Bidiversity

New figures released by Aquitude, reveal that stereotyping can have an implicit and highly negative impact on the way businesses are run.

London, (February 16, 2010) – Foremost leadership development and organisational consultancy, Aquitude, has released the results of a survey conducted with partners at Gulf Research last year as a precursor to the Women’s Global Leadership Conference for Energy and Technology in Houston, Texas.

The objective of the research was to understand whether women face specific stereotyping in careers in male-dominated fields. The study asked women to discuss whether stereotyping had impacted them personally. Respondents from a wide variety of roles and levels in the energy industry took part.

69% of those surveyed revealed that they had experienced some kind of stereotyping as a woman in a male dominated culture.

Christina Ioannidis, CEO of Aquitude commented on the survey findings:

“This research has highlighted that stereotyping is a complex issue. A knee-jerk reaction by companies to offer Diversity or Sensitivity training is not enough.

We have learnt from the companies we work with that the number one activity which needs to happen is to break gender stereotypes. This involves a concerted effort for culture change so that individual values and differences are embraced across the organisation.

Giving women and other minority groups a voice, a sense of appreciation for the difference in perspective and the invaluable source of innovation that they inherently bring to the table is a source of competitive advantage that needs to be harnessed in today’s challenging economic climate”.

The research findings show that there are several types of stereotyping. These include people making assumptions based on age, ambition, role and the differences between the way the genders communicate.

A free report with more of the survey’s findings, can be downloaded here…