Female employees in the UK, particularly those working in management, are twice as likely to see their gender as a barrier to success than their male counterparts.
New analysis of Ciphr’s workplace discrimination survey results – looking at the data from 2,621 UK workers – has found a significant gender divide in people’s experiences of bias in the workplace.
As many as one in seven (14%) female managers reported feeling that their gender has made it harder for them to succeed at work. In stark comparison, just one in 14 (7%) of male managers reported the same.
Female leaders and senior managers are also more likely to be impacted by gender bias. A third (32%) of female respondents working in leadership or senior management positions say they have suffered discriminatory experiences at work or been treated unfavourably during recruitment because of their gender. A further one in six (16%) believe that their gender has made achieving career success more challenging.
Gender discrimination is also shockingly common among those in middle or junior management. Nearly a quarter (23%) of all female managers surveyed have faced gender discrimination in their careers, compared to one in seven (14%) male managers surveyed.
And it’s not just managers that are affected. One in nine (11%) female employees in non-management roles also reported experiencing gender discrimination at work or when job hunting, compared to 6.2% of male employees in non-management roles.
Regardless of seniority, women are more likely than men to be affected by gender biases and prejudice at work, as well as lower pay (the UK’s gender pay gap currently stands at 13.1% in favour of men). Just 3.2% of male employees in non-management roles and 7% of male managers think that their gender has hindered them at work. But this doubles to 7.7% and 14% for women in the same roles respectively.
Being self-employed doesn’t appear to negate the challenges associated with gender bias either - if anything, it seems to exacerbate some barriers. Nearly one in five (18%) self-employed women, compared to a scant 0.9% of self-employed men, felt that their gender had made it harder to be successful in their work.
Proportion of UK workers who feel that their gender has made it harder to succeed at work:
- Leaders and senior management: 16% of women in these roles vs 9.4% of men in these roles
- Middle management: 12% vs 4.8%
- Junior management: 15% vs 5%
- Management roles (all levels): 14% vs 7%
- Non-management roles: 7.7% vs 3.2%
- Self-employed: 18% vs 0.9%
Perhaps unsurprisingly, women working in male-dominated industries, especially those where men are over-represented in senior jobs, tend to be among those most likely to report experiencing gender bias. Female managers working in the law, for example, are four times more likely to say that they’ve faced gender obstacles in their careers than their male peers (42% vs 10% respectively).
It’s a similar story for women employed in many other professions, such as energy and utilities (33% of female managers in this sector feel that their gender has made it more difficult for them to achieve career success, compared to 11% of male managers), transport and logistics (21% vs 3.1%), property and construction (20% vs 5%), retail (17% vs 2.4%), engineering and manufacturing (16% vs 1.4%), and business, consulting and management (20% vs 10%).
Proportion of managers by sector who feel that their gender has made it harder to succeed at work:
- Law: 42% of female managers vs 10% of male managers
- Energy and utilities: 33% vs 11%
- Transport and logistics: 21% vs 3.1%
- Property and construction: 20% vs 5%
- Retail: 17% vs 2.4%
- Engineering and manufacturing: 16% vs 1.4%
- Business, consulting and management: 20% vs 10%
- Accountancy, banking and finance (including insurance and pensions): 14% vs 4.9%
- Public services and administration: 12% vs 4.3%
- Hospitality and events management: 19% vs 11%
- Information technology: 16% vs 11%
- Healthcare: 9.2% vs 5.4%
- Creative arts and design: 30% vs 27%
- Teaching and education: 6.2% vs 5.6%
- Sales: 5.6% vs 5%
- Charity and voluntary work: 5.3% vs 11%
“While our survey didn’t directly capture the reasons why many female managers might feel their gender has made it harder for them to succeed, there’s a lot of existing research and experience that can shed light on these results,” said Claire Williams, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr.
“Stereotypes and gender bias (both unconscious and overt) are still a reality that many women must contend with. This can have a direct impact on women’s ability to succeed and progress. Also, often, it can have a secondary impact on their confidence in the workplace, where fear of having their behaviours viewed negatively (the ‘likeability penalty’) can affect how their competence and authority are perceived.
“Female managers may have fewer role models and senior leaders to mentor and sponsor them, particularly in male-dominated fields. This lack of visible female leadership can create a sense of isolation and reinforce the perception that success is harder for women, and that there simply aren’t opportunities to succeed and progress – even if that isn’t the reality. So it’s critical that organisations that do have long-standing hierarchical structures take positive action to tackle gender bias and improve cultural diversity.
“Research consistently shows that women tend to be judged more harshly for mistakes and are often held to higher standards to ‘prove’ their competence, especially in technical fields,” Williams continued. “Women may face microaggressions or even overt sexism, which creates a sense that they must work harder to be taken seriously. This can also lead to a ‘performance tax’, where female managers feel the need to over-prepare, over-perform, and self-censor to avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes.
“It’s also important to highlight that in some sectors, like energy, construction and transport, where technical, engineering, and operational roles have traditionally been held by men, female managers may still find themselves navigating cultures that were not designed with them in mind. Even creative industries, despite their reputation for being progressive, often rely heavily on informal hiring and promotion processes based on personal networks and ‘cultural fit’, which can disadvantage women, especially those juggling caregiving responsibilities.
“All these factors contribute to the perception that female managers in many of these industries have to work harder, or overcome additional hurdles, compared to their male counterparts.”