Men as much as ever are running Russian business

In the run up to International Women's Day, PricewaterhouseCoopers presents its third annual “Career opportunities for women in business” survey

5 March 2009 — The percentage of women taking up management positions rose this year from 30 to 40%. However, there has been no change in the fact that women are more likely to hold management positions that carry a lower level of responsibility than positions held by men. The most common positions occupied by women remain chief accountant (76%), HR director (62%), and marketing director (48%). The number of women working as financial directors has increased, from 28% in 2008 to 39% in 2009. Senior management is still dominated by men: among the companies surveyed, none indicated that they had a woman in the position of president, while only one company stated that it had a woman holding the post of general director. The majority of respondents (95%) stated that no significant difference had been observed in salary levels.

The 2009 survey for the first time featured questions related to maternity benefits for women: 18% of companies surveyed do not have any specific type of maternity benefits. In 58% of companies women are able to work according to a flexible timetable, in 50% they can work part-time or a shorter working week, while in 40% of companies they can work a flexible working week. Only 23% of companies allowed women to work from home. 20% of those surveyed received child insurance benefits. It is interesting to note that, despite the economic crisis, 83% of respondents do not plan to make any changes in this area, while 8% of companies intend to introduce only minor changes.

85% of companies surveyed said that maternity leave does not affect a woman’s career, while the percentage of companies acknowledging that having a child does have some effect on a woman’s career was 13%. Women took maternity leave for a period of between one and two years in 57% of companies, two to three years in 20% of companies, while only 13% of women took maternity leave lasting less than one year. The average length of maternity leave was eighteen months. 56% of companies made a one-off lump sum maternity leave payment, 44% said that they made monthly payments, while 38% of companies indicated that they paid nothing above the norms prescribed by the Russian Labour Code.

Notes to editor

1. For further information please contact Vera Totskaya or Anna Aristova.
2. The aim of the survey is to analyse opportunities and issues related to career growth for women in the business sphere in 2009 as compared to 2008. The survey took place between 21 January and 28 February 2009. Managers of HR departments in 40 Russian and foreign companies from various sectors took part in the survey. In the companies surveyed, men made up 65% of personnel.