TO BE A MANAGER: CHANGES FOR WOMEN IN THE USSR. Discussion Paper No. 65. Anastasiya Posadskaya and Nataliya Zakharova

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1 3642 Dscusson Paper No. 65 TO BE A MANAGER: CHANGES FOR WOMEN IN THE USSR by Anastasya Posadskaya and Natalya Zakharova LIMITED DISTRIBUTION November 990 Dscusson papers are prelmnary materal crculated to stmulate dscusson and crtcal comt. The vews expressed by edtoral staff and contrbutors do not necessarly reflect those of the ILO.

2 Copyrght Internatonal Labour Organsaton 990 Publcatons of the Internatonal Labour Offce enjoy copyrght under Protocol 2 of the Unversal Copyrght Conventon. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced wthout authorsaton, on condton that the source s ndcated. For rghts of reproducton or translaton, applcaton should be made to the Publcatons Branch (Rghts and Permsson!;), Internatonal Labour Offce, CH-2 Geneva 22, Swtzerland. The Internatonal Labour Offce welcomes such applcatons. ISBN X Frst publshed 990 The desgnatons employed n ILO publcatons, whch are n conformty wth Unted Natons practce, and the presentaton of materal theren do not mply the expresson of any opnon whatsoever on the part of the Internatonal Labour Offce concernng the legal status of any country, area or terrtory or of ts authortes, or concernng the delmtaton of ts fronters. The responsblty for opnons expressed n sgned artcles, studes and other contrbutons rests solely wth ther authors, and publcaton does not consttute an endorset by the Internatonal Labour Offce of the opnons expressed n them. Reference to names of frms and commercal products and processes does not mply ther endorset by the Internatonal Labour Offce, and any falure to ton a partcular frm, commercal product or process s not a sgn of dsapproval. ILO publcatons can be obtaned through major booksellers or ILO local offces n many countres, or drect from ILO Publcatons, Internatonal Labour Offce, CH-2 Geneva 22, Swtzerland. A catalogue or lst of new publcatons wll be sent free of charge from the above address. Prnted by the Internatonal Labour Offce. Geneva, Swtzerland

3 PREFACE Ths paper has been prepared by research fellows Anastasya Posadskaya and Natalya Zakharova of the Insttute for Soco-Economc Studes of the Populaton n the USSR Academy of Scences. The report s one of a number of smlar studes organsed by the Internatonal Labour Offce (ILO) on the stuaton of wo n managet. The am of the paper s to dentfy the most salent factors nfluencng wo's entry nto manageral postons n the USSR. Snce natonal statstcs were relatvely unavalable, the authors used data from an extensve survey of the workng populaton n Naberejnye Chelny conducted n The analyss reveals specfc hstorcal, deologcal and poltcal features n the socal system whch combne to nfluence the way n whch the status and performance of wo managers s perceved. The paper also dscusses some aspects of economc and socal polcy under perestroka and the possble effect on wo's perspectves n decson-makng processes. n

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wsh to express ther grattude to Dr. Ludmla Sysoeva, head of the socologcal departt ofkamaz truck enterprse, and Elena Kobzeva, socologst n ths departt, for ther devoted nvolvet n the survey. We are also grateful to our colleagues at the Insttute for Soco-Economc Studes of the Populaton, USSR Academy of Scences, Dr. Elena Avraamova, Dr. Ldya Prokofeva and Nadejda Krylova who partcpated n the survey desgn, data codng and processng. We wsh to thank Professor Natalya Rmashevskaya who made the survey n the cty of Naberejnye Chelny possble. Fnally, we owe specal grattude to Gretchen Goodale of the Internatonal Labour Offce for her support and ntellectual encouraget and for provdng us wth a wealth of background nformatonfromdfferent countres. We also thank Joseph Prokopenko, who made very useful comts on earler drafts of the paper. V

5 CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgets m v I. Wo's ssues n the USSR A. Wo's partcpaton n the economy B. The servce sector 3 C. Organsng wo 3 D. Wo n managet 4 E. The mpact of restructurng 5 F. Increasng wo's employt opportuntes 6 II. Wo n managet at Naberejnye Chelny 9 A. Barrers to wo's entry nto managet 0 nsttutonal 2. Sococuttural 4 III. Conclusons 2s vu

