A Why do we need support programmes for women ?
Women in leading managerial positions
are still a rarity. Numerous barriers prevent women from making it to the top, and only seldom do they find support
along the paths of their careers. With professional support for men it is a different story. Apart from formal
programmes, there are informal networks, like the well-known "old boy networks" in the United Kingdom
and the USA for instance, which provide men with the help they need to further their careers.
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For women, however, such informal
systems of support generally do not exist, and women do not have access to the networks of the men. This state
of affairs largely accounts for the fact that so many qualified, career-oriented women fall by the wayside, and
important human resources are thus wasted as well.
Mentoring for women is one possible way to break down old, entrenched structures and to open up new, flexible paths,
in order to do justice to all employees according to their qualifications. Mentoring is by no means a new concept;
what is new, however, is its application in the area of the advancement of women.
Until now it has especially been men that have profited from mentoring relationships which have followed the old,
informal pattern. Since such career-supporting mentoring relationships are not available for women, formal mentoring
programmes are one of the remedies. They focus our attention on the fact that women do not lack the qualifications
necessary for advancement, but it is rather the structures themselves that make it so difficult for women to get
a look-in when it comes to the promotion procedure. Mentoring programmes for women thus enable women to translate
their competence and skills into action, and to be at the right place at the right time. Mentoring networks are
the decisive mainstay in all this. |
