The glass ceiling which keeps women from making it to top positions in companies has both believers and critics. Some say that the family is more important to the woman and she doesn’t make the effort to breach the ceiling. Others say she doesn’t get the chance. Some studies show that women do tend to give up the chase. Post-motherhood, networking for career advancement falls sharply amongst women. According to a study by law firm Trowers & Hamlins in the UK, both women and men tend to network at similar levels in the 25-34 age bracket. After that, however, networking by women tends to drop (see box).

Indian companies are now rolling out the red carpet to get more women into the workplace. There are also several schemes to make it more attractive for women to return after taking a break for the family. But a new factor has raised its head — the flexibility stigma.

This doesn’t apply so much to the people who come back as those who try and manage through employer arrangements. Many companies have flexible working hours and, where it is possible, working from home. But the percentage of people who use them is much lower than the percentage of companies offering such flexibility.

A paper by Joan Williams, Mary Blair-Loy and Jennifer Berdahl, all associated with the University of California’s Centre for Work Life, puts it in perspective. “The reason for the low usage rates? Fears of negative career repercussions — fears that appear to be well founded. The use of flexibility policies has been shown to result in wage penalties, lower performance evaluations and fewer promotions. As a result, some flexibility programmes appear to be merely ‘shelf paper’ — offered for public relations reasons but accompanied by a tacit message that workers use them at their peril.”

Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh is not convinced by this theory. “Perhaps it works in the US,” he says. “For many people, the career is an add-on. The principal objective is work-life balance. And for those who bother about such things, life matters more than work. But if you give up the rat race, should you be complaining that participating mice get the goodies?”

For managements, it’s the simpler option to prefer those who are fulltime employees. Would you rather have a long face in the cubicle on the third floor or — unnoticed by most people — at some discriminated-against employee’s home. Women tend to network less, remember. So you won’t find her provoking a wave of discontentment in the office.

Besides, taken to its logical conclusion, a policy of non-discrimination would mean that a head of a department or even the CEO should be able to work out of home. “We haven’t come to that yet,” says Singh. “And we never will.”

The flexibility stigma does not affect only women. Research shows that men are affected even more. Those who opt to work from home are left out of promotions and increments. “Being a good father, unlike being a good mother, is not seen as culturally incompatible with being a good worker,” says the flexibility stigma paper. “Quite the contrary: being a good provider is seen as an integral part of being a good father.”

If a man seeks concessions because of his care-giving role, he is not seen as a real man. “Men who request a family leave are viewed as poor organisational citizens and ineligible for rewards,” says a paper by Laurie A. Rudman and Kris Mescher of Rutgers University. “In addition to a poor worker stigma, we found that male leave requesters suffer femininity stigma .”

In a workplace full of stigmas, what is the lay employee supposed to do? “Keep your head down and go to work,” says Singh. But if you are regular and punctual, you might have to face an anxiety stigma.

Work woes

Networking amongst women falls off with age

• 84% of all respondents agree that networking is important for their careers
• 87% of women indicate that networking is important
• 65% women say they have enough opportunities to network
• 30% women in the age group 25-34 network once a week or more (compared to 29% men)
• 23% women above 35 years network once a week or more (compared to 56% men)
• 23% mothers network once a week or more (compared to 51% fathers)

Source: Trowers & Hamlins survey in the UK