6 I. Wo's ssues n the USSR A concern for "wo's ssues" was an mportant part of revolutonary transformaton n the USSR, and entaled the achevet of the followng goals: the broad and comprehensve nvolvet of wo n the natonal economy, the developt of the servce sector, and the organsaton and senstsaton of wo. A. Wo's partcpaton n the economy How were these goals acheved? Wthn the hstorcal context of the USSR, the nvolvet of wo n pad employt has been uneven. Industralsaton processes were accompaned by mass ntegraton of wo nto the labour market Ths process was ntensfed durng World War n. By the end of the war, the share of wo n the labour force made up 56 percent. After the war, however there was a sharp decrease n female partcpaton n pad employt (47 percent n 950), due to ther replacet by who had returned from the war. By the end of the 950s, female employt tended to expand and by the begnnng of the 960s, there was a new wave of ntensve female nvolvet n pad economc actvty. In the level of wo's employt grew from 55 percent to 70 percent as a result of an actve state polcy to attract wo to pad employt. From 970 untl now, the share of wo n the natonal economy has remaned at approxmately the same level, makng up 5 percent of the total labour force. Currently 84 percent of wo n the USSR are engaged n pad labour actvty, one of the hghest levels n the world. But what s behnd ths hgh nvolvet? The structure of female employt s the followng. Ffty-fve percent of all wo engaged n the natonal economy are n ndustry. A large share of wo are workng n health care, educaton, sports and socal securty, caterng, trade, and materal and techncal supply. In other words, wo are concentrated n sectors of tradtonal female employt. In 987, n trade and publc caterng, wo made up 82 percent of all workers; 8 percent n health care, socal securty, and sports; 75 percent n educaton; and 73 percent n culture. The professonal actvty of wo may be charactersed as nvolvng hard physcal and low sklled labour. The worst stuaton may be found n wood processng, paper, glass, food, polygraphc and lght ndustres, where wo make up 30 to 50 percent of all workers engaged n hard physcal labour. Many wo are workng under condtons whch do not meet the requrets of Sovet labour protecton standards. In ndustry an estmated 44 percent of all wo are workng under hazardous condtons and n constructon, 7 percent. Unfavourable workng condtons are also found n the textle ndustry, where the majorty of workers are wo, and the rate of mortalty among workers s 23 percent hgher than n other ndustres.

7 Many wo are also engaged n agrculture. In January 989 there were 26.5 thousand collectve farms, where 7.5 mllon wo were workng. Twce as many wo as were engaged n low sklled, hard, manual labour. The structure of female employt s determned to a certan extent by ther professonal tranng as compared to. In spte of almost equal levels of educaton (n 989 out of each 0 wo engaged n the natonal economy, 927 had hgher or secondary educaton as compared to 94 for ), wo salary earners lagged far behnd n professonal tranng. In ndustry, ths gap routnely reaches two to three grades. In the USSR, all workers n ndustry are assgned grades n accordance wth ther qualfcatons: s the lowest and 6 the hghest. For example, n machne engneerng, 70 percent of the wo employees have grades -3 and.3 percent have grade 6. In lght ndustry, the average grade of s 4.7, but for wo t s 2.9 and wo comprse 37 percent of all employees n grades and 2. In the food ndustry, the average grade of s 3.89, and for wo 3.0. Grades and 2 have 33 percent of all female employees. Among n these same ndustres, grades and 2 comprse only 0-6 percent of the employees. The dfference n grades greatly nfluences the level of payt. Accordng to offcal statstcs as of January 988,6 percent of and more than 43 percent of wo receved an average monthly payt of up to 50 rubles; 35 percent of and 4 percent of wo receved rubles; and percent of and only 2 percent of wo receved more than 300 rubles. Another factor nfluencng the level of payt s the branch of employt If the branches of ndustry are organsed n accordance wth the average level of payt, a pattern s found whereby the hgher the share of wo nvolved n the gven branch, the lower the level of payt. Ths bref descrpton of the frst goal n solvng wo's ssues n the USSR s not very brght. The next goal was the developt of a comprehensve servce sector. The postve and negatve atttude ratos are as follows: Age Cohort Postve Negatve years

8 B. The servce sector The path of ndustralsaton taken by Staln snce the end of the 920s placed prorty on the developt of heavy ndustry to the detrt of the servce sector and the producton of consumer goods. Alongsde the prevalng tradtonal sexual dvson of labour n the famly, these factors brought about the phenoon of the "double workng day" for wo n pad labour and at home (See Table ). Table Industral wage & Collectve farmers salary earners % Men work weekday ends Wo work weekday ends Men work weekday ends Wo work week day ends Average tme daly spent on housework by one wage earner Daly free tme per wage earner Only recently has ths dsmal stuaton begun to change. Under Gorbachev, economc change mples the reorentaton of the economy to de needs of people. Ths means emphass s now placed on the developt of the servce sector and de producton of consumer goods through: reconverson of mltary ndustres; ntroducton of new technology and the modernsaton of lght ndustry; expanson of constructon n the housng sector, and developt of co-peratve servces. Whle dese factors are not suffcent to solve the wo's ssue, they are necessary components of a soluton to decrease wo's domestc burden through the provson of a comprehensve servce nfrastructure. C. Organsng wo The thrd concern as regards wo's ssues refers to de problem of organsng and senstsng wo. From the outset the Party performed an actve role among wo. Specal wo's commssons were organsed n de Central Commttee of the Party and local dvsons called wo's departts "zhenotdely" were set up. However, by the 930s, de Party's work among wo amed 3

