The woman who wears makeup in public and in private may be considered the first in her family to ever go to college, but she’s not the only one.
The University of Manitoba’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) recently found that women in the public eye are less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than their male counterparts.
According to the GSB, men are more likely to be hired, hired more and hired for more positions than women in many industries, and women in their field are more often placed in management positions than men.
The university’s director of research and analysis, Amanda Jurgens, said in a statement that while it’s common for women to take on jobs that they may not be qualified for, they are also under pressure to maintain a professional appearance to attract clients.
In addition to the economic pressures that women face, they’re also more likely than men to struggle financially, said Jurgen.
In the public sector, women make up roughly 60 per cent of all entry-level positions, while men make up about 70 per cent, she said.
That’s the same as the number of women who apply to every year for every job.
Jurgeng says she and her colleagues want to make sure that women have the opportunity to earn their degrees and to build careers in the private sector.
“This is a very important issue,” she said in the statement.
The GSB has partnered with the Centre for Gender and Entrepreneurship at the University of Winnipeg to study how different job roles and industries are impacted by women’s presence in the workplace.
The centre will be using a survey to explore the makeup of women and men in different occupations.
“The challenge for women is that they’re still the least represented in the workforce, which is a problem because if you look at gender equity, it’s a problem for women as well,” Jurgs said.
She added that she hopes the results will be useful in shaping policies in Canada.
“We’re talking about the makeup, the way people present themselves in the office and the way they dress,” she explained.
“And that’s really what we need to be thinking about, is the makeup.”