Half UK workforce say women are underrepresented in senior management roles

Discrimination in the workplace is illegal in the UK under the Equality Act 2010, but a new survey suggests that UK employees believe there is still some way to go to improve equality in the workplace.

VBQ Speakers surveyed 1,000 UK adults who are currently employed in the UK to find out what they think about diversity in their workplace. 

Half (50%) of those surveyed believed that women are under-represented in senior management roles. Women and men responded roughly the same to this question, with 51% and 47% respectively.

Underrepresentation of women was perceived to be less apparent (though still significant) in relation to entry level roles. Here, 38% of those polled said they believed women are underrepresented.

The survey also asked participants whether they think additional factors such as age, race, religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation negatively affect opportunities for women. Opinions on this question varied significantly depending on the age of the respondents. Almost half (49%) of 18-24 year-olds believe these factors negatively impact women in the workplace. 53% of 25-34 year olds think the same. For 35-44 year olds, this number drops slightly to 43%. But the number falls more sharply for 45-54 year olds with 31%, and even further with over 55s with 21%.  

When it came to reporting discrimination, over half (55%) of respondents said they would be happy to do so, with only 18% saying they would not. However, this question showed a significant disparity responses between men and women. 61% of men said they would feel happy reporting instances of discrimination, compared to just 49% of women. 

Additionally, only 58% of those polled thought their organisation had a clear procedure for reporting discrimination. 

VBQ Speakers founder and director, Leo von Bülow-Quirk, said: “The survey suggests that UK businesses still have a lot of work to do on gender equality and diversity in the workplace. Not only do they have to work harder to assure their employees that diverse groups are represented; they also need to foster constructive conservations between the different demographics in their organisation to ensure that the issue doesn’t fragment their workforce.”

Please find the full ‘perceptions of workplace diversity’ research here.