9 at nvolvng them n socal and poltcal lfe had ceased to exst. For all ntents and purposes, the "woman's ssue" was proclamed to be solved along wth all other socal problems. At the end of the 950s and the begnnng of the 960s, the USSR entered a perod of "lberalsaton" after the "regn" of Staln. Ths perod was charactersed by a revval of socal, economc and poltcal actvty n the country. "Wo's ssues" also reappeared on the agenda and poltcal work among wo was renstated. At that tme, the trade unons ntated such actvty. Specal wo's commssons wthn the trade unons were organsed and named commssons on wo's labour, protecton of maternty and chldhood. Wo have not engaged n much poltcal struggle over the years. Ther representaton n the Supreme Sovet of the USSR and at lower levels of poltcal decson-makng was guaranteed by a fxed quota of 33 percent. But the formalstc character of these provsons was vvdly revealed when accordng to the new system of electons, n 989, there was partal lftng of the quota for female representaton n the Sovets and the share of wo n the Supreme Sovet of the USSR mmedately fell to 5.6 percent A further decrease n ther share n the local Sovets s antcpated. There s stll vrtually no evdence of grass roots wo's movets, whch could functon to promote ther partcpaton n poltcal lfe. So we mght say that the thrd goal has not receved the requred attenton to advance wo's ssues n the USSR. D. Wo n managet How do these processes affect the status of wo n managet? One could say not postvely. Although we have seen a move towards wo's full partcpaton n the labour force, ther nvolvet n poltcal and economc decson-makng processes s margnal as compared to. Accordng to data presented to the XK Party Conference n 988, only seven percent of wo wth hgher or specalsed secondary educaton occupy manageral posts, whereas for wth the same background, 48 percent had manageral postons at dfferent levels. In the whole natonal economy, the share of wo among the heads of natonal enterprses s not more than sx percent. In some branches of ndustry, there are almost no wo managers. Even n the "femnsed" branches of ndustry where wo make up 50 percent and more of the labour force, wo are under-represented among managers. For example, n lght ndustry, female drectors make up 3 percent; n textles, 2 percent; n food ndustres, 4 percent. Therefore, the low status of "femnsed" spheres of employt, wo's lower average wages, ther nsgnfcant representaton at all levels of decson-makng; ther poor workng condtons; ther "double burden" ndcates the "wo's ssue" should stll be hgh on the agenda n the USSR. Wo stll occupy a subordnate, secondary poston n socety n general, and n pad labour actvty ncludng managet, n partcular. However, we arc now wtnessng n the USSR the transformaton of socal and economc patterns and frameworks. One of the man goals of such transformaton s a restructurng 4

10 whch wll allow the ndvdual to develop hs/her potental capabltes. Ths goal wll be attaned through the poltcal and economc democratsaton, a decentralsaton of the managet system, the socal orentaton of the economy, demltarsaton etc. We need to consder therefore, the status of wo n ths new poltcal, socal and economc stuaton. E. The mpact of restructurng Wll the opportuntes for wo n managet ncrease under restructurng? In order to answer ths queston, t s necessary to consder two nterrelated processes: frst, the peculartes of socal and economc reforms n general, and how they nfluence gender relatons; and second, the dynamcs of wo's status and to what extent exstng structures obstruct or promote wo's entry nto managet. In the md 980s t became evdent that the command system of economc managet had brought the country to a pont of economc, poltcal, deologcal and moral collapse. In Aprl 985, a new comprehensve platform, "perestroka", orentated towards the reconstructon of all spheres of lfe n socety was procalamed. The new polcy dd not mply the contnuaton of the old order, but was amed at the transformaton of the whole socal system. The concept of reconstructon would nclude: Radcal reconstructon of the whole system of economc managet and plannng. The am s to create ndependent decson-makng and actve entrepreneurshp n state enterprses, co-operatves, etc. Central plannng would be restrcted to ncrease effcency; Increase n the socal orentaton of economc developt; Reconstructon of the legslatve and poltcal systems n order to ensure economc changes and provde approprate mechansms for partcpaton of people n decson-makng n all spheres. Open and regular publcaton of all knds of nformaton - glasnost; Dversfcaton of nternatonal relatons. Changng the economy s a multfaceted process, comprsng both macro and mcro-economc phenoa. The most mportant elets are changes n the managet system, whch would nvolve: the re-arranget of the rgd, herarchcal decson-makng process through an elaboraton of horzontal tes nstead of vertcal ones; the redstrbuton of power, from the centre to the mddle and lower levels; from party organs to the elected Sovets, and the elmnaton of the most mportant barrer to becomng a hgh rankng manager, eg. membershp n the rgd party herarchy. All of these processes are evdent at the level of enterprses. An enterprse s the basc unt n the natonal economy. It s defned as a "socal commodty producer", e. an ndependent producer of goods and servces for sale on the market. The concept of market for 5

