Lothbury conducted an anonymous survey of 120 recruitment professionals in response to a recent survey by Marie Claire and everywomen. The Marie Claire and everywomen survey exposed the workplace to be a battleground over pay, promotion, and age. The survey found 46% of women had experienced some form of sexism, and two thirds felt that their age was far more of an issue at work with regards to pay rises, promotions etc than it is for a man.
Lothbury asked participants whether surveys like this were a true reflection of women’s experiences. 64% of respondents felt that sex had nothing to do with being promoted, gaining a pay rise or promotion. In fact one participant believed that the survey was redundant: “Rubbish, untrue and just another waste of time survey”. Others believed that a successful career was determined through the amount of time and effort an individual is willing to put in, and the desire to want to be a high flier: “In my opinion, high fliers are those that have made an active decision to put in the hours and time to climb up the career ladder. In reality, this is not for everyone regardless of whether you are a man or a woman!”
Of those that agreed that the findings of the survey were accurate, responses were mixed, and tended to highlight the point that they may have been subject to sexism, but in reality it was hard to determine. “I have certainly been pipped to the post for a promotion by a male colleague. And whilst I believe I was better for the job, that was my personal opinion. There is a fine line between knowingly being subject to sexism, or rather, being the less experienced candidate. ”.
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It appears that there are varying opinions to surveys of this kind believes Laura Dutton, Director at Lothbury Recruitment. “The answers submitted to this survey were very telling; it seems that, contrary to popular belief, our respondents overwhelmingly disagreed with these findings. And of those that related to the findings there was confusion regarding actual sexist acts. We work in the fast paced, often very competitive industry of recruitment, and to hear so many of our peers suggesting that sexism is not as prevalent as some may believe, is great news”.
