WLA 2018 Report - Draft 1-2

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Male students are more comfortable networking than females Networking is an essential skill in today’s world. Studies have shown that up to 80% of jobs are never advertised; instead they are filled by word of mouth. Hence it is important to create meaningful relationships (AAMD ,2017). At ALU, male students enjoy networking more than female students. Based on a scale of 1-10 with regards to enjoyment of networking, 67.8% of the male students rated a 5 and above in comparison to 52.1% of female students. Similarly, male students believe that they are better at networking than female students. It is interesting to note that no female ranked their networking skills at 9 or 10, in comparison to 15% of the male participants. This percentage increases for men when asked to rate their skills in comparison to their peers whereas that of the female students stays at 0. However, it was interesting to note that male students think females are more favored when it comes to networking with ALU guests. “I think the guests are more receptive to female students than males, in terms of follow up, opportunities etc. I feel like the fact that most of the leader[s] are men plays a role. I think they would feel like they are more of a man when more females approach them so they give them more attention. Female leaders might also tend to favor upcoming women leaders as a means of positive discrimination.” - 4th year Students 14
Finally, only 7% of females students believe their peers perceive them as good networkers in comparison to 32% of male students. This ties to the findings that women are less confident than men and are perceived to be so. Hence, it can be concluded that female students at ALU are less comfortable with networking than their male counterparts. % of students who believe their peers perceive them as good networkers per gender 32% 7% Key Next Steps The ALU Career Development department could set up a series of continuous sessions on networking which employ a Gender Mainstreaming* approach. That is to say that while the sessions should highlight best practices for networking, they should also pay mind to how networking may differ for people of different genders and initiate discussions on how gender-specific networking challenges can be overcome. Notably, we recommend still conducting networking sessions with both genders together. This will allow for the discussions to be more critical and diverse in perspective and it will enable both genders to develop more empathy towards one another. *Note: Gender mainstreaming is the concept of assessing the different implications for people of different genders of any planned programme or policy action,. 15
Page 2 and 3: A N f WLA’ F WLA was founded by 3
Page 4 and 5: Executive summary 5 Gender landscap
Page 6 and 7: Executive Summary The McKinsey Glob
Page 8 and 9: Overall Gender Landscape at ALU The
Page 10 and 11: Brief History of State of African W
Page 12 and 13: Female students at ALU are less con
Page 16 and 17: No gender disparity in risk-taking
Page 18 and 19: Unconscious bias are prevalent and
Page 20 and 21: In teams, females take support role
Page 22 and 23: Female students believe they don’
Page 24 and 25: Methodology The report is grounded
Page 26 and 27: 3 Female Students predominantly in
Page 28 and 29: 28

WLA 2018 Report - Draft 1-2

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