11 socalst economy has been legtmsed only under perestroka. A stuaton has now been created whereby enterprses must be concerned about havng an effectve labour force: stable and able to adapt to a changng producton envront. Economc reform per se, however, s not gender neutral, but favours more than wo. Wo are assocated wth famly oblgatons and are thus regarded as a less relable and responsble labour force. Therefore, how can wo's chances to become managers and leaders mprove under perestroka? Perestroka s also breakng the barrers of the rgd party herarchy. Before perestroka, membershp and poston n the party bureaucracy were pre-requstes for occupyng manageral postons. The new stuaton provdes the possblty for a new generaton of managers. Indvdual mert, nterest and motvaton have become the most mportant crtera for career developt The party barrer for both and wo has been elmnated. However, these new opportuntes for career developt are not equally dstrbuted between and wo. There s another obstacle, the persstance of a patrarchal conscousness concernng wo's rghtful place n socety. Wo's role n the publc conscousness may be charactersed as: Wo, because of ther socalled "natural" role to bear chldren should be consdered as a specfc type of labour force. The specfcty of the female labour force mples that the socety should create for wo such condtons that allow them to combne professonal and famly dutes. Wo must therefore be gven dfferent knds of prvleges: reduced workng hours, maternty leave, relef from hard physcal and hazardous labour, addtonal free days to perform famly oblgatons. It s presumed that a polcy whch ams at ncreasng the prvleges of wo creates a stuaton whereby they may choose ether a famly or career. Does such polcy favour the extenson of female partcpaton n the decson-makng processes? Obvously not. Ths polcy does not promote personal selfrealsaton, but perpetuates gender stereotypes. F. Increasng wo's employt opportuntes Several processes nfluence wo's opportuntes n the labour force n general, and n managet n partcular. The frst s concerned wth structural changes n the economy, such as developt of the tertary sector, a decrease n mltary expendtures, utlsaton of new technology n lght ndustry and the servce sector, changes whch when realsed could have a postve mpact on the status and promoton of wo. The second aspect concerns changes n ownershp patterns. These changes presuppose legalsng and stmulatng dfferent forms of economc actvty. These new forms would nclude co-operatves, ndvdual producton, and a new form of state enterprse. The ntroducton of a self-accountng system mples the effectveness of any gven enterprse, state, co-operatve or ndvdual depends on ts economc achevet. Ths may brng about a dvson of the labour force nto two groups, the permanent and the margnal or reserved one, a model whch s well known n market economes. How wll these processes affect wo? Wo may be moved to the margnal sector of the labour force market along wth youth, elders, people wth poor health, etc. And, the more wo wll be "protected" as mothers, 6

12 the more they wll be margnalsed n the labour market Therefore a thrd process, the expanson of state polcy addressed to wo only, n order to "help them combne ther natural roles as mothers and workers" could have a detrtal effect on wo. The measures ncluded n such a polcy are the rght to work on a part-tme bass, the gradual prolongaton of maternty leave, etc. Ths deology of socal protectonsm n relaton to wo (one gender protectonsm) reduces wo to a status of "socal nvald". The more wo wll be protected, the more they wll be margnalsed n the labour market, and the less they wll be regarded as good canddates for manageral postons. Wthout specal mechansms to counter ths negatve effect, wo wll not beneft on a equal bass as from the changes under perestroka.

