impact of the late modernization of gender-based division of labor and the persistence of negative stereotypes and macho mentality in Moroccan society.

Indeed, and even though the process of modernization was initiated in Morocco during the colonization era, it remains quite recent, as it started to speed up only in the 1980s to adjust to the liberal choices endorsed by Morocco in the economic and social areas.

One of the drawbacks of Morocco’s late modernization is that many actors in the society did not have enough time to digest the ongoing transition in social values and roles of genders in society. The current division of labor epitomizes perfectly the confusion regarding gender roles both within family and in the public sphere.

As far as family is concerned, there is a commonly shared belief that housework, children education and even the burden of taking care of other family members are exclusively woman tasks, no matter whether she works outside or not. This means that active women simply add professional duties to their initial and “natural” role, and such situations render it difficult for them to pursue ambitious professional goals, as it remains challenging to reconcile family and job responsibilities.

At the professional level, and as an extension of the persistent traditional division of labor, women are more present in sectors that are believed to be close to their natural roles, and have more chance to get decision making positions in those sectors compared to non traditional feminized areas. Statistics show that Moroccan women have more leading positions in Ministries dealing with women and solidarity (45%), communication (43%), and social and general affairs (50%). In opposition, Ministries such as defense, justice or Islamic affairs are considered to be the male’s sphere and women’s representation in managerial positions is under 10 percent.

On the other hand, basic cultural units such as family and school still contribute in spreading some negative stereotypes regarding the nature of women and their capacities, and some behaviors and practices consecrate the belief that leading roles are masculine by nature. At the professional level, these negative stereotypes systematically cause bias to men when designing future managers, especially with the channels of access to responsibility almost exclusively controlled by men.

A survey carried out in Morocco in 2011 revealed the prevalence of macho mentality among a large percentage of interviewed men regarding the professional skills of women. The interview showed that 19 percent of the men sample believed that women have access to managerial positions through seduction, and 44 percent thought that women’s nature represented the major constraint towards their access to managerial positions. At the same time, 57 percent of the interviewed women pointed out men’s resistance as the major impediment to their professional progress.

In the same fashion, hiring and promotion decisions are often unstructured and open to bias, as men tend to exhibit solidarity against women’s access to “their sphere.” This is sometimes driven by psychological motivations, because men will get on well more easily with collaborators from the same sex, or they want to avoid getting instructions from a female boss in other cases.

Understanding behavioral and managerial impediments

A woman’s attitude in the professional context as an individual exhibits four key features: (1) being affected by the common perception of gender traits, (2) being constrained by their weak network, (3) not being adequately mentored to become managers, and (4) having a disadvantageous career path in comparison with men. These behavioral and managerial impediments make it difficult to identify qualified women and potential managers, because they are less visible than men.

Regarding gender traits, some empirical studies revealed that compared to men, women’s attitudes in the professional context are characterized by the lack of confidence and initiative and a tendency to wait for male’s recognition of their skills. Some women may feel the guilt of taking a man’s position while working outside and competing for managerial positions and such feelings cause negative attitudes like the unwillingness to be bold and the internalization of traditional values. The typical attitude towards newly appointed women in managerial positions, who are systematically asked to demonstrate their competency, supports this claim.

More than this, the required characteristics for management such as being logical, competitive and independent are considered to be “masculine” rather than “feminine” traits. And again, this kind of mindset is not typical to Morocco; it was noticed even in a developed country such as the United Kingdom.

Similarly, the weak networking of women within professional organizations also decreases their chance to access higher positions compared to their male peers. Cooperation within male-dominated circles remains an important factor that could favor access to managerial positions, and men who enjoy stronger networks due to their flexible agenda and the possibility to develop useful professional relationships outside the office are more likely to win the competition.

Women also may appear to lack leadership skills because they are not mentored and coached as their male fellows are in early stages of their career, which gives men the edge over them. Many talented women may not receive the necessary development opportunities compared to their male counterparts, and this lack of mentoring penalizes their future and constrains their access to higher positions, because they are not prepared to play such roles.

Men and women also pursue different career paths. The common social perception of success for women in their life in a patriarchal society focuses primarily on the family. This perception puts pressure on young women to pursue the goals of finding the right husband and having children whereas males would invest more in their career in accordance with the same social criteria of success. The weak social recognition of professional success along with the lack of successful female models compound stereotypes and reinforce perceived difficulties in rising up the corporate ladder.

At the same time, men are more independent in terms of making decisions regarding their professional choices while women are controlled by their husbands, who may not take their aspirations into account. Consequently, men’s and women’s career paths differ significantly. This fact is can be observed even in the United States, where a survey of 17 major corporations that focused on age and sex found that younger men followed a career trajectory similar to that of older successful male executives, while both older and younger women moved upwards more slowly than men.

The identification of the main structural, cultural, behavioral and managerial impediments is essential to come up with a realistic alternative to significantly and steadily increase women’s presence in managerial positions in Morocco, and to promote diversity that bring about results and improve management dynamic. The upcoming articles will discuss the potential of some solutions such as the introduction of quota, the investment in education and media to bring about the needed changes in mentality and the improvement of some managerial practices within organizations.
To be continued.

Written by Badiaa SETTA, Administrator in the Treasury and External Finance Department, Morocco Ministry of Economy and Finance