OMuch has been said about the “glass ceiling” that blocked women’s careers and more recently about “glass cliffs”, these promotions offered to women in critical situations where their chances of success were minimal and their exposure major. Is the situation changing, and radically?
Since the law aimed at accelerating economic and professional equality, known as the Rixain law, passed in December 2021, large companies are required to ensure a more balanced appointment of the minority gender (meaning women) among senior executives, and to grant them a place on management committees.
While women made up 15% of the workforce of the governing bodies of the SBF 120 in 2015, they were 24% in 2022 and their share should rise to 30% in 2026 then 40% from 2029. A real breath of fresh air for female senior executives, led to access positions of power in conditions that their elders never knew. Our research shows that this change in the legal order occurs at a time when the relationship of women to power has been profoundly transformed.
Changes since 2011
In 2011, when the Copé-Zimmerman law opened the doors to administrative and supervisory boards, many women suffering from impostor syndrome did not feel up to the task of exercising administrative functions and, worse when it comes to management.
It was necessary to go and find them, followed by an induced phenomenon of recognition, of over-investment in work, they spoke too rarely and very cautiously, and in the end did not occupy all the deserved place.
Our new work demonstrates a change in attitude. The women today approached for management positions are part of a fairly limited pool and know it.
They no longer hesitate to set conditions for accepting appointments. Like men, they dare to say that they want to know the means at their disposal to carry out their missions. New behaviors or demands appear.
Go with the flow so you don’t look like dinosaurs
Whereas ten years ago they had a sacrificial approach to their private lives, they are demanding accommodations in terms of professional travel, the possibility of telecommuting, the cessation of meetings at longer hours, in short the possibility of keeping a balance between their professional and personal lives.
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