Ladies on the Peak: More Female Executives in Russia
Over the past two years, the number of women in senior positions has been steadily increasing, job search services and business schools told Izvestia. According to various data, this number has increased by 4-12 percentage points. For example, women financial directors and heads of personnel policy of companies are becoming more and more numerous. Moreover, traditionally "masculine" areas of activity are gradually becoming more and more open to representatives of the other sex - in particular, the IT sphere and the automobile business. Experts interviewed by Izvestia attribute the situation to the high shortage of personnel in the country and the increasingly civilized approach to attracting women in most industries, where knowledge, experience and personal characteristics are valued.
How the number of women managers is growing
The number of women in management positions in Russia has been steadily growing over the past three years, although the majority of managers are still men, job search services told Izvestia. Nevertheless, there are entire areas where women are overwhelmingly in management positions.
According to hh.ru, in the first half of 2024, 40% of all invitations to vacancies in top and middle management were received by women, 60% by men.
"Over the past few years, the share of women who are offered managerial positions has increased - for example, in the first half of 2021, it was only 37%, and in the second half 36%," the company noted.
The variation in the gender composition of managers depending on their role in the company is indicative. Thus, the recruitment service analyzed more than 2 million resumes and extracted information about management positions that the applicant held during the last year. It turned out that more than 70% of the positions of directors and heads of HR departments are held by women, and more than 60% of the positions of heads of legal departments, more than 50% of the positions of directors of marketing and advertising departments, as well as financial directors.
Superjob has similar indicators. Speaking about top managers, they reported that among HRD (responsible for the development of personnel policy of the company) 73% are women, among advertising and PR directors their 57%, among financial directors - 51%.
In terms of company activities, the highest proportion of female managers in the field of "Art, Culture" - 61%, reported in hh.ru. In second place - educational institutions (60%), in third place - medicine and pharmaceuticals (59%), in fourth place - retail trade (57%), in fifth place - services for the population (55%). Women are least likely to hold managerial positions in the automobile business (23%) and in the electronics and instrumentation industry (22%).
- Of course, there are certain gender stereotypes, - noted in the job search service. - For example, IT-industry is considered "male" although there are no real restrictions for women's labor here. But gradually our labor market is getting rid of such myths.
Traditionally, in Russia, women have held senior positions in the social sphere, finance and HR, Anahit Emin, head of the recruitment department of the UNITY group of companies, reminded Izvestia.
- In recent years, we have seen an active growth in the number of women executives in marketing, public relations and sales," she said. - And now there are more and more examples of women executives in the rapidly growing automotive industry, particularly in dealerships.
According to the Superjob service, there have been more women in positions of company and department directors in the last two years in quality management (plus 12 percentage points), marketing (+6), purchasing and development (+5). The share of women in the positions of middle managers has increased in the areas of procurement and logistics (10 p.p. each for two years) and personnel training (+6).
But the majority of managers in these spheres are men, analysts admit. Nevertheless, in the conditions of personnel hunger, employers are gradually abandoning barriers to recruitment and career advancement.
The TISBI University of Management (Kazan) analyzed the data of the Rosstat sample survey of the workforce from 2022 to 2024. According to them, the number of women in managerial positions has increased by 12% over the past two years: from 1.45 million to 1.6 million.
The results of the annual rating "Top 1000 Russian Managers" also serve as an indirect sign of the growing number of women in managerial positions, said Ekaterina Movsesyan, General Director of CROS.
- According to it, over the last ten years the share of women in the list of winners has grown from 28% to 44%. Nevertheless, despite the general trend, it should be understood that the share of women among managers will vary depending on the sphere: in industrial production, men traditionally hold leading positions, as well as other positions, while in school education, on the contrary, there will be more women," she said.
Demand for training
The share of women in key positions is growing both in companies and in entrepreneurial projects, agreed Marina Karban, vice-rector for educational programs at Skolkovo Business School and academic director of the Leaders as Teachers and FLOW programs.
- Women's demand for training has also grown significantly. We can see this in the increasing number of women in the Skolkovo School of Management programs, which have always been dominated by a male audience. For example, in the current intake of MBA program 56% are women, while in past intakes they were 35% and less, - she said.
According to the expert, the interest of girls to the topics of professional and personal development has increased significantly in recent years. This has become, among other things, a consequence of the fact that women are increasingly taking leadership positions in companies.
But Ekaterina Movsesyan believes that the growth in the number of those wishing to improve their qualifications is in no way connected with the growth in the number of managers.
- These are two parallel trends. On the one hand, modern women are seeking to balance their lives and are quite capable of focusing on their careers and achieving success. On the other hand, there is a growing demand for continuous training and professional development, regardless of gender, as the modern world requires constant adaptation in the professional sphere," she said. - Of course, sometimes these trends overlap.
TISBI said it has seen a noticeable increase in applicants' interest in management specialties, especially among girls.
- The share of women in our university in "management" and "human resources management" is steadily growing: if in 2022, out of 902 students, women accounted for 44% (398 students), in 2023, their share increased to 49% (409 out of 843 students), and in 2024, it will remain at 48% (349 out of 724 students), - said Nella Pruss, President of TISBI University of Management. - This reflects the general trend: modern women increasingly see themselves in the role of managers and purposefully build their careers in this direction.
Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of MISIS University, stated that today there is virtually no division into "male" and "female" professions.
- Leading companies, scientific and educational centers give preference to specialists with high professionalism and creative potential regardless of their gender. Our task is to create conditions for the disclosure of intellectual and creative potential and professional realization," she said.
According to her, in 2024, 40% of enrollees will be girls who want to connect their lives with technical and engineering specialties.
- The share of women leaders in our university is 51%: they head research laboratories, scientific and educational centers, institutes, branches, administrative units, - said Alevtina Chernikova.
The analysis of Moscow Polytechnic's programs on additional professional education in the field of management for 2022-2024 shows a steady dynamics of growth in the share of women among the trainees, said Gyuzel Sharipzyanova, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of this university.
- If in 2022 it amounted to 42%, then in the next 2023 it increased to 59.2%, and by 2024 it reached the figure of 68.9%," she said.
The main reason for the dynamics is the shortage of personnel, which is most strongly felt at the level of line staff, but also in top positions it is increasingly difficult for companies to find an effective candidate, believes a partner of consulting company Kontakt InterSearch Russia Yulia Zabazarnykh.
- At the same time, shareholders have become less committed to gender stereotypes, although unlike European business, Russia does not yet have a strict policy that dictates a certain minimum number of women on the board of directors and in the management team at the CEO-1 level," she said. - According to our estimates, Russia has the largest number of women in top positions in the pharmaceutical, education, retail, and insurance industries.
Yulia Zabazarnykh sees the most dynamic changes in the composition of top managers in the IT sector: while a few years ago the pool of candidates for the position of company director, director of digital transformation, and head of the product development team was almost 100% male, today there are more than 30% women.
The expert also noted that business in Russia is becoming more and more civilized in most industries, so the candidate's knowledge and experience, personal characteristics, rather than gender and age, are increasingly valued at the entrance.
The Ministry of Economic Development reminded Izvestia that today there are more than 6 million women entrepreneurs in Russia. Only last year their number increased by almost a third.
"There are 1.75 million women entrepreneurs running their own business as sole proprietorships," the ministry said. - This is more than 40% of the total number of entrepreneurs in the country.
A year ago, this figure was at 1.5 million, the agency said.
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