13 II. Wo n managet n Naberejnye Chelny A survey was undertaken n Naberejnye Chelny to learn more about these processes and the mpact on wo's opportuntes to enter managet postons. The survey was conducted by the Insttute of Soco- Economc Studes of the Populaton, USSR Academy of Scences, n co-operaton wth the socologcal departt of KAMAZ, a large truck ndustry, as part of a project called "Wo n famly and socety". The objectve of the survey was to analyse the poston and atttudnal envront of wo workers n Naberejnye Chelny. Ths cty was chosen as a typcal example of an urban centre bult to meet the needs of a large manufacturng enterprse. The problems faced by the populaton of ths cty n general, and by wo n partcular, are on the whole close to those experenced by the nhabtants of other smlar ctes. The questonnare desgned for ths project conssted of about 70 questons concernng dfferent aspects of wo's status n employt. Emphass was placed on career opportuntes for wo, wth partcular attenton gven to atttudnal aspects. Samplng was random, and,000 people were ntervewed, both and wo. A plot study was conducted to correct the questonnare. In co-operaton wth the socologcal departt of KAMAZ, a group of ntervewers, consstng prmarly of wo workng n KAMAZ, were traned to carry out most of the survey work. Naberejnye Chelny s the second largest cty n the Tatar autonomous Republc, ndustral centre of the Volga dstrct Its status of cty was receved n 934, however ts real mportance began n 969 wth the constructon of the large ndustral enterprse KAMAZ. The cty of Naberejnye Chelny s consdered to be a company cty. It has been bult around KAMAZ, whch ncludes 2 plants. The populaton dynamcs are charactersed by the followng. In 97, there were 55,000 nhabtants, n 976, 23,000; n 98, 346,000; and n 987,480,000. The populaton of the cty s rather young, and the majorty of ts nhabtants represent mgrants from other regons. In 985 the crude brth rate for the Republc was 8.2 percent, whle n Naberejnye Chelny t was 25 percent. In 985, the marrage rate was equal to 9 per thousand of the populaton, whereas the dvorce rate was 5 per thousand. Both ndcators are decreasng (n 977 they were 3 per thousand and 8 per thousand respectvely). The average famly sze was 3.5. Chldren up to the age of 6 made up 3.4 percent of the populaton, and those of penson age (wo 55 and 60) comprsed 4. percent n 979. The female workng populaton s younger than the male. In complance wth the data of the 979 census, wo up to 30 years old made up 55.9 percent of the total female labour force, whereas n the same age group made up 45.7 percent. In 979, out of every 0 employed, 6 occuped manageral posts at dfferent levels, compared to only 59 wo. Ffty-fve out of 0 employed were managers of enterprses or dvsons (top level managet) however, only 9 wo per thousand employed occuped such senor postons. 9

14 Eghty percent of the total employed populaton are workng at KAMAZ. Wo make up 52.5 percent of all workers engaged at the enterprse, the vast majorty workng as bluecollar workers. A. Barrers to wo's entry n managet Analysng wo's status n managet we should frst note that for a long tme ths problem has been at the perphery of publc attenton as t has been regarded as a concern of a very small and specal group of wo. It was not acknowledged (and stll s not) that the level of wo's partcpaton n managet s a reflecton of ther status and role assgned to them by socety. Even those who are ntellectually aware of the fact that wo comprse more than 50 percent of the labour force, and agree that the effectve developt of all human resources s necessary, swtch off when t comes to consderng the developt of wo as leaders. Almost half of the male respondents were n favour of reducng the number of wo at all levels of decson-makng. Moreover these negatve atttudes towards female leaders has also been ncreasng. Tradtonal bases are revealed most vvdly at the ndvdual level As for female opnons, the dstrbuton of the responses s more even: about one thrd support the status quo and less than one thrd favour ncreasng wo's partcpaton at all levels of decson-makng (See Table 2) Table 2 Opnons of and wo on the partcpaton of wo at dfferent levels of decson-makng Partcpaton of wo n decsonmakng country at the level of republ c/ regon cty enterprse To leave the same: opnons or: wo TQ,reduce: opnons of: wo To. ncrease: opnons ot: wo

15 We would lke to stress that the absence of systematc and adequate statstcs on wo's partcpaton n decson-makng processes may gve the false mpresson of some well-beng n ths realm. What are the reasons for such a stuaton contnung despte a belef that all possble formal barrers to wo have been removed and that promoton s receved "solely on mert"? In analysng the stuaton, we came to the concluson that there are certan barrers whch wo have to overcome n order to become managers. They can be dvded nto two categores, soco-cultural and nsttutonal, wth strong lnkages between the two. J. Insttutonal Insttutonal barrers nclude the whole range of obstacles through whch wo must move n order to advance ther careers: the system of educaton and vocatonal tranng, ncludng advanced tranng; recrutt and promoton procedures etc. It s also worth tonng the servce nfrastructure. Wo's engaget n the labour force depends to a great extent on the avalablty of certan servces. However the functonng and goals of the whole system of socal servces are determned by the domnant deology of the socety. In ths regard, soco-cultural and nsttutonal barrers are closely connected and nfluence each other, as can be seen from the survey results on educaton and employt. Accordng to the Consttuton, and wo have equal access to all forms of educaton, but n realty more wo than fal to acqure the educaton necessary to enter ther desred professon. Survey respondents were asked whether they had secured entry n the professon they wanted (See Table 3). Table 3 Dd you manage to enter your desred professon Men Wo Yes No Dffcult to answer Total

16 Ffty-three percent of the wo sampled faled to acqure ther desred level of educaton, as compared to 3 percent of. When analysng the reasons preventng wo from attanng ther goals, t was found that two tmes more wo than were forced to drop ther studes due to famly responsbltes. In choosng occupatons, they were also nfluenced by parents three tmes more than, and due to the persstence of gender stereotypes, many wo stll opt for tradtonally female occupatons and consequently the correspondng educaton, whch very often does not concde wth ther real aspratons. The category "no answer" (see Table 4) ndcates ths dlemma, whch many wo were not able to artculate clearly. Ths s an area whch requres further study. Table 4 Reasons preventng and wo from acqurng the desred professon (%) The reasons Men Wo Dd not manage to enter the chosen educatonal establsht 8 4 Parents nssted on another professon 2 6 Dropped the study due to famly crcumstances 7 6 Was not my opton to choose Dffcult to answer No answer Total 2

