What’s keeping women out of the C-Suite? It could be the attitudes of men.
That’s one take-away from a new Rockefeller Foundation survey. Sixty-five percent of its respondents said the attitudes of men in top leadership roles are a barrier for female leadership. Women are especially convinced that male attitudes are prohibitive; 90% said they get in the way of women’s professional progress (49% of men said this was true).
Laura Gordon, a managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation who worked on the survey, said the findings aren’t intended to blame men, per se. Indeed, that would not be productive. But, as The Huffington Post‘s Emily Peck points out, the results do underscore the need to engage men—holders of a disproportionate share of corporate leadership roles—in the battle for equality, rather than relying solely on initiatives that seek to change women’s negotiating tactics or enhance women’s business networks.
The finding is as good a reason as any to shake up current gender diversity efforts since the status quo certainly isn’t instilling much confidence. The same survey found that one in four Americans believe humans will master time travel before women reach parity in the corner office.