Businesses have invested in addressing the gender imbalance across all sectors in recent years, and the #MeToo movement – having turned the spotlight once again onto women in the workplace – played an important role in addressing equality issues. However, in the world of management consultancy, and in independent consulting too, the changes have been slower to progress through organisations, argues William Jones.
The level of male vs female representation in the consulting sector seems to range quite widely if you read recent studies online – anywhere from men outnumbering women 8:1 in one report through to 60 percent globally in another. This might be because it is taking time for the new cohorts of women joiners to work their way up traditionally male-dominated avenues.
In 2019, the Financial Times reported that this imbalance was also skewing pay gap figures, despite the fact that men and women in senior roles were paid the same.
We know that amongst the self-employed, men also outnumber women, so we wanted to look at the situation in independent consulting where both worlds come together. To do this, we surveyed our own extensive independent consultant network and analysed a total of 220,000 data points stemming from everyday business activities.
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Numbers of women higher in the below 30 age group
Supporting the FT’s findings, we saw immediately that – on our network – the higher the seniority level, the smaller the pay gap. But it came as no surprise to see that women in general are in the minority.
In fact, only 20 percent of the independent consultants in the network are female. Interestingly, the number of women changes quite dramatically depending on their age. Between the ages of 51 and 60 just 14 percent are women, but below the age of 30 this goes up to 31 percent.
We can also see that, in the French network, the share of women has risen from 24 percent in 2020 to 32 percent in 2022, while in the UK it has risen from 22 percent in 2020 to 30 percent this year. Meanwhile, the number of men applying to join the consultant network dropped by 20 percent between 2020 and 2021.
This suggests that the pandemic, and the subsequent recovery, have had a significant impact. In early 2020 the independent consulting sector took a huge hit. However, in the first half of 2021 project demand rose and those projects conducted by female consultants increased by nearly 18 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
While all independent consultants declined far fewer project offers in 2020 than in 2019, women were especially proactive in accepting them. As remote work became more acceptable, geography stopped being a barrier to fulfilling projects, and female consultants were freer to take roles that suited their situation and lifestyle.
Women getting further faster
While there is still room for improvement to achieve parity at the top, when it comes to reaching career markers, women are achieving these earlier than their male counterparts and the gap grows with experience. On our network, women are, on average, 9 months younger than men at the consultant level, two years younger at project manager and expert level, and three years younger when they become senior project managers and experts.
Setting their own terms is a major driver for all independent consultants, particularly when it comes to choosing the topics on which they work. But where women and men differ most is when it comes to making more money – which is a much greater driver for men – and with a view to starting their own non-consulting company, which over a third (34%) of men on our network – compared with 27 percent of women – want to do. Women, more often than men, want flexibility in their schedule, have more free time, work remotely and do less work-related travelling.
Women are making an impact
It seems that women are better than men when it comes to making a good first impression. Compared to the male consultants on our network, female independent consultants have a 13 percent higher probability of receiving an invitation to interview after a client has seen their CV and a 7 percent higher project win rate following a personal conversation with a potential client.
While clients judge the performance of male and female consultants equally, the share of projects that are being executed by a female consultant or industry expert from our network grew by 18 percent in 2020.
Gaining ground slowly
The working environment during the pandemic required something different from independent consultants, with more emphasis on getting things done and looking after one another. These are attributes that are more usually associated with women than men, and magnificently demonstrated by leaders such as Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern during the crisis. That period also gave women with domestic ties more freedom to accept and execute projects at a time, and in a place, that suited them.
This is a positive development. Our consultants set their own rates, and by keeping them lower, women were able to win when companies were very budget conscious. This suggests that there is a potential trade-off between flexibility and rate, and individual consultants might be content to get a little less if it means they can work in the way that suits them best. They should not have to do this. After all, their output will be the same regardless of where or how they work. Overall, however, we can see that women are working their way up the ranks in independent consulting, boosted by the ability to shape a role or a project around their own lifestyle.
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William Jones is the Managing Director of COMATCH.
William Jones is Managing Director UK & North America at COMATCH. He was originally an engineer in China before spending six years as a Management Consultant for PA Consulting and Accenture Strategy. He joined COMATCH in 2018 holds an MBA from INSEAD.