17 Therefore, from the very begnnng we see dfferences n the professonal careers of wo and. More wo than entered professonal lfe wthout the necessary educatonal background. Ths s especally true for wo n ndustry and therefore, ther route to managet s a more complcated and longer one. Wo wth hgher levels of educaton are n a more favourable poston as regards employt (see Table 5). Seventy percent confrmed they had managed to enter the professon they wanted. Table 5 Dstrbuton ofrespondentsaccordng to whether they could acqure the desred professon, by the level of educaton (%) Level of educaton Dd you manage to acaure your desred professon?! hgher secondary specalsed general seconaary vocatonal tranng wth seconaary uncomplete seconaary vocatonal wthout seconaary Managed to acqure the desred professon Wo Dd not manage to acaure tne desred professon Wo Dffcult to answer Wo Total Wo 3

18 Wo wth hgher educaton also have the greatest satsfacton wth the level of acqured educaton (See Table 6). However, overall t appears the exstng educatonal system favours more than wo. Table 6 The satsfacton of and wo wth educaton, by the level of educaton (%) Degree of satsfacton Level of educaton hgher secondary general specalsed secondary vocatonal uncomplete vocatonal tranng secondary wthout wth secondary secondary wo wo wo wo wo wo IDffcult to answer wo Total 2. Soco-cuttural Soco-cultural barrers arse from gender stereotypes and bases prevalng n the publc and ndvdual conscousness. In the context of ths study, the prmary roles of wo are mother, wfe and housekeeper. These expectatons effectvely deny her the rght to pursue a professonal career as a legtmate role. Havng a professon s the doman of. However, such stereotypes are very dffcult to overcome. They have deep roots n the mnds of people and are reconfrmed n the everyday envront Accordng to "common sense" there s no scope for wo to have careers, let alone become managers. At the socetal level, these gender stereotypes are supported by the mass meda whch 4

19 promotes tradtonal values and mages of wo, thus confrmng atttudes found at the ndvdual level. In Naberejnye Chelny, the survey revealed certan aspects of the mechansm through whch the gender stereotypes have been reproduced. It was found that the overwhelmng majorty of and wo (90 percent and 96 percentrespectvely)beleve that grls should be taught prmarly to be a "good housekeeper" and a "good mother" (97 percent and 98 percentrespectvely) (See Table 7). At the same tme, an orentaton towards acqurng a professon and materal benefts, both necessary for achevng personal autonomy and satsfacton, are rated very low. In-depth ntervewng revealed the majorty of respondents beleve that boys should be orented to attanng hgh educaton n order to succeed n ther future "bread-wnner" role. Table 7 Prortes set by and wo n the brngng up of grls wo Sprtual developt 3 3 Physcal developt 4 5 To be a good mother 2 To be a good housewfe 2 To orent her to a professon 5 4 To orent her to maternal welfare 6 6 Consequently, n the process of socalsaton of grls, gender stereotypng predomnates, and wo are assocated wth home, famly and bearng and rearng chldren, whereas are assocated wth professonal actvty. Gender stereotypng undoubtedly bases wo's orentaton to careers, and grls and wo would perceve ther "natural destny" to be a mother and a wfe, and career ambtons would be rrelevant and napproprate. 5

20 These atttudes contrbute to the negatve vew of wo's professonal actvty n general, and career-orentaton n partcular. Wo are not assocated wth career developt nor wth manageral work at any level. Another group of questons was desgned to reveal stereotypes as regards obstacles that prevent wo from beng a manager. The data from (Table 8) show that the famly responsbltes or household chores are thought to be the most serous obstacle for female promoton by 33 percent of the and 23 percent of the wo respondents. Table 8 Opnons of and wo concernng the barrers for female promoton (%)! Type of barrers Opnons wo Lack of knowledge Household dutes 33 ' 23 Lack of desre Negatve atttude of husband or other relatves Not capable of beng a leader The work of the leader s very tense, wo cannot endure such tenson Mstrust of wo as leaders 3 j j Socety does not create the opportuntes for wo There are no obstacles for wo to be leaders 8 I 0 j 2 j 9! No answer! 7 j Total j 6

