MEN IN senior management positions in the Civil Service are about six times more likely to have children compared with women in similar positions, new research shows.
The same study also shows that men in senior Civil Service posts are about five times more likely to be married than their female counterparts.
The preliminary findings, based on a poll of more than 2,200 civil servants, were presented at a conference on "women and ambition in the workforce" in Trinity College Dublin yesterday.
The research was undertaken by the college's centre for gender and women's studies, with financial support from the Department of Justice.
The centre's director, Dr Maryann Valiulis, said the results indicate that many women feel the need to "downsize" their ambitions as a result of structural inequalities in the workforce.
The research also indicates that ambitious women in the Civil Service are often regarded by co-workers as pushy and aggressive, while ambition among men is generally regarded as a positive trait.
Dr Valiulis said it was time for a more "positive discourse" on ambitious women, so that being a woman and being ambitious can be accepted as absolutely normal.
"We need to accept the idea of an ambitious woman, whether she is single or married, with six children or no children, at junior, middle or senior management level as normal."
She said there was also a perception among employees that those who participate in family friendly or flexible working arrangements were not fully committed to their work.
Dr Valiulis said society needs to tackle these issues if we are to move beyond the notion that women have to choose between their careers or rearing children.
Speaking at the same conference, Prof Michael Kimmel, professor of sociology at State University New York, said greater equality for women in the workforce would bring major benefits for men.
Prof Kimmel said the attitudes of men seemed to be the biggest factor in holding men back from achieving what they want in areas such as flexible working and have more time with their family.
For example, he said, even though men say they want benefits such as parental leave, only a tiny proportion avail of it because it is seen as having a negative impact on their career.
A more egalitarian workplace that is more accepting of flexible work patterns would benefit both men and women, Prof Kimmel said.
"We think of family-friendly workplace reforms like parental leave as women's issues.
"But they're actually parents' issues. And when men begin to come out in their workplaces as parents, they are going to realise that they need these reforms as well," he said.
The secretary general of the Department of Justice, Seán Aylward, said he hoped that changes in the workforce would enable women to realise their ambitions.
Developments such as e-working, decentralisation and job-sharing were already making it easier for parents to develop their careers, while also raising families, he added.
The conference continues today at Trinity College's school of nursing on D'Olier Street, with a keynote contribution from Professor Emeritus Linda R. Hirshman, Allen/Berenson Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Brandeis University in the US.
