Where are the women in major projects leadership?
Examining the evidence for a new approach in the drive towards gender balance in major projects
By Emily Miles (DPU PhD candidate) and Sue Pritchard
The report outlines a literature review and explores the evidence around gender balance in major project leadership. The research explores how leadership culture and gender balance can be improved to better shape the delivery of major projects in the UK. It found that despite a growing consensus that diversity is essential in leadership teams, support for diversity initiatives tends to be heard rather than felt. And that in times of pressure and high stakes, it is common for organisations to default to ‘tried and tested’ methods, resorting to command/control leadership and appointing the ‘safe pair of hands’. For gender balance initiatives to work and do more than they have done in the past, they should do more than ‘fix women’ for leadership roles but also work to assess and revise workplace culture.
The report can be download here (PDF)