Women are on the rise in the work place. More than two million working mothers in the UK are now their family's main breadwinner, according to a recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research. This represents an 80% rise in the last 15 years. Women workers have become a vital part of the UK economy.
This is not just a UK phenomenon. Four in 10 American households with children under age 18 now include a mother who is either the sole or primary earner for her family, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census and polling data. This share, the highest on record, has quadrupled since 1960.
Assumptions that women have been harder hit by the recent recession also appear to be wide of the mark. Since 2008 the number of UK women in work has increased by more than a quarter of a million, a 1.2% net rise, while the number of men in work has dropped by 70,000, a 0.4% net fall according to a recent study of official labour market data.
But are women better bosses, employees or colleagues? Is the rise in women in the work place a real step forward for business? Are businesses mad to turn their back on potentially the best resource they have?
Let's take a harder look at the growing body of research that suggests women can work wonders.
1. Live and learn
There are plenty of studies showing women do better at men in the classroom, but recent research by the University of Georgia and Columbia University shines some more light on the subject. It suggests that behaviour and approaches to learning helps girls outdo the boys when it comes to education. In other words, females appear to come across much better when it comes to attentiveness, task persistence, eagerness to learn, learning independence, flexibility and organization - all prized assets for any business.
2. Bright prospects
Intelligence has never been far away from the frontline of the battle of the sexes - and, in the past, IQ tests have consistently shown that men have the edge, but recent research from IQ expert James Flynn suggests women's IQs are growing faster than men and that they are closing the gap.
3. Passing the stress test
Women are apparently better at coping with stress than men, which US scientists believe is down to the protective effect of oestrogen, which appears to 'block' the negative effects of stress on the brain.
In a US study, scientists put male and female rats through tasks that mimicked challenging experiences humans often face, such as those causing frustration and feelings of being under pressure. Unlike some of the male rats, the female rats showed no impairment in their ability to recognise objects they had previously been shown. An inability to remember a familiar object indicates a disturbance in the part of the brain that controls working memory, attention, decision-making and other high-level 'executive' processes.
Other research from the University of Western Ontario looked at how men and women handled the stresses of job interviews. Their findings showed that women, although typically more stressed about interviewing, performed better than their male counterparts in interviews, thanks in large part to the way in which they coped with stress.
4. Hard at work
A recent study, by independent research consultancy the Ponemon Institute, suggests women work harder than men. Among the subjects that took part in trials across the US, females consistently worked for a longer period of time during a ten-minute experiment than their male colleagues.
In fact there is evidence to suggest women already appear to work harder than men across society. In most of the developed world, women spend more time working each day than men do, if you include unpaid work, according to the latest report on gender and employment from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
5. An engaging possibility
Of course, no debate on women in business can fail to mention children and the problems employers, especially within small businesses, can face covering the costs and practicalities of maternity leave. Despite the growth in paternity leave this remains a significant barrier to employment and career progression.
However, it is worth looking at the results of a recent Gallup poll entitled "2013 State of the American Workforce", which found that more than 70% of full time workers (both male and female) are emotionally disconnected at work. In other words they only "go through the motions" to perform their jobs or worse: They do things to weaken an enterprise.
The same poll found that women report more work engagement than men do. It suggests that some flexibility in the work place can actually breed loyalty, commitment, hard work and improved productivity - a point any business should stand up and take notice of.
Yet businesses do not appear to be listening. A survey by legal firm Slater and Gordon suggests that more than a quarter of mothers in the UK feel discriminated against at work. A third of 1,975 women questioned for said they found it impossible to climb the career ladder and 54% said their employer could do more to support working mums. Yet 35% thought they worked harder since having children.
Of course, none of this is perfect science and there could well be unintended side effects of more women in the work place. For example, the same Ponemon Institute study that showed that women work longer and harder than men also showed that men are even less productive when women are around. And a recent study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the National University of Singapore found that couples in which the wife earns more, report less satisfaction with their marriage and higher rates of divorce. Although, thankfully, attitudes appear to be changing with newly weds more accepting.
Whatever individuals choose to believe, the hard facts are that there are more women than ever before in the work place and this trend is only set to continue.
Women's contribution in the work place has been under-rated in the past but it should not, and cannot, be ignored in the future. Businesses should do all they can to be as flexible as possible in terms of working hours and career structure and play to the strengths of both men and women if they want to get the best and most talented people on board and maximise their chance of success.