21 However when we analysed the answers of wo-managers t was found that only one percent of them regarded famly dutes as a real obstacle for ther work. Therefore famly responsbltes are not a real constrant on wo when they are managers. Ths s a stereotype that serves to block ther admsson nto ths stratum. Career-orented wo ether buld famly relatonshps on an egaltaran bass or opt to reman alone. In our survey however, two thrds of the wo-managers are marred and have chldren. These fndngs prove once more that the more wo wll be "helped" as mothers and wves through renderng ther so-called "assstance" (part-tme work, long maternty leave, etc.), the less they wll be regarded as approprate for careers n general, and n managet n partcular. Stereotypng concernng wo's roles s a negatve phenoon whch reduces the multfaceted realty of wo's lves to a sngle "natural role". Referrng back to the obstacles preventng wo from enterng managet postons, 0 percent of the and IS percent of the wo respondents toned mstrust towards female-leaders. Ths elet of mstrust towards wo managers s also evdent by the fact that only one percent of the and three percent of the wo n the same sample prefer a woman as a manager (See Table 9). Table 9 Preferences towards the manager (%) Preferred as managers? Preferences of 72 wo 68 wo ndfferent Total

22 The overwhelmng majorty of respondents prefer male managers. It s somewhat surprsng that even n groups wth hgher educaton such negatve atttudes towards wo preval. That means that educaton as a factor of conscousness rasng n the sense of egaltarsm n ths partcular aspect does not play a sgnfcant role (See Table 0). Table 0 Female and male preferences towards the sex of the leader, by the level of educaton (%) Level of educaton Preferred as a manager? Hgh er Specalsed secondary General secondary Vocatonal tranng wth secondary wo wo wo wo wo ndfferent Total Such negatve atttudes certanly do not acknowledge the dfferent qualtes and abltes of wo. Ths "hostle" envront has an nfluence, decreasng the level of wo's self-confdence and aspratons, whch are already low.when comparng the dfferences whch male managers and female managers encounter n ther work, t s clear that wo more often than were nclned to exaggerate ther dffcultes as a result of ther personal dsadvantages and lack of professonal knowledge. However, the opposte pcture s revealed when we asked respondents to estmate the most typcal characterstcs of female and male managers. Both and wo underlned the professonal knowledge of wo managers. 8

23 As for male managers, the manresponsewas "ablty to manage", "professonal "organsatonal abltes"; followed by the knowledge" rated thrd (See Table ). Table The most typcal characterstcs of male and female managers Characterstcs Organsatonal abltes Professonal knowledge Responsblty The ablty to manage people The ablty to convnce Goodwll Self-possesson Conscentousness Goal-orentaton Tactfulness To be a person of prncple To have ntatve General erudton Male manager Female The opnons of: wo manager wo

24 Another mportant factor whch often gves rse to consderable speculaton s the lack of desre or aspratons among wo to be managers. The data from our survey showed that n general, there s a rather low level of orentaton toward manageral work among both and wo. The overwhelmng majorty prefer to reman rank-and-fle employees (See Table 2). To a certan extent ths s the consequence of the restructurng process ongong n our country, whch nvolves the reorgansaton of the whole system of managet, whch was dscussed earler. All these organsatonal processes are revealed most clearly at the level of enterprse. Table 2 Preferences towards professonal status Preferences To be the manager of some enterprse Men 8 Wo 3 To be the manager at the mddle or Tow level 2 9 To be an ndependent rank and fle worker wth creatve content n ther labour To be an ordnary rank and fle worker 8 Dffcult to answer Total 8 20

25 In ths transtonal perod, the old methods of managet are not effectve any more, yet the new ones have not been worked out. To be a manager now means to endure all the burdens of ongong changes especally, for those at the mddle and low levels of managet. If we look at those who have expressed the desre to be a manager, the share of and wo s almost equal. (See Table 3) Table 3 Orentaton of and wo to manageral jobs (%) Intenton to move to a manageral poston wo There s an ntenton to move to a manageral poston at present tme 9 There s an ntenton to move to a manageral poston n the future 8 There s no ntenton to move to a manageral poston Dffcult to answer 5 7 Total 2

26 However, wo who are ntally orented towards a career qute often abandon ths dea, as they feel that faced wth the persstence of such rgd patrarchal stereotypes, ths orentaton would only complcate ther lves. Ths analyss may be extended by calculatng the relatve rato of postve and negatve atttudes of wo n comparson wth towards ntentons to move to manageral postons now or n the future (See Table 4) Table 4 Orentaton of and wo towards manageral postons by age cohort (%) ntenton to move to a manageral poston wo 30 - Age cohort 39 j wo wo 50 and more [ wo There s desre to move to a manageral poston at present tme 4! 9 2 9! There s desre to. move to a manageral : poston n the : future! 4 8 j o ; 3! 0 ; ' 0 There s no desre move to a manageral : poston Dffcult to answer 54 j j j! ; Total The postve atttude rato has a tendency to rse wth the age group, whch s especally true for the group at the age of 50 and more. One possble explanaton of ths pattern s the motvaton of wo "to catch up wth the career chances" they mght have lost n ther younger years due to famly oblgatons. Judgng from the table, t s obvous that a rather large share of and wo could not artculate ther motvatons whch conforms to ther poor understandng of the context of manageral work n general. The percentage of negatve responses supports the concluson that manageral work s regarded as low status work, especally at the prmary and mddle levels. Ths s the outcome of the total lack of respect for the admnstratve command system of managet However, the actual rate of female partcpaton n managet s consderably lower. Accordng to survey data 8 percent of all were n managet posts as aganst seven percent of wo. These fgures correspond to natonal statstcs: among wth hgher educaton, 48 percent are n managet postons as compared to seven percent of wo wth the same educatonal 22

