Enablers and disablers of women to access board positions

«Imagine Consulting is an organization that has supported different companies in gender equality in Chile. In 2016 we presented in Gender Summit 8 (Mexico City) a study that systematized about 250 papers worldwide that address the factors the enable and disable women to access board positions in different levels of analysis (individual, group, organization). Then, we created and validated an instrument that measures the enablers and disablers of women to access board positions in Chile.
We applied that instrument in various organizations (members of «»Red de Empresas por la Equidad de Género»») and provided detailed results in general, gender (women, men), generations (baby boomers, gen X and millennials) and gender/ generations (baby boomers men, baby boomers women, gen X men, gen X women, millennials men, millennials women) identifying diverse perception gaps in this different groups and levels of analysis.
For example, the negative stereotype towards women who want to access board positions is recognized as a barrier by women, not by men (big perception gap). Other example, women baby boomers thinks work-life balance embraces their organizational culture, unlike women millennials (another big perception gap).
We provide a matrix that considers the factors and the differences in the groups, pointing specific conclusions that allow organizations to take precise decisions, proper actions and interventions. Besides, we deliver data mining (cluster analysis) that identify homogenous groups of cases.»

«The organizations took different decisions, actions and interventions, such as:
– Perform focus groups with the diverse clusters to understand the perception gaps and take proper actions
– Execute interviews and reunions with key actors and decision makers
– Identify diverse clusters (with cluster analysis), for example: «»the gender allies»», «»the blind spot»», «»the status quo»». This allows taking specifics actions with different groups.
– Review and improve their own gender politics in order to accelerate gender diversity on boards.»