27 background. In practce, may advance n ther careers, even wthout great motvaton to do so. As for wo, career aspratons of many reman unrealsed. There are no wo at the top levels of managet n KAMAZ. Accordng to the statstcs, wo make up more than 50 percent of the employees at KAMAZ, but only a fracton more than one percent occupy manageral posts. The structure of the managet system at KAMAZ ncludes fve levels, half of all wo n managet postons are at the lowest grade, then the fourth, and a few at the thrd level. For, the pcture s the opposte - one fourth are at the frst and second levels of managet. 23

28 III. Conclusons On the bass of the survey some conclusons may be drawn as regards KAMAZ. In spte of the hgh level of wo's partcpaton n economc actvty, ther representaton n the realm of managet, especally at the hgher levels, s not n proporton to ther overall level of partcpaton. Wo managers as we have seen are concentrated manly at the lower and mddle levels. They are also not n key sectors, so ther nfluence and status as decson-makers s relatvely poor. The real share of wo n managet s qute dfferent from those who have the desre and motvaton to advance ther careers. Men and wo are almost equally orented towards careers. Therefore the explanaton of low career motvaton among wo s based on prejudce and not realty. The potental capabltes of wo are beng underutlsed. Men are "pushed" to the top despte ther own aspratons. Moreover, n order to become a manager, wo have to overcome several major obstacles. For example, n a process of socalsaton, grls are usually brought up n a sex-stereotyped context One of the consequences s low self-confdence n terms of career-makng due to the emphass on other roles, mother, wfe and home-maker. Negatve publc opnon of female managers s also prompted by stereotypes regardng wo's capabltes and performance due to famly responsbltes. However the data show that ths s not a problem for those wo n manageral postons. As a sex stereotype however, t functons to reduce wo's career opportuntes. Furthermore, the exstence of wo's "double burden" s the drect result of the patrarchal dvson of labour. Whle t s true that wo have the bologcal capablty to bear chldren and ths has certan consequences for them and for ther nvolvet n the economy, t should not serve to dsqualfy them from careermakng. In order to change the stuaton, t s necessary to admt the exstence of ndrect dscrmnaton, partcularly n the form of nsttutonal and soco-cultural barrers, and the relatonshp between the two. Changes n conscousness (dsmssng tradtonal stereotypes) must occur parallel wth changes n the socal structure, and then the correspondng changes n the structure wll renforce and produce further changes n publc and ndvdual conscousness. For ths to happen, t s necessary to have pressure and a strong desre for changes from wo themselves and from top decsonmakers n enterprse, educaton, tranng and poltcs. The ongong process ofrestructurngn our country s not gender neutral, and has not only negatve but postve effects on wo's status n managet As regards the negatve, - de orentaton to a market economy creates a potental for margnalsng wo n the sphere of employt due to ther lower level of sklls; factorsrelatedto maternty; and the persstent tradtonal dvson of labour. These factors ultmately nfluence the career opportuntes of wo, although t s possble to envsage mechansms to counter these effects. 25

29 On the postve sde the problems confrontng wo have beenrecognsedand placed on the agenda. There s a hope that the approprate decsons and follow-up measures wll be taken. As far as the stuaton of KAMAZ s concerned, as long as there s an absence of wo n top managet postons, manageral decsons wll lack, to a certan extent, socal and humantaran aspects, and thus unfavourably nfluence the socal clmate of the enterprse and many urgent socal needs wll go unsatsfed. Promoton of the extremely lmted number of wo avalable at the mot wll not change the stuaton. In an all-male envront, they wll be forced to reproduce the male mode of behavour, perhaps even n a stronger form. As a consequence, they wll be msunderstood not only by but by wo too. So t s necessary to ncrease systematcally the quantty of wo at all levels of managet and n all spheres of decsonmakng. Two approaches are possble to develop the potental of wo as managers and to promote ther entry nto these postons: ) to use the exstng structures such as trade unons, wo's councls etc. and/or 2) to create new autonomous ones. However, to utlse ether strategy to meet ths objectve, t s necessary to organse specal tranng courses for wo, and change many of the polces, procedures and practces wthn the enterprse. Therefore, a strategy of equal opportuntes must be the man polcy framework for brngng about the necessary changes. 26